“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation.” -Henry David Thoreau
As children, we all have dreams swirling in our heads, all have pursuits that we want to obtain and career paths we want to walk down, but suddenly, we reach a certain age and start hearing the chatter of the world that shouts that those things are foolish, unrealistic, and unobtainable. The great tragedy is that we listen and believe them. There is no one in the entire world that can tell you that you CAN”T do something except yourself. The only person that decides who gives you the power to create dreams or to destroy them is YOU. What did you want to be as a child that you slowly killed over time, but still holds a place in your heart, silently whispering to you to go after it…that you were born to do it?
I believe Thoreau hits the nail on the head. The majority of people do “lead lives of quiet desperation”. We live in fear. Fear of failure. Fear of the unknown. Fear of uncertainty. Instead we live lives feeling way too damn comfortable. If you’re comfortable, most likely it’s because you’re not pushing yourself to become the person you were made to become. Let’s face it. Putting yourself out there and going for something that everyone else thinks you’re crazy for trying is going to be uncomfortable. But it is also freeing. It also gives you the opportunity to stop hesitating, to stop waiting, to stop training, and finally get out there and do something.
We live in desperation because inside I think we know our true potential, and for some reason that scares us. Yet, we can’t get rid of this nagging feeling that looms over us demanding more, telling us that we were meant for more. And you are meant for more. More than squandering away your life working a job you hate because you’re too scared to pursue your dreams. Failure is not the bitch everyone thinks she is. The real tragedy is letting the fear of failure hold you back.
Failure is a scary word, but it is only scary by the way you perceive it. Successful people see failure as just another dart that didn’t hit the board, but they’ve got unlimited darts sitting next to them – they simply pick up the next one and throw again. The majority of the population sees failure as the end all that ruins their life. Failure is never an ending, unless you decide to make it one; failure is the beginning – a chance for a fresh start and to apply the lessons you learned in your last attempt.
If you had absolutely no fear, if you woke up tomorrow and could choose any profession and know you’d succeed and make the same money that you do now, what would you choose? Well, go out there and do that! It’s time to stop thinking, stop wishing, stop hoping, stop doubting, and start doing. Start doing your dreaming with action a little at a time. A dream is not realized over night, but is worked out over weeks, months, and years. We all have that something that we want to do “someday”. But as Creedence Clearwater Rival profoundly states, “Someday Never Comes”. And it never does. Whatever you put off for the future will most likely never come to pass. The time to start is now. Maybe not all at once, but little steps in the right direction. As long as we are moving towards the goal, that goal becomes a realistic possibility. If we do nothing but sit still and dream about it, it remains an unrealistic possibility.
I’ll ask you again. If you had absolutely no fear, if you woke up tomorrow and could choose any profession and know you’d succeed and make the same money that you do now, what would you choose? What childhood dream remains tucked away in your heart and in the back of your mind? Today’s the day to stop wishing and start doing. You control your own destiny and no one can tell you no, except you.
photo credit: Falling star via photopin (license)
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