The Big Idea

“It was the most pathetic moment of my life. I had reached the top, but it was empty,” 22-year-old Sarah Conley from Evergreen, told me.

Sarah should have been the happiest girl in the stadium, after all, dancing had been her life long dream. Now in college she was a member of the University of Colorado’s Dance Team. On top of her form, Sarah found herself in the middle of 65,000 fans as Colorado faced the University of Texas in Dallas. Six years of practice and hard work had landed her in the same arena where the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders became famous. But instead of the game being a dream come true, it became a nightmare.

“It was cold, raining and absolutely miserable,” Sarah told me. “I was dancing in front of a sold out crowd when I noticed one of the cameras for national television right on me. At the same time, someone was taking a picture from the side. Suddenly, I realized that I’d spent six years of my life trying to earn my way to this point and it meant nothing. These people at home watching television weren’t going to care who I was. The TV camera guy didn’t care who I was. Nobody cared who I really was. They just wanted a picture for right then.”

This marked the beginning of a new life for Sarah. Two years after the Texas game, she left college and joined the Catholic Community of the Beatitudes. “People don’t understand at all. They think, ‘Oh, you threw away all those fun years.’ But what did I throw away? I threw away a lot of superficiality, a lot of emptiness. Becoming a nun is not an easy life. But it’s a beautiful life.”

Perhaps you are experiencing a similar sense of emptiness. The person you’ve been no longer works for the person you’re becoming. One secret for transitioning into a new way of being is to cultivate a big picture view of the world. When you are able to see yourself as a part of something much larger than yourself, it fills you up with a feeling of importance.

In 2006 you may choose to volunteer at your church, spend more time in nature, or go to the Passport to the Universe at the Denver Museum of Science’s planetarium. Regardless of how you do it, being able to see beyond your life is the first step to having more in your life.

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