![]() You truly can do things in your own time without having to worry about being “behind.” Sometimes it’s the things we do that feel like “stalling” or “getting off track” that end up being the most helpful for our growth.Īnd besides, what story will be more interesting to flash before your eyes in the end: one that unfolded in ways you never expected, with unique twists and turns or, one that followed a specific, predetermined timeline with predictable steps from milestone to milestone? The best way to find direction is to trust your instincts instead of forcing yourself to do things because you think you “should.” There’s no set timeframe for doing anything. Instead of being hard on yourself for not having clarity, be proud of yourself for moving forward on a foggy road when you could easily find a cloudless, well-beaten path to follow…to certain dissatisfaction. There’s simply no shortcut to “figuring things out”-for anyone. You’re using time well by starting (or continuing) the process of discovering it. Instead of looking for a guarantee that tomorrow will be valuable, know that today is valuable-that you’re not wasting time because you don’t yet feel a sense of purpose. If you’re looking for purpose from a place of inadequacy, you will likely be too overwhelmed by the need to do something big, that matters to the world at large, to identify what matters to you personally and start taking tiny steps toward it. You’ll never be effective if you’re convinced tomorrow needs to be better than today, because this belief stems from resistance to the present-and the present is where your power lies. If I were to walk into that Internet café and approach my younger self, she would probably ignore me, immersed as she was in her frantic searching.īut if I somehow had the power to command her attention, I’d tell her a few things that maybe, just maybe, could relieve her constant worrying and provide both peace of mind and focus. How can you let yourself ease into the moment if you can’t be sure it’s leading to a better one? I felt I should have known, right then, not only what I wanted to do but also how I was going to do it.īecause without knowing those two things, I felt adrift and incredibly out of control. My biggest obstacle wasn’t that I felt lost it was that I felt I shouldn’t be. I was ineffective because I consistently marinated my brain in anxious, self-judging thoughts. I wasn’t ineffective because I didn’t yet feel a strong internal pull. And there was nothing wrong with living in the maybe, looking for new possibilities. In retrospect, I see there was nothing wrong with me, or where I was in life. I thought there was something wrong with me for being so uncertain, so resistant, so unable to identify and commit to any path. I was blinded by the fear of never finding what I was looking for, and that made the looking awfully ineffective. Sitting in the Times Square Internet café over a decade ago, searching Craigslist for jobs and gigs, I felt a sense of panic and urgency. ![]() What if you never care about anything so strongly that it becomes the bliss you have to follow? What if you never feel a spark, a purpose, that elusive “why” that so many people write about? What if you never matter? What if you never do anything important? And worst of all, what if you never have more than a hunch about what’s important to you? Everyone else is climbing the ladder, earning more money, making a difference, mattering. Everyone else seems happy and successful. What step do you take when you have a hunch but no solid sense of direction? If it’s only a hunch, then maybe it’s the wrong direction.Īnd what if you go in the wrong direction? Then you will have wasted time, and time is finite. ![]() ![]() When you’re sitting amid a vast expanse of possibilities, in the pressure cooker of expectations and impatience, it can feel almost paralyzing. So I sat around thinking, analyzing, trying to identify something big enough or good enough, terrified that maybe I’d spend the rest of my days feeling purposeless, useless, on the fringe doing the same thing in my professional life as I’d always done in my personal life: feeling like I was on the outside looking in. At least, that’s what I thought back then. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, and I felt certain this was a phenomenal failing-because if you don’t know right now what you need to do to make your life count, life will pass you by before you’ve ever had a chance to do something meaningful or valuable. I wanted to know for sure that if I tried to do something, I would like it if I devoted my limited time to it, I’d end up somewhere good. Life is about creating yourself.” ~George Bernard Shaw
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |