It’s really, very easy to become overwhelmed. With the never-ending onslaught of internet information, we’re bombarded with limitless possibilities for our lives. If you find yourself at all like a deer, standing, staring into the proverbial headlights… Life might just run you over and leave you in the dirt. So, stop staring into the light dammit and read the rest of this.
To avoid an unfortunate, premature death, it’s integral that you pick your priorities. Or, in other words, pick your poisons.
Every actionable goal, every career, every passion, comes with it inherent challenges. These challenges are the test. And the results of that test, pass or fail, are the indicator for whether you’re on the right path or not. Or, in other words, whether that thing is for you to be doing.
Every actionable goal, every career, every passion, comes with it inherent challenges.
For example, little me thought it would be so fun to study engineering — I thought, “Gee whiz, I could be an astronaut someday!”
Of course, I was dearly mistaken. Oh man, how I’d love to have a time machine to go back and crush my own dreams back then… Just walk into that physics class and say, “Hey, art class is downstairs bozo.”
Of course, that’s not the way the world works. And that’s exactly why you need these “tests” to show us what kind of struggles you’re willing or not willing to endure. You learn what your priorities should be in life by trying and making mistakes (hopefully not mistakes that cost you a lot of money, but hey, those have their charms — if this is you, a good event series to check out to make you feel better about yourself is Fuckup Nights).
My dream to become an astronaut wasn’t supported by my nonexistent work ethic to grind out differential equations all day. It took me a while of grinding to figure that one out. And in retrospect, I could have figured it out a lot faster had I been more in tune with my emotions. There was a different kind of struggle waiting out there for me… I now know probably something to do with starving artist, new-age hippy and adventure addict cliches (yay).
Challenges are everywhere. The idea of a life without challenges doesn’t exist. And that’s the best thing we could ask for — considering we pretty much need a challenge to feel any sense of purpose in life. So pick your poison.
Ask yourself this: What do you love doing? Are you willing to do the hardest parts of that activity for an extended period of time?
If the answer is yes, get to it! If the answer is no, save your time and look elsewhere.
In relationships, you cannot have the love without the work. In sport, you cannot have the wins without the practice. In other words, you can’t have your cake and eat it too… You have to sell it, because you’re a baker, and you can’t just eat all your cakes…
You can’t pursue that goal, that career, that passion, without putting in the work. You need to be capable of delaying the gratification and embracing the suck. But hey, it can be easy to forget this and become overwhelmed, when you only see the highlight reels online.
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@elena.jean
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