I remember a conversation with the late chairman and founder of my company about running out of inventory, back when our primary focus was printing books.
He leaned back in his chair, stretched a long leg out, and plunked his size 13 Rockport-shod foot down onto the conference table.
“That, my friend,” he bellowed, “is a high-class problem.”
Many of us spend much of our lives seeking and searching, trying to find ourselves, struggling to divine what we are meant to do and who we are meant to be.
Often, we figure it out too late, with too little time to shift and make an impact.
But some of us are fortunate to know our call from the start, to feel it in our earliest moments, to be confident, certain, drawn.
Even when we know, though, we sometimes avoid it, capping the volcano, suppressing the molten truth in our core.
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Even when we know, though, we sometimes avoid it, capping the volcano, suppressing the molten truth in our core, either from fear of the vulnerability that comes with letting it flow, or from feeling unworthy to pursue a dream until after we’ve made our lives solid and secure.
We bore down on boredom, until life wears away the point of the drill.
Innately, we know that once we begin our authentic work, there is no going back, that once we taste the best chocolate, the Hershey bar will forever lose its appeal. We know we will feel exquisite torture when every occupation and activity feels meaningless compared to the call we ache to fulfill, and we crave the delicious weight of shouldering the load we were given at birth instead of the ballast we’ve picked up along the way.
♦◊♦
Don’t be afraid of finding yourself.
Don’t be afraid of listening.
Don’t be afraid of the truth in your bones, of the magical flame that sparks your spirit, illuminates your mind, and lights the way for your feet.
The roots of authenticity lie in accomplishment and achievement.
Which means the roots of accomplishment and achievement lie in authenticity.
The etymology told me what I already knew.
But that, my friends, is high-class problem.
Originally published on Tom Aplomb
Photo—chattygd/Flickr
Thomas, You had me at “hello”, but you lost me at “The roots of authenticity lie in accomplishment and achievement”. For me, this statement contradicts the brilliant statement you made just before it. While accomplishment and achievement can very much serve as the cherry on top of the whip cream of our identity (unlike you, I suck at metaphors!), they do not necessarily reflect what you beautifully refer to as “the truth in your bones”. This to me is another way of saying that the “roots of authenticity” come from the inside-out. The measurement of accomplishment and achievement, however, usually… Read more »