This post is for risk takers. The people following their dreams, starting new careers, new businesses, new lives. Moving to new cities, looking for new friends, and living a self-directed life instead of following the path of least resistance.
I know that it seems hard right now.
Everything is so uncertain.
Your finances are uncertain, your relationships are uncertain, your future is uncertain.
You have so many things that you want to do, and you no idea if you will be able to do them.
Sometimes it’s terrifying.
Waking up and having no idea if this is going to work out.
If you will succeed in creating a business, in finding love, in becoming financially independent, in making a living doing what you love.
It’s terrifying a lot of the time.
It is tempting to start lusting for the future. Wishing that you knew how it was all going to work out. Wishing that you didn’t have to live in such uncertainty. That you knew you were going to succeed. That you knew you would be happy in the long run.
“Like a kid in math class, terribly aware of his first boner….. it’s hard” – Shane Koyczan
At some point, your perspective is going to change.
At some point in the future, you will look back at this moment and reminisce.
You’ll think about how exciting it was. How alive you felt in those moments when it was all in doubt.
When you were just starting out, taking your first steps, and you had no idea how it would all work out.
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” – Lao Tzu
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a point of view.
A point of view, a direction, and a dream.
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a dream. An aspiration to live like an adventure. And what matters in this world is applied aspiration.
Because the trap in life isn’t that you’ll fail. The trap in life is that you will never try. That you will get stuck with the millions of other people in this country with their sights set on a promotion and a new car.
Right now you are racked with anxiety. Living a life of uncertainty. But the reality is you have already won.
You’ve been bold with your ambition. You’ve ignored what others expected of you to chase what you expect from yourself. You’ve already won.
Right now you’re just waiting, for the score to reflect what you’ve already done.
Think about the life you want 15 years from now. Think about if you could have everything that you wanted. A nice house, a beautiful family, a self-driving Tesla, a private jet.
If everything you wanted was yours. And imagine that was the reality. That everything you want will one day be yours. Imagine if you knew it with certainty.
It makes it feel less scary right now. To know that everything you want will be yours. It takes some of the pressure off. But, it makes things a lot less exciting.
It would be like playing a video game after you know the cheat codes. Or playing that video game on a level way too easy for your skill level. It becomes awfully boring when you know what the result is going to be.
You start to wish for some more uncertainty. For an outcome, that is up in the air.
It doesn’t always feel like it, but the best part of life is the uncertainty. The moments of great change. The surprises that you didn’t see coming. The victories previously veiled in loss. Success born out of failure. The part of your story when you didn’t know the ending.
This moment, right here, right now.
Where your life could go any direction, where eventual success seems so elusive. This moment is the best moment to be alive. To live through the victory of winning your financial independence, winning financial security & if you choose to do so, making tons of fucking money.
Right now you are living the best part of your life. You get to live through the most exciting part of the story of your life. It hasn’t passed you by yet.
So embrace the uncertainty.
Embrace the losses that allow you to define wins and the failures that allow you to recognize success.
There are billionaires out there who would trade places with you in a second. Billionaires who lust for something more than having virtually all of their desires met & all sorts of people after their money.
They would trade it all to go back through the most exciting part of life. To feel as alive as you do right now.
The desire for certainty is human nature, but it is a recipe for depression.
You’ve already made the most important choice in life. You’ve forsaken perceived certainty to pursue big goals. You’ve set your sights high.
You came to a fork in the wood and chose the path that was more exciting, and that made all the difference.
So take a moment right now to enjoy it. Breathe deep and savour the uncertainty. Savour the doubt and the fear because that is what makes life worth living.
*This post was inspired by Alan Watts, the movie Click, and by Ryan Ferguson’s anxiety.
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