As a society, we keep asking, "What has happened to us?" Here is a
theory for you to ponder. We have become a society of quick fix, not my
fault, excuse accepting, bunch of sympathetic whiners. Now, I am sure
that this doesn't apply to you, so bare with me as I point out the flaws
of others(I'll get to mine in a bit). I'm depressed....take a pill. I'm the wrong ethnic decent...settle
for something less. I'm to young/old...give up. My Mom/Dad wasn't in my
life...that is why you are the way you are. I was abused as a child...we should cut you some slack. We
allow excuses from our selves and others. We go to those who will be
sympathetic to our needs and let us off the hook of responsibility for
our actions. We have lowered the standards of human responsibility. I'm not saying that we shouldn't be empathetic to others' needs, but to hold ourselves and others' to a lower standard than what we deserve is wrong. Stop letting yourself off the hook for you actions or the lack thereof. If you are overweight, it is probably because you refuse to change your eating habits and exercise. If you are lazy, it is probably because you refuse to turn the TV off and do something productive. You don't live in poverty because you have to, you live there because you have chosen to. We allow excused to run our lives. We keep looking at what we can't do instead of looking at what we can do. Maybe you can't run a marathon, but I bet you could walk to the end of your street. You might not make a millions dollars this year, but most fast food places are hiring and some money is better than no money. It's your life, why are you letting yourself off the hook of responsibility of living it to it's fullest? No more excuses, no more pity parties. If something isn't right in your life, change it with the ability that you currently have. It may not fix it completely, but at least you have started down the path. The rest will work out when the time is right.
I don't read as much as I would like...all because I won't turn the TV off. I weigh more than I would like because I won't change my eating habit and exercise. I'm not where I would like to be in my life because I have allowed fear to hold me back in some areas. I take responsibility for my life. I don't blame growing up without a Father, I don't blame being abuse by a "father figure", I don't blame growing up without a silver spoon in my mouth. It's my life, and if I don't like something about it, I and I alone have to change it. Society allows me to place blame where ever I want and settle for less than what I am capable of. I won't allow it. I used to play that game and it got me nowhere except unhappy and depressed. Take back control of your life and don't allow yourself off the hook. I am my biggest constructive criticizer. I don't beat myself up over my mistakes and missteps, but I critique myself and work on improving what I can improve. Begin today.
Dream Big...Pursue Big...Live Big
Let's be honest here. Sometimes, it seems, that life can really suck. Drama, finances, family, job(or lack of), and friends, just to name a few of the things that seem to cause life to suck. We seem to get thrown into situations that we didn't create, and yet, it seems as though we are the ones who need to rectify the situation. Too many times, we take up the torches that have nothing to do with us. We have to learn to remove ourselves from these situations. Allowing others to drag us into their "world" only damages us. I'm not saying that we shouldn't help others. What I am saying is, it is more beneficial to help others help themselves. Like the old saying goes, "Feed a man to fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime." First step of less stress, don't allow others' dramas and problems to become your dramas and problems.We get blinded by what is going on and lose sight of the root causes. Second step is to never lose our own vision of happiness. If we are not happy, we become less effective not only in our own lives, but in the lives of others. It's not selfish to make ourselves happy. It's selfish to not be happy. We all have so much to offer the world in which we live and the only way to be effective, it is be happy. Loving ourselves and accepting where we are right now in our life is so important. It doesn't mean that we are where we want to be, but understanding where we are, how we got there, and what we want our lives to look like in the future is healthy. Not until I accepted who I was, how I had gotten to where I was, and the developed a clear vision of where it was that I wanted to go, did my life begin to change. I still had to take action and I still had bumps in the road, but when the end results are our focus, life becomes much easier. I have come to another fork in my life's journey, and I will take it with serenity because I know that which ever path I choose it will be the right one for me now.
I would encourage all of you to stop just looking at the world in which you live and develop a vision for where it is you want to go and the kind of person that you want to become. Without sight we will trip on the pebbles that others have left, but without vision we have, in essence, placed ourselves in pitch darkness. Get a vision for your life. Make your vision about the intangibles in life. Love, happiness, compassion, and self-worth are some of the most to me. What is important to you in your life? How can you create more of those things in your life?
Dream Big...Pursue Big...Live Big.
During the Victorian era, British prisoners were put on treadmills to drive machinery. Some of the prisoners found solace in doing meaningful work, so the authorities disconnected the treadmill from the machinery, to make it a meaningless activity. This proved to be a worse punishment. Have you ever felt as though you were walking on a treadmill without purpose?
We all, at some point in our lives, have taken our turn on the treadmill going nowhere. We get comfortable and settle for "it is what it is." It could be our relationships, our jobs, our finances, or even ourselves. We begin settling for where we are us and stop striving for better. We step onto that treadmill, known as complacency, and begin our journey to nowhere. So many times this happens shortly after high school or college when we finally step out into the "real world." We trade our dreams and aspirations for playing it safe and living a life set by the status-quo. We all have dreams and passions in life. The pursuit of them, changes our lives. Sure it can be uncomfortable at times, but so is not pursuing them. We were not designed to live a life of monotony. We were designed to life a full and vibrant life. Our true passions in life is a part of our DNA. It is a part of who we are meant to become. I lived many years of my life ignoring the real person that I was destined to be. Denying that spark of passion inside of me because it was more comfortable to just get through life where I was. Change scares us all. Sure, there are still days that I question if I am on the right path. Doubt still creeps in and I have to make those decisions whether to continue my path or give up. But then I take a look where I came from and see what it has taken to get me to where I am today. That next step break through could be just around the corner and if I give up now I will never see it. So I keep on keeping on. I have lived on a treadmill to nowhere and I have stepped out on faith and took the path towards my passion. If I had to choose again today, I would still choose living a life pursuing a passion. Sure, I'm not where I would like to be, but this journey has changed my life. I would challenge you today, to pick up your passion and just, for the next week, take a baby step daily towards it. See where you are in a week.
Dream Big...Pursue Big...Live Big
