As adults we tend to get in the grooves of the familiar. We go on autopilot too often. There is a science to all of that. Your neurons have been wired together by doing the same things over and over for years. It makes sense that we live like this when our life becomes one big routine (commute to work, work all day, cook dinner, get the kids ready for bed or maybe soccer practice or church, etc). After a long day of work, your mind automatically drives you home during your evening commute. And, after a long work week, all you can do is squander your weekend away by living in a vegetative state or numbing yourself.

I know all about this. During the thick of raising 3 young kids, having a full time job, and helping to run the family business, the routine was crushing. In hindsight, my approach should have involved making active changes to simplify my life and minimize the rigorous schedule. It would have taken fierce deletion of things that weren’t serving our family. That is the cost of living a conscious and fulfilling life.

We can choose something different. Although it happened later in my life, I did make better choices and now get to live a life that is much simpler and more aligned with my ideal future. Making tough decisions is where you start, but once those decisions are made and put into action, you get to feel the freedom of being unencumbered by unwanted things.

If you are living a life on autopilot, you are settling for much less than your potential. It means that you aren’t actively seeking the things that light up your soul. You have essentially become a zombie. This can’t go on forever. In fact, if you let this just happen, something will shake things up for you unwillingly.