Simply Superfluous

adj. Superfluous: serving no useful purpose; having no excuse for being, “a life essentially purposeless” …..let me stop there….Wow, no one EVER wants to be labeled that, and while there are many different definitions of the word, none of them are really “positive”. They all speak to excess and some unnecessary thing. I sat down to blog today, thinking I would follow some kind of outline that spoke to how people gauge success and that it’s all relative, and for some reason all I could think of was how the moral majoratiy would answer that success is the big house, or the new car, or having all this extra money to blow. My sister was talking this morning about taking a test and one of the essay questions was about success as you experience it in your personal life and she couldn’t think of anyone or anything to write about. I was kind of shocked because she is a stay at home mom of two awesome kids! She’s raised well-behaved little future contributors to society and they turned out pretty cute too! Is that not a measure of success? Back to the word superfluous, all of the things that people general state to be characteristics of a successful individual are things that you just really don’t NEED… Do you really need 4 cars and a 5000 sq ft house? A lot of these individuals don’t have time to spend with their families because they are always on the go looking for “bigger and better” and ways to be more “successful”. Is monetary wealth really all that important? At that point, when all you see are dollar signs, and all lil’ Julia sees is someone too busy to even bother asking you to play dress up…have YOU become “superfluous”? Are you a “necessary” part of ANYTHING? I’m willing to bet that whatever your job description that’s raking you in 300k/yr is still something that can be filled by someone else. My point is, in the business world, no one is indispensable. If all of the banks in the world failed and you were left with your family (if you have one) and your friends ( I mean REAL friends) and it was, like, the end of days….how far would you make it? To me, success is determined by who you are as a person and the relationships you have when EVERYTHING is stripped away. Being emotionally, spiritually, and companion-ly “rich” is, to me, the REAL gauge of success!

Now on to some better stuff, a few weeks ago I was fortunate enough to get to be a part of a wedding for an old friend in Wisconsin. It was halloween weekend and I was missing out on the “biggest party weekend of the year” according to my friends as I packed my car and made the 9 hour trip north. I’m going to use pictures (and video) to attempt to describe what I can only say in words as an experience that definitely added a huge chunk-o-cash to my spiritual and emotionally life savings! When I arrived after a grueling drive and working the entire previous day, myself and a few friends drove up to Cape Point, WI and watched the sunrise over Lake Michigan. We hiked through some gorgeous foliage in search of the perfect spot to witness the incredible event. The hike was dangerous in my ridiculously slippery, clearly not made for hiking, shoes, but it was well worth the impending end of my physical self to watch the breath-taking center of our solar system “rise” from across the lake. After the sunrise, I was given a few moments alone by my hiking party to meditate and reflect in the chilly early morning. The serenity and calm experienced by sitting on a weathered rock, mere feet from the crashing waves, with the warmth of the sun shining on my face is something I will to all of you at least once in your life (preferably regularly :)!) I’m going to end my words here, and let the pictures do the talking, the last thing you’ll see is the video of me attempting to navigate in my horrible footwear haha. That being said, go forward and be TRULY successful in life (after all, you DESERVE it!), don’t let your tombstone read “Here she lies, Simply Superfluous, maybe we should’ve planted a tree instead”.

Forever Seeking,

Ellie

Wisconsin October 28th Sunrise at Lake Michigan, Door County

Good thing it's shallow in this spot...

Multiply this by 1,000 and you might begin to fathom how gorgeous this was in person!

The horrible shoes and the AMAZING spot I sat to meditate.