THE MALAISE OF MEDIOCRITY

Do you feel like you are living on AUTOPILOT?

How often do you find yourself saying these words?  Whatever, it’s fine...Who cares…What difference does it make...I’ll do just enough to get by…just another day in “paradise.”

Let’s self-reflect on this...start to pay attention to how often you choose mediocrity over anything else.  Why do you think that is?

What is mediocrity anyway? Mediocrity has the quality of being average or ordinary.  It isn’t very good or exciting, it just is.  It’s not memorable, but not terribly disturbing either.  It has this, “Take it or leave it” feeling, which makes it fairly easy to dismiss, or just accept it for what it is.

The long-term “SIDE EFFECTS” of mediocrity can lead to a host of issues.

Here’s a few:

 •Lack of self-confidence   •lack of motivation •lack of direction  •Lack of purpose • lack of personal responsibility  •Pessimistic mindset    •Stagnation  •Complacency •Burnout, and the list goes on. 

It leads to a life of just settling, never really working towards anything, but never working towards removing or changing anything either. 

Mediocrity also comes with a slew of behaviors like setting the bar low, so that risk of failure isn’t so detrimental.  It also comes with an acceptance of fate.  In other words, “This is what I’ve been given, so I’ll just keep living this way.” This is rooted in a deep belief that nothing will ever change, so why bother.  I don’t believe anything will work, so I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing.

Now let’s look at mediocrity in society.

Generally speaking, mediocrity encourages predictable and controllable behavior. The name of the game is conformity vs. individualization.  Society doesn’t support “Stepping outside of the box.” It’s too risky to be the outcast. This can make us afraid to take chances, for fear of potentially looking foolish.  It also creates a Fear Of Failure idea, that is totally debilitating and false, but it happens all day, every day.  The truth is, “failure” is the only real way to learn and grow.  In fact, we are brainwashed to believe that failure actually exists.  It is simply a mis-alignment and a nudge to look for another way.  But…we are so afraid to make mistakes, so we play it safe.  Guess what this creates?  MEDIOCRITY! 

This “GOOD ENOUGH” concept has become a social norm.  Look at how we eat.  Look at how we take care of ourselves.  Look at how we dress.  Look at how we spend our time.  Look at how we treat others. 

*It wasn’t the most appealing food, but it filled me up.

*It takes too long to do a breathing practice, but I’ll keep it in mind for when I have time.

*It doesn’t matter what I look like, everyone else looks the same.

*It’s mindless, but it keeps me occupied.  At least it’s something to do.  It’s better than nothing.

*I can’t help out.  That’s just too much work.

Carl Jung said, “As long as we follow the crowd, our thoughts, and ideas will never truly be our own.”

Society loves to talk about progress, but does it actually support it?  Well, it supports it only if it fits the mold, but is that true progress?  From an early age, we are taught to follow rules and never question.  Schools teach memorization, not individualized thinking.  I can’t help but ask the question, if we are progressing, growing and evolving as a society, why do so many people feel stuck, isolated, and unloved? 

I went down the rabbit hole of reflecting about this. Here’s what came up.

How are we measuring progress?  Technology may be booming, businesses may be coming up with cutting edge ideas, but where does that leave us as humans?  For starters, it’s forcing us to work harder to keep up with the pace of “Progress.”  It’s keeping us too tired to think about what really matters.  Oh, and it’s obvious enough that we live in a society, where nothing really matters anyway, so why not just keep going the way we are going, right?  Let’s back up and ask ourselves, so what really matters?  We have to look as this strictly from the human perspective, not the material world perspective.  As humans, it is normal for us to seek inner growth, search for the meaning of life and try to understand what it means to be a human being.

There are two very distinctly different things running along parallel lines and we are using the same measuring tools for each.  We keep forgetting that humans are not just productivity sources.  Humans actually have emotions, feelings, expressions, and creative abilities that need to be nurtured and measured. 

How do we measure a “good” life?  By success, money, productivity, and accomplishments.  OK, so how do we measure businesses?  By success, money, productivity and accomplishments.  Can you see the disconnect?  This isn’t apples to apples here.  Humans have many more dimensions beyond our societal roles.  Society rewards conformity.  It tells us to produce without questioning, consume without thinking and numb to fill a void.

Living on autopilot, not only leaves us dissatisfied with life, but creates a barrier for us to see that things could be different.  Mediocrity is an actual standard of living.  We conform to the standard, don’t ask questions, and coast our way until our final breath.  

Mediocrity is a deep condition that prevents us to arriving at authentic thought. The ones who rise “To the top” in society, are the ones who play the game better.  They aren’t any smarter, or more autonomous, just better players.

I have polled many people with this question.  Are you happy?  I get so many interesting answers.  Well, I have everything I need so yea, I’m happy, I mean I’m not sad.  I don’t need anything so I guess that means I’m happy.  It’s interesting to watch people trying to decide if they are happy.  Some ask, “What do you mean by happy?”  I should make the distinction between Happiness and Joy.  Technically, happiness is a temporary feeling, from an external response to something.  For example, I received a letter from a friend and it made me happy.  We can say that happiness is a more superficial layer of Joy.  In any case, humans should be able to decipher if they are happy or not, and be able to maintain a certain level of consistent happiness.  Joy is a deeper and more constant presence within a person.  So, in other words, a person can be sad due to a situation, but their inner Joy remains the same.  By the way, Joy is something that we all have within us.  It never leaves us.  We leave it.  (I can go deeper into this, in my next blog.)

Mediocrity is like spiritual poverty in a way, because it keeps people living in one dimension, focusing on only one thing, the bottom line of productivity.  The value of a human life is NOT based on productivity.  It’s we are living in an invisible prison, because we are trapped by societal “norms” and we don’t even know it.  The problem with mediocrity is that it protects itself.  There’s an energetic pact amongst the mediocrity masses.  “If you don’t play by the rules, we will kick you off the team.” The fear of rejection is so intense that, we will completely abandon ourselves in order to avoid this.  Mediocre people don’t just conform, they take it to the next level, by justifying their conformity, as if it were a conscious choice.  Instead of admitting to themselves, that they gave up something near and dear to them, they tell themselves that this is the right path. They may be interested in learning and growing, but “Fitting in” ultimately wins.  So, then they start justifying why they are on the “Right” track, in hopes that everyone around them will jump on the same train.  This is so that their own lack of effort is never questioned. Most people believe their choices are autonomous when they have actually been conditioned by the social system.  This is why the “norm” of mediocrity is very dangerous.  It keeps cultures stagnant and zombified.

This is also why, those to try to individualize often give up.  There’s a hefty price to pay for individualization.  It takes a lot of work to break out of societal expectations, family expectations and cultural expectations.  Most of all it takes a lot of courage to break out of your own comfort zone.  So, we just give up! Where does that leave us?

If you’ve stayed with me this far, celebrate yourself!  Thank you for hanging in!

By now, I’m sure you are saying to yourself, “OK, but how to I live in this world and try to overcome this?”  That’s a very valid question.  So let’s map out some steps…

1.      The first step is escaping mediocrity is becoming aware of it. If you can see it, you have already started to move away from it!  And if this is enough for you, that’s ok because once you can see something, you can slowly start to shift things in your life over time. Part of this step is overcoming the need for acceptance, and fear of judgement.  As soon as a person realizes this, they are able transcend mediocrity because they stop living in the place of trying to fit in, or seeking approval.

2.      The next step is developing intellectual autonomy.  What does this mean?  Developing the skill of thinking for yourself, not influenced by “norms.”  This sounds like an easy one, but it’s tough.  Start to notice what your decisions are based on.  Ask yourself, “Is this that what I really want from the bottom of my heart, or is this the path of least resistance?” Mediocrity can become a huge path of self-sabotage, because instead of standing up for ourselves, we convince ourselves that mediocrity is the “right” choice, or that we have NO other choice.  

3.      The next step is understanding moral mediocrity.  We must stop seeking from the outside world as fuel for our souls.  We must develop a relationship with ourselves inwardly, where boredom is not the enemy., but space for reflections.  A person stuck in moral mediocrity lacks the courage to stand by their decisions, for better or worse.  Integrity is a virtue because is excepts nothing less. 

4.      Then, question the things that were imposed on you.   Ask yourself all the WHY questions.

5.      The next step is taking action, breaking away from old habits, patterns, people that aren’t healthy.  Mediocrity is comfortable but stagnant.  It keeps us in unhealthy situations of all kinds.

So now you are probably thinking, “This girl is out of her mind!”  “This is not possible in this life!”  What if I said, “I agree.”  Let’s keep it real…NO ONE is using the word MASTERY here.  We need to approach this with love and an open mind, not a MISSION IMPOSSIBLE MENTALITY.  That will keep us stuck in mediocrity for life.  We also have this false idea that we can turn things around overnight.  That’s another way to just keep us stuck.  If we eat one less bag of chips, spend one less minute on social media, do one nice thing for ourselves and for someone else.  THIS IS HOW IT HAPPENS!  It doesn’t happen by thinking we have to change everything about our life in a day!  That’s self-sabotage!

The very first thing is being able to see different perspectives!  That is key and that will take root!  Once that root is established, things happen slowly, in their own way, and in their own time.  All we have to do is keep watering the root!

Here’s where YOGA, AYUVEDA and TANTRA can offer tremendous support.  Remember, in its simplest form the goal of YOGA is self-realization.  The goal of AYURVEDA is self-health.  The goal of TANTRA is self-love.  This is all rooted in the practice of self-study.  How can we understand the root cause of a health issue, without asking introspective questions which take us to the source?  WE CAN’T.  It’s just impossible!

The greatest paradox of modern life is that we have access to more information, more healthy options, more things to support our growth, and yet be have become more disconnected from ourselves, more unhappy, more unhealthy, and more unstable.

Then, the midst of all of this Chaos, mischievous mediocrity swoops in and establishes itself as the “norm.”  AND THERE YOU HAVE IT…we are just getting through the day…just chugging along…like we are watching life from a window.

MOST PEOPLE GIVE UP, NOT BECAUSE THEY DON’T UNDERSTAND, BUT BECAUSE THEY DON’T WANT TO UNDERSTAND.

The problem is without those who push individuality, or push against social “norms” there is no real human evolution.  Think about this. 

The only thing worse about mediocrity, is going through life never trying to escape it. 

Plant your roots!

Water them every day!

That’s enough!

YOU ARE WORTH IT!