Finding my Zen in programming

Do you ever feel just a little out of whack every once in a while? Just off your game? How is it that you find your Zen again? Do you do a certain routine to get you back into feeling good? Maybe it is energy that gets bound up in the life you do have instead of the life you wish you had. Now, I am not speaking of drastically changing your life, after all this is a time of change; but, I am speaking of what little things you can do to improve your feeling good within your life currently and that might catapult you into a new more ‘you’ life.

One thing that I can attest to is working on passion projects, if you are not in the field of work you want to be, or even if you are. Having passion project/s on the side of your everyday life gives you feelings of validation to yourself. That you are listening to what you truly want. I hear that if you want to be one career or another, the main thing that drives people towards their future is actually making it, whatever ‘it’ is, happen. Even if you just do a little bit every day, the momentum of that energy will have to go somewhere and when it is packed with your passion, it truly shouldn’t fizzle out.

I have found one of those passion projects that hasn’t fizzled out yet. It doesn’t seem to be just a project though. I have a good feeling that because of the time, effort, and energy that I have put into my passion, I have started a big ball of momentum and energy to cast me into my future, as a happier, more myself individual. And that passion is weirdly enough programming. Programming gives me a lot of headaches, but at the same time, gives me a lot of satisfaction, dopamine, happiness and clarity. I get to be in my happy place when coding various functions and components to make my application work. Then, when I can present and share it with others and everything works, the pride that is felt, the validation that it works, is truly exhilarating!

Through coding different programs, webpages and even dabbling in game design, I am transported to a place of Zen. Many people around me don’t understand the world of programming and my ‘coding people’ are mostly online, across the world and not many that I personally interact with. Yet, this doesn’t discourage me from going after what I know makes me feel alive in my everyday life. When talking about a current project that I am coding to my significant other and friends, they mostly just let me spew out information that they don’t understand (if you ever coded before you will understand the look of confusion I receive), but yet they see the light in my eyes shine through. They feel the passion and also they feel my Zenness.

Programming has reminded me that I have the power to create my own world. Now, it is somewhat daunting at times, with the many bugs to fix and lines to rewrite, but that doesn’t stop me and gets me to think outside of the everyday mundane box. Problems arise constantly in programming, however with the ability to work my way around creating more bugs by determination, or maybe just a walk in the park, gives me the tools and know-with-all to transmit that into my everyday life. Looking at life through my programming eyes I can remain in my Zen state more and figure out how to live a more happy-filled life from within. Reprogramming myself into my future.

I wish for you that when you read this you are thinking of that passion that drives you along. What is something that you would love to do? What is your Zen? Don’t hesitate, go and do it!

“You might not think that programmers are artists, but programming is an extremely creative profession. It’s logicbased creativity.” - John Romero

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