Life is not about getting by. It’s not about waiting for the next holiday to come around.
There is more.
In between the daily hassle you have asked yourself if maybe your life could be more exciting, less stressful and, yeah let’s face it: Less boring.
Ok, let me break this to you: You have the power to become anything you want. You can do whatever you feel like with your life.
The only thing that’s stopping you from living the life of your dreams is: You.
You are your own disease. And your own cure.
You can not blame anyone but yourself for the life you have right now. You’re responsible for the good and the bad.
Sure, there might have been circumstances that you could not directly control, but that doesn’t matter. You always had the opportunity to choose how you react and deal with those circumstances.
You have to understand and accept this if you want to live a life that you’re proud of and that you’re in love with.
You also need to believe in your dreams again.
All the dead dreams…
Most people lose their ability to dream in high school. Somewhere between classes and your first kiss you lose it. Just like that.
You accept that everyone around you is right, that there is no way for you to be that lucky exception who gets to live his dreams. You surrender and agree to follow the standard path society has laid out for you.
The little rebellious spark in you dies in silence.
And you continue to live your life as if nothing ever happened.
You do the things that you know you should do, so you finish high school and pick a major in college that seems to be a good idea according to the current economic situation and your parents advice.
When uncle Harry asks you what you want to do after college, you quickly shrug you’re shoulders and say that you’re not sure yet, maybe something with ____ (fill in the blank with some fancy word you’ve heard in your last lecture).
Yet secretly you hope that it will all start to make sense when you graduate. That you will finally have that light bulb moment when you understand what it is you want to do with your life, completed with a step-by-step foolproof process you can follow.
+++Breaking news: Nobody will be able to figure out what to do with your life except for you+++
I’m sorry to disappoint you, but the magic light bulb moment will never come.
If you don’t get up and actively do something to figure it all out, nothing will ever change.
“In life, people tend to wait for good things to come to them. And by waiting, they miss out. Usually, what you wish for doesn’t fall in your lap; it falls somewhere nearby, and you have to recognize it, stand up, and put in the time and work it takes to get to it. This isn’t because the universe is cruel. It’s because the universe is smart. It has its own cat-string theory and knows we don’t appreciate things that fall into our laps.”
― Neil Strauss
No one can connect the dots for you. That is your job.
You can’t rely on someone else to make the big decisions in life for you. If you do, the decisions might seem easier to make but you’ll pay for them with an unfulfilled life.
Your current situation is not your parents, society’s or your ex boyfriend’s fault. And no, the world doesn’t hate you. The problem is, you don’t care about your life enough.
If you would, you wouldn’t go about it without a plan. You’d listen to your soul to find out what it’s calling for. You’d make plans to make it happen and then go make it happen. You’d fall, you’d get up, adjust your strategy, fall again, get up, adjust your strategy and one day you’ll be feeding your soul with the things it so truly desires.
Why your life bores the crap outta you
Do you get out of bed every morning without a clear idea of what you’re working towards or why you’re doing it?
Do you just get up and deal with whatever life throws your way and then complain about it?
Yeah. Well, then my friend, you’re a lovely looser. And that’s okay. I’ve been there. In fact, that’s how I’ve lived my entire life until just 6 months ago when I found out that we don’t have to live that way.
Instead of just getting by we can wake up everyday, excited to get to design our life around what we care about. We can feel a much higher level of satisfaction and happiness everyday.
The first step is to wake up and take charge of your life again.
That’s all I’m asking you to do today. Decide whether or not you want to live a life you love and go after your dreams or if you want to stay in the comfortable disaster you’re living right now.
Hint: Option 1 is much more fun.
I’m here with you. Bright Little Socks is meant to help you live consciously and wake up excited every single day.
Don’t worry about the next steps yet. I’ll walk you through them in the coming weeks and months.
For now, make the shift to believe that living your dreams is actually possible.
-Iris
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So true, again… It means working hard, probably even harder than following the road ahead, but I’m 100% sure it pays off!
Lindy recently posted..Oz #7 Great Ocean Road & Melbourne
Yes, it does pay off. Your overall level of happiness is so much higher when you’re working towards a dream and believe you will make it if you just put in the work.
Iris recently posted..The Bright Little Socks Manifesto
Boy! That was some wake up call, Iris!
I love the tough-talk. I totally agree with you. I grew up with a lot of encouragement to stick to the comfort zone and every time I heard “but you can’t” I just rebelled because somehow, I adopted “nothing is impossible” as my motto.
I get all worked up when people are all too ready to blame someone or something and make excuses for not going ahead and changing their lives, especially when they whine about it.
Now, I have a lovely vision of you delivering this post with your hands on your hips and looking very determined.
Very very inspiring!
Vidya Sury recently posted..Book Review: The Shadow Throne
Haha, I love your vision.
You’re right seeing people complain about their lives that refuse to change anything is something I can’t stand either. But we’ve all been guilty of that sometime in our lives so let’s not be too harsh here. Sometimes we just need some time to realize that we would actually like to change something.
Amazing, especially when this entry was posted on my birthday haha! I can identify with that, the rebel in me is always questioning the mundane and the norm. Regarding people complaining about their lives, ignoring the fact that they have the power of choice to change irks me too but yup, nothing to be harsh about. Everyone should embrace their defiance once in a while for clarity, right?
A happy belated birthday to you, Fazri!
Glad the post resonated with your rebellious spark inside
I stumbled across one of your posts and then moved on to another and then another.. Oh yes, I am hooked already.
Looking forward to reading more of your lively posts <3
Love
Elgee
Gayathri recently posted..Oh no !!
So glad to have you addicted
Hi Iris,
How right you are! For the longest time, I was guilty of waiting for something. I wasted so much time and missed out on many opportunities waiting for something to happen to my life.
I wish I have realized sooner that there’s no genie to grant me 3 wishes or a rich aunt to rescue me and that I myself have to make things happen.
I’m glad that it was not too late for me to turn things around for the better and I now wake up excited and ready to face the day’s fun and work!
CreditDonkey recently posted..Survey: Women More Worried About Credit Card Fraud than Men
I’m glad to hear that you were able to turn it around. No, there are no genies in a bottle
It seems like most people think there are.
What have you changed since you realized that you have to take action?
Hi Iris,
I realized I needed to change my attitude, my beliefs and my habits.
Pain really is a great motivator.
CreditDonkey recently posted..Most Shoppers Not Interested in Thanksgiving Night Preview of Black Friday
Great insight! Now what is one thing that if you started doing or stopped doing would have the biggest impact on your life? Just something to think about
Iris recently posted..What to Do When Your Dreams Scare You So Much that You Want to Be Boring Again
Here is a question I often wonder:
It’s the old “chicken or the egg”. Which comes first “The pursuit of the dream or the belief of the dream?” Sometimes I think we can only kind of barely believe it but as we move forward our belief grows.
I know that every single expert in the universe swears up and down we have to believe it to do it – but I often wonder if this is true. I mean, do we actually have to believe it when we start?
I’m thinking out loud here (maybe that was obvious).
I think of my case – what I am doing now I did not believe was possible to this degree 3 years ago. Yes, I believed it enough to start. Which maybe that is the case – we just need a little bit o belief. But we still need belief.
Your thoughts?
Izzy recently posted..10 Life Changing Lessons Learned From Training in Martial Arts
Thanks so much for your thoughts on the topic, Izzy.
I think you’re right, we need to believe in our dreams to a certain extent that allows us to take them serious and take action.
Maybe you don’t really need to believe in a particular dream, but that it’s possible to live your dreams in general. That has made a huge difference for me.
I’m still struggling to believe in all my crazy dreams sometimes. But no matter the struggles I believe that dreams can come true and are more than weird phantasies (if you put in the work). That prevents me from thinking I’m nuts and helps to take the next step.
Iris recently posted..The 8 Step Process to Figure Out Your Life + Free Workbook
So true. You have to first believe anything is possible and then visualize the life of your dreams. Building a ‘dream board’ with pictures of places you want to visit, people you want to be around, things you might want to have all helps these dreams become a reality as well. Thanks for posting.