Are we “How To”ing Ourselves to Death?
Whether by blog or book, the “How To” genre has taken us by storm. And in turn, left us all in its wake.
Consuming the vast “How To’s” of everything is an addictive pasttime that promises instant wisdom for minimal effort. “How To” litanies have oversaturated spontaneous inspiration and creativity. So it’s not very difficult to “How To” yourself to a slow, calculated, over informed death.
There’s DIY for plumbing, must do’s to find a man quick, the top 3 ways to get money for college, the tried and true ways to determine “fake news,” the proper steps to make a successful soufflé, and the only principles needed to be the most powerful entrepreneur.
Someone else has done it, before you. And they’re ready to tell you how it’s done, out of the goodness of their hearts.
All you have to do is get plugged into their secrets, follow them and trail their sense of accomplishment. With minimal work and creativity, you can get it all done, too.
Memorize their steps, reflect on their life experiences and be inspired by their favorite quotes from ancient philosophers. Then experience a few “Ah-hah’s” courtesy of them, and voila, you are where they are, just like them.
It takes no thinking, no planning, no worrying about uncertainty, no spontaneous problem-solving and no conscious effort on your part. The “How To” is literally done for you. Or is it?
For haven’t you just been hooked into their dogma? You’ve made their steps yours. You’ve made their goals yours. You’ve accepted their “How To” wisdom as your own guide, and they have become your Guru.
They make a living from dispensing “How To”s and join the ranks of those promising get-happy quick schemes offering instant “solutions” with little effort. With sought after methods, their testimonies and sound bites get translated into tweeted posts.
But can other’s “Ah-hah’s” simply be integrated into our own lives as cure-all prescriptions of how to do anything? Other’s inspirational stories left collecting dust by our bedside do not create antidotes for our own lack of ingenuity or our own affinity for dysfunctional cycles.
True, they could be catalysts which propel us to our own inspired journeys. But their “answers” can never be full complete solutions for our own unique goals and life dreams.
After all, we are not sharing biology or math answers to scripted school test questions. We are trying to figure out situations in our own lives and move forward in a healthy and empowering way.
So we have to take responsibility and do the work ourselves. To use our brain cells and configure new possibilities. We can share our processes, and adapt or adopt strategies into our own situations as we do the work, but we still have to do the work.
Because we are the only ones with the answers. Just like with the “Self-Help” industry, we are the only ones with the secret to what ails us.
It is always up to us to dive within and find our truths, and to take responsibility for our lives, our choices, and our perspectives. Only then, by doing the work and continuing to do it ourselves, can we find our own solutions which work for us and help us to learn and grow.
Sharing is fun and productive, but being addicted to “How To” routines stunts our aspirations. Promises of quick, easy solutions to the mysteries of life take away our enjoyment. Copying someone else’s life and living in order to have what they have is not really living.
Simply contemplating if that is what you desire or if it all is just distracting you from your true, genuine potential is a worthy endeavor. Because why desire someone else’s life when you could be gloriously living your own unique one?
If you feel a little empowered or inspired by something in this click the “clapping hands” symbol below to share that with someone else! Thanks for visiting and passing the energy along!
Visit https://fanlink.to/EiAlliance and amazon.com/author/juliebonetti for more writing and to find out how “Energetic Invocations: A Book of Vibrational Change” and other thought-provoking books available there can empower You.
