“Is That All There Is?”

Approximately one week ago I heard this person share at a recovery meeting that they’d been sober for 10 months, but weren’t feeling so great about their life. They said that everyone else seemed to be doing so much more interesting things in life than them and then asked a question that drove the meeting’s topic that day.

“Is that all there is?”

What they were referring to is whether life had anything better to offer them than their current circumstances. I have to say that I could most definitely relate, because I have stood in that very spot time and time and time again, until I realized I needed to look a lot more within rather than outside of me.

The fact is I asked myself that very question,” Is that all there is?” after I bought my first home.

I asked myself “Is that all there is?” after buying several new expensive cars.

I asked myself “Is that all there is?” after buying my own B&B on an island surrounded by beautiful beaches.

I asked myself “Is that all there is?” after being on a bunch of luxury cruises on the ocean.

I asked myself “Is that all there is?” after acquiring the priciest cell phones and laptops.

I asked myself “Is that all there is?” after spending a month travelling throughout Europe.

I asked myself “Is that all there is?” after dining out at some of the most costly restaurants in the world.

I asked myself “Is that all there is?” after flying long distance on an all first-class flight.

The reality is that I asked myself “Is that all there is” constantly over the course of two decades of my life while I continued to look for happiness outside of myself. It wasn’t until I began to search within and learn to love myself a lot more did any of this change.

Thankfully, I can now sit in my backyard or spend time in the garden or work on a puzzle, all completely alone, and be 100% ok with it, even while knowing all those things are out there in the world that I could be doing like those who are doing them. And while my state of health has been currently preventing me from doing many more things that I’d like to do in life, it’s ultimately caused me to truly appreciate the simple things that I somehow always overlooked before.

The happiness I seek today really is from within, and not outside of me. It’s something that’s taken a lot of hard work and in all honesty, is still a work in progress. But the good thing is I don’t find myself asking, “Is that all there is?” anymore, mostly because I know now that my own happiness can’t come from any person, place, or thing outside of me. It’s only going to ever come from unconditionally loving myself from deep within, because through that, I know I’ll find appreciation in everything I already have…

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

Author: Andrew Arthur Dawson

A teacher of meditation, a motivational speaker, a reader of numerology, and a writer by trade, Andrew Arthur Dawson is a spiritual man devoted to serving his Higher Power and bringing a lot more light and love into this world. This blog, www.thetwelfthstep.com is just one of those ways... View all posts by Andrew Arthur Dawson