Back to the Drawing Board

It seems to me, that we humanoids often live life, on the basis of some kind of primordial blueprint about how life ought to be. This includes all the fittings and fixtures, which in this case, are the people and circumstances. We often walk around like frustrated architects, grumbling about how the building isn’t going according to the plan we have. The real thing doesn’t match the blueprint.

The thing is, when it comes to our own lives, we don’t have any builders working for us. We might like to have a team of builders and craftsmen, who are devoted to helping us accomplish our goals, but we don’t.

And so, it seems like the building site of our lives is one, where all the others around us, have their own blueprints. Their blueprints don’t match ours. The only person that is going to be able to build anything like what you have in your plan is you.

If you do attempt to keep living your life, along the blueprint-builders line, you will become increasingly frustrated, as it becomes increasingly apparent, that those other people on your site, aren’t actually there to help you. They’re not even there to make you a cup of tea, although they might.

You might also find that the designs on the blueprints you were using, on the basis that all those other people around you were there to assist, are no longer achievable. You can either grind yourself into the ground, trying to build the mansion you had in mind, or, you can downsize and build something that won’t kill you.

So, what does this mean for us?

It means, we might become less frustrated, annoyed, angry and disappointed, if we stop operating from the pretext that life ought to be a particular way, or that the people around us, ought to be pleasing or appeasing us, in some way or other. They aren’t. They simply aren’t.

It also means that we might want to reassess the standards that we are judging our lives by. If we are building our happiness, pleasure, contentment or satisfaction, on the foundation of others conforming with our ideals, then we are setting ourselves up for a life of frustration and resentment, with at least a little sprinkling of bitterness. 

Some of us have already realised that there aren't any others involved in our building schemes, and are now mournfully sitting with their crumpled up blueprints, looking listless and forlorn.

So, what are we to do?

It means assessing and reassessing the circumstances of our lives, letting go of at least some, if not all of our weightier wishes, and start working with what we’ve got.

It means that we may well ditch the Corinthian portico, plinth and pillars, and build a log cabin.