When you are a child you are told to make a wish upon a shooting star because it is a special event. Unfortunately as with most things in life as you grow up, you realise that a shooting star is nothing more than a meteor burning up in earth’s atmosphere.
Now in life, some of us are shooting stars. We are used to being high achievers. We can, through being blessed with high intellect, sheer grit, or both, push through and achieve the goals we set for ourselves and/or those set for us by others. Pair this with an ambitious nature, and you have the recipe for what science now calls burnout. Where you will continue to function at such high levels of stress and adrenaline that your body eventually says, “Enough is enough.”
This is the point where the star shooting across the sky for everyone to gawk at in awe becomes the meteor falling to the ground. Left alone in the crater you have created in the world around you. The world around you will continue in its own manner, and you will be left to remember your glory days as a shooting star. Your loved ones will be the ones suffering most as they will have to deal with the meteor questioning their reality, why they were a star yesterday, shining brightly in people’s eyes, and now they are just a paperweight or a doorstop.
The great news is that once you have healed your cracks. Filled them with gold like the Japanese art form Kintsugi. There is no reason for becoming a star again. BUT. There is a very big but. Do not once again become a workaholic, or your shooting star will burn faster than before, and you will be a doorstop again.
Remember the activities, people, and things that bring you joy, and make a concerted effort to spend more time on them each week. Life is short and valuable; don’t waste it on things you will sit down at 75 and say, “I wish I…”
Nothing in my life gives me more joy than being a good person, helping people, and being surrounded by like-minded people. But I am not a saint and will never be. I find that small acts of kindness you put into the world make ripples and spread, and we could all use a little more kindness.
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