It may be that the memory of the last marathon is still very fresh – it’s been just 3 days since I finished it. Or it may be that I’m once again caught in a whirlwind of intricacies that I have to solve, papers that I have to obtain, deadlines that I have to meet, and so on and so forth.
Thing is, I’m not bored these days. On the contrary.
And in the middle of this mix of pressure and relief (significantly more pressure than relief) I always observe how small, consistent actions are piling up and crystallize into structures. It’s almost like a 3D computer animation: intent and focus are rising up, from nothing, just sheer will, then they become visible like tiny vines made of fog, moving towards each other, meeting and forming a coral-like, more solid structure, on top of which small solid surfaces are starting to grow.
It was nothing before in that place. And what it is now, it wasn’t brought from somewhere else, no, it just grew up, formed there, atom by atom, as the result of these small, infinitesimal actions.
It’s like adding up all the steps in the marathon. In and by itself, they don’t count much. Each step is just a tiny distance covered. But putting each step in front of each other, relentlessly, gets you beyond the finish line.
Slow and steady wins not only a marathon. It also wins “the race”. Like the big race, you know. Life.
At the end of this journey, you will be propelled into the next one only by what you did, by your actions, by the continuous construction you’ve been assembled with each intent, with each word, with each thought. Don’t discard any of these as being too small. On the contrary, look up for the smallest bricks, keep putting them on top of each other, and don’t give in to the illusion of “hitting it big”.
Also, embrace boredom. Make friends with it. Because you will get bored many times until you finally start to enjoy the subtle pleasure of assembling your life, small intent by small intent, step by step, exactly the way you want it.
