You’re running, practically sprinting towards the finish line. There’s nothing more you’d rather do than cross it. It’s everything you’ve waited for. So close you can almost taste it when suddenly, you wake up drenched in sweat. You realize you aren’t even in the race yet. It ’s slowly begun to occur to you that it’s Monday. Fuck Mondays right? What does it mean? I feel like that’s a question I find myself asking a lot. I’m constantly wondering what it means to be trapped in a monotonous repetition. What it means to agreeably play along with all of life’s silly little contingencies. What’s it all for? There’s something inside you that yearns to escape this monotony, which I lovingly refer to as “Tick tock”. Tick tock is gotta take the kids to soccer practice, Tick tock is did I pay those bills? Tick tock is oh hell did I leave the stove on? We have to pause and breathe. Catch our breath, because only then can we sprint. See that photo above this paragraph? Those are two gazelles being chased by a cheetah. They yearn to escape a trap that has been set for them. You see, we are like the gazelles. I’m like the one in mid air. I jump first, and I ask questions later. This instinct screams inside all of us, because it’s tribal and it predates any written existence or explanation that man can give. The desire to run, to move through the world, to fluidly approach our deepest desires with vigor and passion. It’s who we are.
So Why Am I So Afraid? Big future, No plans.
The fear you feel in deep in your gut is bred by a lot of different factors. Anxiety, pressure, dreams, and especially expectations can lead you to feeling a fear of never moving forward. The last thing any person wants to feel is stuck in place. You have to confront that fear. Ask yourself why it is you are where you are. The best and easiest way to confront that fear is to make time. First off, make time for yourself. Self love and ca re is key to addressing those fears. The other important thing is to materialize. We can materialize our dreams by setting goals for ourselves. Granted, we don’t want to set our dial to 100 right off the bat. Think small goals, stepping stones that will begin to aim you towards a direction that you feel is less monotonous. Small goals will also make the present easier to endure. Navigating the existential dread of day to day life can be more enjoyable when you know you are working towards something. According to Harvard, Hundreds of correlational and experimental studies show evidence that setting goals increase success rate in various settings, including education. Perhaps one of the most prestigious institutions of education in America has a point.
Parks and Recreation’s Ron Swanson(Nick Offerman) scowls uncomfortably.
Don’t Be Afraid to Make Yourself Uncomfortable.
I know, I know. This one goes against every grain of your being, right? This is the second step, but arguably the most important one. While setting goals for yourself it’s important to take yourself out of your comfort zone. This could mean complimenting strangers, creating routines for yourself. Really anything that takes you out of your own head and helps you to focus on your goals at hand. Sometimes our fear of being uncomfortable can serve as a roadblock to the things we wish to accomplish in life. In order to maneuver these road blocks, we have to create more space for ourselves. To create that space we must make ourselves comfortable. We must not be afraid to walk out on that limb, to take that crucial step. I don’t need to tell you what that step is. Only YOU know what that step is. Moving on you have to take the step or if you can’t, plan a path to it. Sometimes this can mean challenging yourself, being more self aware, and learning to gently criticize your own decisions. I’m not, saying beat yourself over the head. I’m also talking about those little things in life that feel like they weigh you down. Maybe you wanna quit smoking, or maybe you’re just damned tired of not making your rent on time. If you step outside your comfort zone, sometimes you can find new doorways opening for you. Another powerful way to execute your goals is to trust yourself. The journey one takes to trust themselves is truly the pinnacle of being uncomfortable. Many of us walk this earth day to day without an inch of trust for ourselves. We see the world through pairs of depraved eyes, through foggy coffee cup lights, through shallow veneers built out of other people’s expectations. Fuck those expectations. Set expectations for yourself and honor them. Doing this is honoring yourself.
Listen to Yourself Every Now & Then.
Lets face it. Your head feels like a jail cell. It’s getting to you. So why are you just sitting there reading this on your phone? Think of what you want. Visualize it and feel it in your heart. Become one with it, because if you don’t trust yourself you will lose faith in yourself. Don’t be afraid to make yourself uncomfortable. Set goals along the way. Don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty and be messy sometimes. It’s okay to be messy. It’s okay to make mistakes. Be realistic with your goals but always dream big, because sometimes life just might give you a break if you scrub hard enough. The real awesome parts of life are the parts that we accept wholeheartedly as they are. Ugly or beautiful, accepting these truths is how we process exactly what it means to be alive today. Sure, we all walk around and pretend that walking around this floating rock means nothing. Pretend that as a burning star orbits around us, black holes aren’t vacuuming up our hope. Making it through this life means accepting responsibility for who you are, but it also means accepting the person you want to be. If you don’t like something about yourself don’t be afraid to change it. You have the power to be whoever you wanna be. I could tell you to suck it up. I could tell you to stay calm and _______ but that’s not gonna solve a damned thing. Only you know how to solve it. Life is not the Rubik’s Cube everybody tries to make it out to be. It’s only complicated when we magnify the little shit. Look at the big picture. Always think big picture, never think small. Hell, you just might like the outcome.