The Journey

As I go through my life, both the mundane and the extraordinary, I come across a lot of different people. Thousands on a weekly basis. And of those thousands of people that I interact with, it seems that the majority of them aren't living up to the potential of what's out there.

Now, who am I to decide what someone's potential is, right? Am I being judgmental? Am I deciding on what the course of their life SHOULD be? Well, maybe. Maybe I am judging them. But it's because I see their unhappiness, or their complacency, and I want so much more for them. I've lived in those shoes, and their soles have holes.

They go through their life waiting. Waiting for something exciting to happen to them. Waiting for the next vacation, or the next party, or the next big paycheck. And what happens when they get that? It's a fleeting moment, or moments of happiness, and then they go back to waiting. Waiting for the next big thing. I was the same way for a long time. Life gets into a routine. A routine of monotony. Wake up, eat breakfast, rush to get ready to get to work on time. Put in the required number of hours, for the sake of some dollars, begrudgingly, always just waiting for that clock to signify the end of the workday. So I could rush to the grocery store, to get home to make dinner, to take care of the housework or family, and then finally, at the end of the day, I could relax with a glass of wine and some Netflix. That was the destination. Make it to the end of the day so that I could unwind. And unwind from what? My life wasn't necessarily stressful. It wasn't unhappy. But it wasn't truly happy either. The life had become a string of meaningless days, all culminating with a glass of wine, and a deep breath, and the knowledge that tomorrow it would be exactly the same way. Was that all there was? How long could I do this for? What was the endpoint? Retirement? Was that the next big thing? That was still decades away. And what would I do with my time then? Spend more of it watching Netflix?

I truly didn't know how to do anything else. Or that there was another way. And honestly, if someone had told me that my life was worthless, I would have been highly offended. But they would have been right. I wasn't contributing to myself, to society, or to the world. I was just the walking dead.

So what has changed? A decision. A decision to not let fear of the unknown stand in my way. A decision to do something new, or learn something new, or experience something new every day. In this new era, of connectivity and social media, we now have the ability to interact with people we'd never have had the chance to before. We can now see how other people are living their lives, and how valuable time is. The magnifying glass has been placed into the palms of our hands. We can virtually see, and analyze, everything that people are doing. And what do we see? We see that people are traveling the world, and connecting with others. We see that people have an abundance of money, time, and laughter. On the flipside, we can see people living in conditions that are deplorable, and we now have the ability to help. And so, how do we help? How do we live the lives that we want? How do we get up off the couch and decide to make a difference? We have to choose to embrace the fear. And what is that fear, really? Usually, people are afraid of failure. Or they fear judgement from others. Or they fear that there will be a sacrifice of some sort. And what if there is? What if they have to sacrifice an hour of every day to learn something new, to not have to live this life of monotony anymore? What if they had to fail a few times in order to succeed beyond imagination? What if a few people looked down on them along the way? Would it be worth it? If you were to ask Steve Jobs, or Henry Ford, or Elon Musk those questions, they'd all give a resounding, "Yes!" Yes, it's worth it. Jump into that fear for just a short time, so that we can break through to the other side. And on that other side lies success, and self-actualization and realization of life's worth. If you've ever take a psychology class, you likely learned about Abraham Maslow, and his theorized Heirarchy of Needs. For many people, the tip of the heirarchy is never in sight. It's never even an option, because they haven't achieved some of the middle rungs. The rungs of financial security, of quality health, of deep friendships and connections. Self-actualization is a fairy tale, when paying the bills is a stressor. And so that's the first step. Learn the skills. Climb the rungs. Make the leap. Create the life. One step at a time. One rung at a time. And if this sounds like a bunch of gibberish, completely unfathomable and unattainable, then it's time to ask for help. Because that top rung IS available.