Kill The Groundhog Before Heading Out.

I believe I can see the future

Cause I repeat the same routine

I think I used to have a purpose

But then again

That might have been a dream

I think I used to have a voice

Now I never make a sound

I just do what I've been told

Every Day Is Exactly The Same, by Nine Inch Nails.

A few years ago, the movie GroundhogDay came out. It’s a wonderful movie about a man who was doomed to relive the same day over and over until he got it right. Not so long ago Edge ofTomorrow dealt with a similar subject. Theorists call this a temporal loop or a glitch in the continuum of time. Most people just call this their ‘everyday’ life.

We have all dealt with this, a life where every day is just a repeat of the day before and tomorrow will be a repeat of today. After a while you just default into an automata state where you simply go through the motions of living, while you slowly stop being alive. Sure, you might realize the horrible spiral you are going down into, yet do nothing to actually change it. At this point you are staring into Einstein’s Insanity, expecting your life to change while doing the same things, day in and day out.

The reality is that you are constantly on a path, a journey, whether you like it or not. It’s not determined by what happens to you or even by your surroundings. It’s defined by how you react to what’s around you and defined by every step you take, willing to take them or not. When you understand this, you understand that you are in life where you have chosen to be.

You feel you are in a rut? You are stuck in an unfulfilling job or a bad relationship? It’s your choices that have led you down those paths. Yes, this means your life is your fault up to a point. And sitting on your ass on a sofa flipping channels wishing for a better life while whining about the one you have, won’t make it happen. This is not something most people want to admit or confront, because it’s a horrible realization.

But with this realization does come some comfort. The same way your actions got you to where you are now, they can get you out of it. It’s you who controls the path you walk, the only person who can get you out of where you are now. Yes, it’s scary to step out to the unknown, to challenge what people expect from you, to get off your ass and stand up from that sofa.

It’s scare to kill that Groundhog so you never have to repeat that day again.

But you know what you gain when you change your ‘everyday’ life? A life!