How many lives do we have?

This isn’t a question about reincarnation, although it might look like it. I’m not asking how many lives you would like to have one after the other, like someone living over many centuries, or even if you have many ‘lives’ like a cat. I’m asking about how many things we get to do in this one life we have that we are living, how many identities, how many versions of ourselves, if you like. How many versions do we have inside us? What brings them out? What do we need to do, or what happens to us to find them, and which ones do we like best, or want to let go of?

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You might have many versions, you might have had children who have grown up and you are no longer that version of you who looks after young children, or you might have gone on to do a different job with a completely different skill set, reinventing yourself along the way, changing your identity. You might have gone to live in a different country where you see yourself differently or it beings out different aspects to yourself. You might have discovered a new hobby or rediscovered an old one. All of these things can reignite something that you hadn’t seen about yourself before. You might feel you are living a different life.

And then there are the lives you don’t want, the ones you long to get rid of because they don’t feel like you or you left that version behind a long time ago. This usually happens with relationships or jobs. You no longer feel as if you are living in the life you should be. There may be good reasons for not discarding these versions right away. You have responsibilities, or maybe there are financial constraints, maybe both. Maybe you don’t want to discard them completely or maybe you want to throw them away like an old coat and get something completely new. You can do this whenever you want, and for some it may be like trying on new coats only to put them aside after a few wears. Maybe you only want one new coat, or life. It’s easier than ever to have a new life but that doesn’t always mean it’s the right thing - sometimes it’s just running away - but sometimes it is the right thing.

So what happens? There may be something that nags and nags away at you that keeps coming back. If someone were to ask you: what would you want to be in your next life? What would you say? Clear your mind and pay attention to that little nagging, if it is there. What would that life be? Who would you be? What would be different about that version of you? What would you need? What would that life feel like for you? How is it different to this one? Are there similarities? You also have to listen to the answer, and maybe that’s the hardest bit.

Do you have another life?