Day 5 – An Elul PSA

8 Elul 5776
by Lisa Ackerman

On a daily basis, I feel anger, frustration, defeat, irritation, disappointment, disgust, fear. I also feel gratitude, awe, love, hope, empathy, bravery, friendship, peace. Such is life. I don’t say happiness because I don’t know what that means. If it is euphoria and complete acceptance of my life how it is, I don’t feel that. If it is contentedness, generally mellow and sweet, then I am definitely happy. On the road, I have learned that it is just wrong (dare I say morally unacceptable) to have a life that you dread, that you hate waking up to in the morning. It is not ok to have a job that makes you sick but that you can’t figure out how to walk away from. It is not ok to think of years of your life as biding time until that one day you can do what you want to do. It is not ok to just throw up your hands and accept this imperfect world as it is. Why do we collectively think that life is cold and cruel and we just have to survive? What the heck am I talking about? I don’t know!! If you know me, you know I talk a good talk even though I am totally clueless. I guess what I am trying to say is don’t wait too long to do what your heart desires. Don’t be afraid of getting it all wrong. Don’t feel like there is nothing you can do in your life that will make a difference. Strive for sweet mellow contentedness, if not happiness. You won’t regret it. Ok. Off my soapbox. PSA over.