Zombie Apocalypse: The Frantic Oblivion of Modern Life
The living dead are everywhere among us — mindlessly, aimlessly attending meetings and conference calls, sitting in cubicles and eating at fast food joints with their faces eerily lit with a bluish glow from their mobile devices. Indeed, there are legions of zombies out there, but they’re not the ones you see in the movies. The modern zombie has no purpose in life, is disconnected with their passion and is utilizing very little of their potential to serve society. They may pursue goals and achievement, but when pressed they have a hard time explaining why. They have lost the connection to their higher selves and are busily occupying themselves with distractions to help them cope with their loss of self. Sadly, they have little to no sense of their zombie state and make no effort to escape to consciously lead a purposeful life.
“The modern zombie has no purpose in life, is disconnected with their passion and is utilizing very little of their potential to serve society.”
This is my story as well. If you looked at my life from the outside, you would think that I was living the “American Dream”. I had graduated from college and graduate school, gotten married, had three beautiful daughters and a successful career in international logistics. Everything was perfect, right? I couldn’t explain it at the time, but I knew something was missing. One evening in Paris, I met with my new coach as a part of a leadership development program my company had sponsored. After some small talk, my coach dropped the hammer and hit me with the question that was at the root of that uneasy feeling I had in my stomach each day. What’s your purpose? That was his question! He threw it out in a very casual, matter of fact way and with all my education, training, achievement and accolades, I had nothing in response….nothing at all. It was at that moment that I realized I was a zombie.
Take this zombie quiz to see if you are one of us…
1. Can you explain how your current job fits with your higher purpose in life?
2. Do you wake up every day excited to go to work and energized by what you are doing?
3. Are you taking advantage of your unique talents while continuing to develop your capabilities?
4. Are you making a positive impact on society with your work, leaving the world better off for future generations?
5. Do you go to work because you want to — not because you have to?
6. Do you have an insatiable craving for human brains?
Scoring: If you answered no to any of questions 1–5, you may be a zombie. If you answered yes to question 6, seek immediate professional help!
Don’t confuse being a zombie with being lazy or unmotivated as those are very different things. As a zombie, I worked incredibly hard, utilized my natural talents, and continued to develop and enhance my capabilities. I had many years of high performance and accomplishments to show for all that effort. The problem is that I was achieving for the sake of achievement and pretty soon my personal victories began to matter less and less. What I did notice though was that the coaching and guidance that I was giving to my team was really helping them and their successes had become more important to me than my own. This was my first glimpse into my own purpose.
The long dark path toward the zombie apocalypse
Like many things, the zombie apocalypse has been growing slowly for a very long time. I believe Hunter S. Thompson was referring to this concept in his classic book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas when he used the term frantic oblivion to describe Los Angeles and perhaps society as a whole. The term frantic refers to hurried, excited and chaotic activity, and oblivion is the state of being unconscious of what is happening. That’s the perfect way to describe the zombie apocalypse: People overwhelmed with hurried, chaotic activity while being completely unaware of their purpose and passions and strictly focused on their own self-interest. Frantic oblivion; sure sounds like the zombie apocalypse to me.
4 Causes of the Zombie Apocalypse:
1. Loss of Faith in Institutions — We’ve lost faith in institutions like government, religion and big business as those entities have endured scandals derived from self-interest and violations of their stated values. This has led us to look out for our own self-interests, giving rise to a focus on short-term outcomes. It’s a “What’s in it for me?” and “How fast can I get it?” society.
2. Media Overload — We’ve become sedated with over-stimulation from the myriad of media sources that bombard our attention every minute of every day. Whether it’s TV and radio or the internet, YouTube and social media, there’s an all you can eat buffet of mindless information available for our never-ending consumption. This has contributed to our state of frantic oblivion by monopolizing our time and attention while shielding us from self-discovery and our higher purpose.
3. Consumerism — We’ve also fallen prey to clever marketing people who’ve sold us the idea of consumerism as a cure for all that pains us. That new car, phone or pair of shoes will surely bring you deep satisfaction and will make you a really great person! This mentality keeps us on the treadmill of financial achievement so that we can keep up with the trends and have all the cool stuff that everyone else is buying.
4. Over-activity — We engage in chronic busywork stemming from our obsession with consumerism…bigger houses, more activities, more shopping and more stuff equals more work to maintain, organize, protect and care for it all. We keep ourselves so busy that there isn’t time to notice that we’ve become the hamster on the wheel, running and running but going nowhere. We don’t make time for introspection and self-discovery.
Escape the Frantic Oblivion of Modern Life
As dire as all this may sound, there is still hope for humanity. Escaping the frantic oblivion of the zombie apocalypse isn’t a complicated process, though it will require some effort and self-discipline. Awareness of the issue and having a desire to live a more conscious life is a great start. At a high level, you can escape by aligning your purpose, values, passion and capabilities with your career and daily activities. This is a fairly involved process but it’s worth the effort to live a truly successful life. For more information on how to live a life of purpose I recommend reading: Escaping Frantic Oblivion.
Chris Slotten is a senior executive, leadership and organization expert, thought leader, business coach and consultant, with more than 25 years of experience in helping a wide variety of companies to achieve outstanding results. View additional articles from Chris at: www.chrisslotten.com
Follow on Twitter @Chris_Slotten
Originally published at www.chrisslotten.com on October 29, 2015.
