Growing up, I always noticed the adults who seemed to really hate their lives. I can still remember eavesdropping on adult conversations riddled with the stresses of every day living. Why would anybody want to be grown just to go around complaining everyday? Who wants to go through life with unchecked regrets? Why do people allow this to happen to themselves? I questioned these notions growing up yet it was still easy to avoid the “realness" due to the innocence afforded by childhood. The sad truth is that everybody grows up one day.
I’m not sure what it is about being a kid that makes it so much easier to spot the unhappiness in others but from an early age I knew that would never be me...
I think we all at some point made some naive vows to ourselves only to be provided those gut wrenching reality checks. From elementary school to high school and even college, as people we’re molded & placed into paths that reflect what society wants for us. A lot of the time, that path isn’t even one you agree with. There are people walking around as you read this sentence, who only "do what they do" because they’ve been directed & pushed into that direction. I refuse to acknowledge that repeated behavior as “living” and you should too.
If you live your entire life on autopilot with every decision for yourself pre-determined by someone not named you or even your unpurposeful habits…is that really living?
We only have one life to live, so think about that in it’s totality. There’s folks walking this earth with 1% of what you have, yet they can still find ways to smile everyday they wake up without complaining. Who’s more alive, you or them?
Have you ever had a moment where your money isn’t right like you’d want it to be, maybe you’re relationships aren’t as fruitful as you intended or you feel stuck in a daily routine that doesn’t wake you up with purpose every morning? These feelings and situations are shared by the masses, but it’s how you react which determines where you fall and belong in the world. Anybody and mostly everyone at one point in time has found themselves in this metaphorical “box”. What separates people apart is the power to decide & choose how you’ll break out of your box to live the life of your choosing which will provide the happiness & fulfillment you deserve. It’s that simple!
Your “box” not only represents daily routines but your stresses, fears, insecurities, depression, lack of confidence & anything else that keeps you entrenched in mental purgatory.
Do you treat your box as a jail cell and accept the 4 walls surrounding you & the mediocrity that accompanies it? Or do you let your box grow & fester to the point it feels like you're trapped in a black hole where not even the brightest light can reach you? I only ask these questions because we all have the power to actively shape our boxes, adjust & act accordingly. You own every bit of power to turn your box from an enclosure into a springboard to launch yourself into opportunities you may not even be able to comprehend. Think about that..because for so long you may have been doing this process backwards unknowingly & unpurposefully.
It’s hard to know where you’re going, when you lack purpose...
How can you escape your box when you lack the necessary insight about yourself to realize you’re indeed in a box to begin with? How can you overcome “you” when you haven’t even taken the time to be self-aware? Aware of who you are as a person, what makes you tick, the things you need to function & what you want out of your life? It’s really easy to envy a coworker who was given a promotion you may feel like you deserved until you realized they're moving up the ladder for a job that you hate to begin with anyways. So why even devote your mental capacity to feel some type of way? Why are you working a job that doesn’t provide a route that makes you happy at the end of the day? These are the questions you should be asking yourself, because only then will you encounter those tough answers that will lead you to outgrowing your box. Growth is the key to avoiding stagnation!
You must continuously audit yourself because as you grow, the things that matter to you may change as well.
Believe that you are dynamic! You don’t have to settle for any one stage of your development, be courageous to push the envelope! Hibernating in your comfort zone is the safest way to living a life of continuous settling and that’s a choice. If you haven’t already begun, start escaping your box today! Book that expensive plane ticket and travel, cut off communication with the toxic people you can’t seem to let go off, take a dive off the deep end & put yourself in situations that sit just outside of your comfort zone. When you think about it, time is the only thing we're really afforded. So, I'd like to leave you with the final quote below. Make use with it while you still can "afford" too.
It’s more costly to “wait” than to “do”...
Very insightful!