Maybe I’m alone in my thinking that regardless of what I have to show for my life thus far, I have played it incredibly safe.
Ugh, the word “safe” makes me cringe.
I throw “safe” in the pile with “normal”, “typical”, “nothing special”, and “unremarkable”. I haven’t lived a bad life and there are a few things that I’ve come to accomplish that genuinely have made me happy.
But I’m just not fulfilled.
I’m not an especially high achiever or superior performer in most of the things that I do and it’s not because I’m ungrateful or shortsighted or any of the other things that people would hear my complaints and think, “How dare he!?”
I’m still trying to figure my life out too, so if I have ideas that are contrary to yours, it’s not an assault on your fundamentals or way of life; they’re just ideas.
I can’t help but feel this emptiness, and honestly it’s nothing new. I’ve “thrived” in emptiness and I know plenty of other people have too. I’m just not sure if it has been out of fear, or necessity, or maybe even ego. I have held onto my work, the things I’ve done for somebody else, like a badge of honor and I’ve been too proud to feel foolish even though I have been a fool. But Honestly has been like stepping back into the sunlight.
“We don’t have to act like sheep if we don’t want to.”
These wise words are from one of my favorite authors and personalities, Seth Godin.
Now, I am screaming at people to stop being consumed by imaginary fears, to stop being so worried about safety and predictability and start seeing that each of us has something great to bring to the world. We need to start making a difference, you have no idea how many people are counting on you. We need to put fear in its proper place and just take the leap into whatever we have been heart-stricken with a passion for.
Break away from the herd, we have been conditioned to underachieve and fit in. So let’s do the opposite for ourselves and for others.
