During the years of my corporate career race, I’d often find myself being asked the question “Do you prefer design or development?”. It was always a tough question to answer, mainly because these were two things I enjoyed equally.
As time went on, I found that these two aspects of my creativity were but small parts to a much bigger whole. I would later fall in love with things like photography, writing, analytics, speaking, entrepreneurship and even gardening.
When we think of design or being creative, we often associate it with something artsy, when it fact, it is a vital thread in how we communicate and even live.
Take our routines, for example, they are designs that provide structure or in some cases disorganization to our lives.
A Fear of Heights
Often, we find ourselves standing on the precipice of achieving that thing we’ve been pushing towards for so long. Instead of being excited, we find that we’re drained, emotionally, physically and mentally.
We start to look down, seeing only how bad it would be if we were to fall. Completely missing out on the amazing view of where we are and just how close to where we have dreamt of being.
I remember the day I decided to go skydiving. There was a moment where I thought to myself, Am I really doing this?. Here I was, a guy that was not a fan of heights, especially when it came to things like rollercoasters and lighthouses.
Had I chose to back out and do something safer for my birthday at the time, I would have missed out on a perspective and experience of a lifetime.
The view was absolutely amazing, in a moment I went from fearful to hopeful and as we landed, the next thought to follow was, If I can survive that, then I have nothing really to fear.
It can be easy to look down and see our faults, failures, and obstacles, but it is equally easy for us to look up and see the possibilities and opportunities that await.
The longer we procrastinate or tell ourselves we can’t, is the longer it’ll take for us to accomplish anything.
Sure, we could just decide to go back to what we remember as being safe, but then we’d just have done nothing but waste time and in some cases the time of others. Something none of us can get back.
Tomorrow isn’t a promise
It’s interesting to see the flow of events after the death of a celebrity. Usually, it starts out with massive waves of social media updates saying how sad they are that this happened. Shortly thereafter it becomes a topic of discussion in our various social circles, followed by our quick return to our everyday lives.
What’s most interesting in this process is how far some tend to go in expressing their thoughts and emotions on the matter, one that if the event didn’t happen, the individual would never have crossed their mind.
We’ve gotten really good at just caring on the surface, especially when everyone around us is doing it too.
Rarely do we look at our own lives in these moments. The grudges, disappointments, and failures we hold onto, the ones we give power to that hold us back from really making a difference.
Instead, we spend our efforts trying to make a quick buck so that we can live the life we’ve always dreamed of, buy the things we want and finally have an easier life. So we find ourselves, sitting and waiting for our moment or that person to come along and give us permission to be amazing.
Our time is one of the most precious gifts of life, one we often take for granted, especially when it comes to who we spend that time with.
Challenge the Inner Resistance
There are those moments when we find ourselves stuck and struggling with a part of us that tries to get us to believe that we can’t. That our dreams are impossible.
It’s as if we’ve been trapped in some sort of mirror, that is only there to remind us of the moments when we weren’t strong or smart enough.
It is within these moments where we need to focus on what we can do.
Sure, it may be hard to stay focused when there seem to be so many things that warrant our attention but the truth is, before the ability to constantly know what’s going on, you probably would have survived just fine.
Challenge yourself on the little things. Avoid painting yourself into a corner with absolute thoughts and exaggerations.
If your goal is to write a book, then thinking I could never write a book won’t get you there. The bigger the task, the more time it takes to achieve. Giving up without ever trying isn’t a characteristic of someone successful.
Instead of focusing on what isn’t currently possible, start looking at what is. Much like with writing a book, start with looking at what it takes to get to the end, breaking things down into smaller pieces, being consistent with your actions towards your goal and taking the time to celebrate the small wins.
Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible. – Francis of Assisi
Most importantly, it’s okay to stumble, in fact, it’s what makes us human. Take these moments to be kind to yourself instead of a bully and learn to let things go.
Take pride in doing the little things well. Jump at the opportunities to branch outside your comfort zone. The bubbles we allow ourselves to get comfortable in can end up ruining our perception of life beyond its walls.
We owe it to ourselves to love more, be more patient towards others and push ourselves to be better in all the things.
Each facet of our skills and abilities compounds into being the core of our creativity. Allowing us to expand our world of possibilities in any direction.
It’s cool if others can’t wrap their minds around the things that make you who you are. Truthfully, it really isn’t for them to figure out. Don’t let these glue traps distract you from your purpose.
Live boldly, humbly and be faithful to your goals.
