The world doesn’t need only pigeons.
Or just wolves.
Or just rabbits. Just sharks. Just ladybugs.
Can you imagine?
How boring and bland and definitely dead the world would be.
The world exists as it is because of all the different stories being played out by each insanely different life and purpose and influence.
…
When we hear the words unique, diverse, uncommon, rare, authentic, special…what does our soul say?
What physical twitch does one get when they think about being different?
What do you think of yourself and this world you live in?
You have a story.
It’s the story of your journey. It includes every hardship you’ve ever endured, every exciting moment you’ve lived, and a 360-degree view of your individual character. It’s full of your preferences, your beliefs, and what you think is absolutely true about the world.
And it’s from this story that you identify yourself.
Where you are and where you’re going are genuinely true from your point of view. You determine everything that will happen to you based on how you act out your life day to day.
But then…
Why is it not the way you dream it?
Why is it not at the same level as those you admire or are in awe of?
Why does it seem like you’re so far from what you want?
…
I used to only look at my barriers.
The walls of social structure, economics, and oversaturated competitors made it so difficult for me to make progress.
I focused on them — or so I thought — because I figured the more I processed them, the more I could get around them.
But I realized something.
The more I thought about them, the more deafening and powerful those things were.
“I’ll never be able to compete with so many entrepreneurs.” “I don’t have the skill or creativity of so many other writers.” “People are too distracted to see the importance of my perspective.” “I don’t have enough money for the education I need.” “I’m taxed too much.” “I can’t keep up with inflation.” “No one wants to help me.”
And this…
This was my story.
It was as loud as static noise at volume 11 and as blinding as the sun peaking over the horizon.
It was everything.
The Lying Mirror
What would you do if you looked in the mirror and you looked nothing like how you know you do?
The crazy thing is that what we want our lives to look like is rarely in line with how we play it out.
And even though there may be some truth to all of these barriers, we’re only incapable of overcoming them because the barriers themselves are where we put our attention.
They grow the more we stare at them.
Simply put:
To live the story we want to live, we have to work and play and think that story.
We have to get the reflection we see to match what we feel.
What we’re afraid of.
It’s not the perfection in which we do our work, give value, and live our stories…it’s in the heart of how we do it.
The energy.
The power.
What seems to be stopping us is our fear — that’s no surprise.
But it’s not just fear of acting.
It’s this new world of instant information and immediate feedback. We’re in a novel time where our work and our lives are reacted to instantly anyone cares or tries to understand us.
Everyone person is scared that what we are isn’t enough. We see ourselves diluted in the oceans of millions of other lives.
What we seem to not see though, are the islands in which we can choose to land. The thousands of places uniquely built by those who envision, act out, and support different lifestyles and views.
Islands to be crossed the sea for, visited, and taken in.
We don’t give enough credit to our own perspectives and wisdom. We don’t give enough thought to what it would mean to live our own legacy and do it for the sake of doing it.
To live courageously.
Purposely blind to all outside expectations and demands; disregard all other information and worries.
We only need to know what drives us.
We need to be obsessed only with the information surrounding our missions and block everything else out.
We are not gods. Nor should we be.
You have to be able to face your fears in a time where all information can be used against you and all voices seek to silence you. Block them out. Make them insignificant.
It’s a time like no other, but the journey remains the same.
Your story, your angle, is just a piece of what the world needs.
Remove the pressure from yourself of needing to know everything in order to protect yourself.
You need the shield in front of you. Something you can still move with, still orbit your body with. You don’t need a fucking tank.
…
The flaw with us humans, apart from our arrogance of superiority, is that we think to heal the world or to make it healthy, everyone needs to see it the same, act it out the same, and treat it the same.
All wolves, all rabbits, or all fucking pigeons.
But you and I know that doesn’t work.
When it comes down to “the same”, the only rules that should matter are not murdering one another, freedom to live as we see fit, and honesty from human to human.
Most importantly, you have to see the power in your story. Enough to see the good in it and to live it without shame or judgment or expectations of perfection.
You are the alchemist.
You do what others cannot do.
Don’t die a dirty bird, picking up the crumbs of those around you.
Truth and Love, Reader.
…
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This post was previously published on medium.com.
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