Everyone of us dream about getting out of the rat race one day. I mean I don’t know of anyone who ever dreams of putting more hours at work or wanting to spend more hours commuting during rush hour. It’s not like we dream of putting in extra hours at work at the expense of family time. So why is it that this dream of escaping the rat race is such a tough hill to climb.

The main problem is that we dream but we keep doing the same thing we did yesterday hoping for a different result. Life in the rat race is a bit like running on the treadmill. The faster you run the more your tire and burn yourself out but when its all said and done you haven’t actually gone anywhere and tomorrow you basically start in the same place again. Sure your fitness improves and you burn of much needed calories but its not like you ran a marathon and finished a race. But lets say you do want to run a marathon one day, eventually you are going to need to get off the treadmill and just join a marathon. How can you ever hope of completing a marathon if you never get out on the road and run the race. Its all great to prepare, it would be ill advised to just wake up one day and run in a marathon, but all the best preparation and training does not compare to actually running the race.

The treadmill is a little like life. We all get so comfortable and used to running the treadmill that we never stop to decide what we are actually wanting to accomplish. What is the marathon of our life in a sense. Is it to one day travel, start and raise a family or maybe spend more time on the water. Whatever it maybe you have to decide what it is for you and you have to decide that you are going to have to get out of the treadmill and just go for it.

We can all get preoccupied with running on the treadmill of life sometimes but you have to remember that you can run as fast as you want, work up stress and sweat but you aren’t actually going anywhere. You have to step out of your comfort zone and do something different if you want the results in your life to change.

I came across this inspirational short movie clip of a guy who quit his job and with the money he saved went traveling around the world for six months until his money ran out. Now that is inspirational. He decided to start a blog and filmed himself dancing at the different countries he visited to keep his friends and family up to date on where and what he was doing.

So if you want to change your experiences and get yourself out of the rat race, the first thing you have to do is decide what race you are running and why you are doing what you are doing in the first place. Once you find meaning you will find purpose.