“Get action. Do things; be sane, don’t fritter away your time; create, act, take a place wherever you are and be somebody; get action.”
– Theodore Roosevelt
When I first heard that Teddy Roosevelt quote, I responded with a hearty, “Hell Yeah!” After all, the “Get action. Be sane.” philosophy has largely guided my decision making skills my whole life. I’ve always been ambitious, a perfectionist, a striving overachiever. If I was in a place that could not affirm my ambitions, my need for success, I left. I’ve always been an enthusiastic learner. I’ve changed careers multiple times, with gusto. I have lived to get action, to be sane.
Meditation practice is almost completely opposed to Teddy’s philosophy. Yoga, meditation, and other mindfulness practices might even say: “Get still. Do nothing.” Through my yoga practice, I have discovered that I’ve spent a lot of time fluttering about from one achievement to the next, getting action, and hoping for sanity.
To this day, I haven’t found a way to just be sane. I only know how to act sane. If anything, when I get still, stop striving, grasping, and yearning to get action, sanity finds me.