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We humans like to show off our battle scars. We like to sit around the proverbial campfire and compare our tales of yore.
We’re good at one-upping each other when it comes to our past struggles.
The old folks love to tell the young whippersnappers about the days when they ‘paid their dues’.
I get it. But is this really useful?
I’m kind of over the ‘paying dues’ thing, aren’t you?
Here’s where I’m coming from…
Drop the ego’s need to create drama where none should exist.
Just wake up and live the sh*t out of life.
Make that your adventure. An adventure, not of paying dues, but of living a miraculous life.
These are the campfire tales I want to start hearing (although the blood and guts are cool).
How differently would you live if you realized there was nowhere to go? If there was no prescribed trail we have to blaze in order to get to the promised land?
I don’t know about you, but I just want to stop the slog, take a deep breath, and wake up to our God-given wholeness that is this sacred moment, right now.
Damn, it feels nice to breathe it in.
We’re making all this stuff up. The only one who’s asking us to go on some hero’s journey is…us.
Which is cool and exciting if that’s how we want to define ourselves, but we should know that we’re doing it by choice, not by compulsion.
I’ve struggled more than you.
I’m more broke than you.
I’ve paid more dues than you.
I’m busier than you.
I’m more stressed than you.
…but that’s okay, it’s part of the journey, right?
If that’s what defines you, grab your machete and start hacking away.
I just probably won’t be at this campfire when you get back.
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This post was originally published on medium.com, and is republished here with the author’s permission.
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Photo credit: Ashley Batz on Unsplash