The Backbone (A Person's Skeletal Makeup)

I've been doing a lot of thinking about focus.  What's my focus?  What am I focusing on?  What do I want to be my primary focus?

I think a lot of us can lose our way when we put too much focus on something that should be part of our routine. I'm talking, in part, about the health nuts.  Those people who spend all their time telling everyone else what they should and shouldn't eat, which brands to buy and which ones to boycott, and basically try to boss everyone into eating nothing but seeds.

Those people (Luckily, I'm not friends with any of those people, but I've met a few of them).

I think we shouldn't be focused as much on nutrition.  I think we should integrate it into our lives so that it becomes a background routine.  We should be healthier.  Integrating that, at first, will take more effort, so there is a curve.  But once you've started, it's easy to put that into your list of routines and go back to your main focus.

Health is one thing we should all be striving towards -- exercise, dieting, sleep, etc.  I just don't think it should be *everyone's* focus (Obviously, those who love health and all things related end up being health coaches, nutritionists, runners, etc., and that's great -- they found their focus, the one thing they absolutely *love* -- but the rest of us can sometimes focus on that when really it should be a part of our life instead of the biggest part).

Other things people distract themselves with: sports, fashion, news, politics, TV, etc.  None of these are bad,  but can be so distracting that you miss out on the Big Thing(s).

I think we can distract ourselves by focusing on smaller things instead of tackling The Big Thing we're too scared to do.  The thing that means most to us (and therefore is more scary to try to accomplish, since we might fail).  Doesn't have to be One Big Thing, but there is something that calls to you on a deeper level than anything else.  That's your Big Thing.  Your "Purpose".  The thing you're most passionate about.  The thing that, if someone took it away from you, would strip your identity because it is so closely tied together.

I call it the Backbone.  The thing that connects the rest of you and keeps you all together.  Without it, we'd just be piles on the floor (or invertebrates, perhaps).  I've thought about this in relation to writing, too.  the Backbone of a story is Theme.  The main idea.  The current running through the entire piece.  The thing that keeps the story grounded.

There are other things to put on the Backbone -- add in health, relationships, work, hobbies, spirituality, and whatever else people are involved in, and that makes the rib cage, the brain, the knees...and you have the whole body.  We couldn't completely function as just Backbone.  But the Backbone is how we interpret all the other pieces.  Without the Backbone, we wouldn't know where to begin, or where to go.

This year, I'm finding my Backbone.  Through all the trauma, exhaustion, aches, longing and suffering, the excess is being stripped off and I'm finding out what I'm really made of -- on the deepest level.

How did you find your Backbone?  Are you still finding it?