Imagine waking up each morning, for the rest of your life, completing every task and chore in the same manner as the day before and with the capability of being replicated the following day. Don’t get me wrong, I have my own morning routine, but this concept is much more than how you brew your coffee and fry your eggs. This idea entails how you approach life on the day to day.
In the past I have written about complacency and breaking the chains associated to living an average life. While I encourage everyone to live his or her own life, I will admit, I don’t encourage anyone to just let life pass you by. Without an enthusiasm for life, then it begs the question, “What am I living for?”
I tend to think that the life we lead is centered in four domains – personal, relational, professional and physical. As we age, our priorities change and more emphasis is placed on one as opposed to the other. At different points in life, the one that takes precedence might shift. At other points in time, it’s easy to become remiss in one, hell maybe even all four areas. When we fail to recognize these four aspects of our lives, we begin waking up each day, going through the motions, and falling asleep to wake up and do it again the next day.
By no means am I perfect, and never will be, and there were points of time in my life when I disregarded ‘growth’ in any facet. At those points in time, I would like to say that I was ‘living in the moment’, ‘letting life pass me by, and ‘just going with it until something better comes along’.
There is nothing wrong with being entrenched in something in the moment and just going with the flow, but if we aren’t challenging ourselves, or at least striving for just a bit more, then what growth are we aiming to achieve?
Try new things. Take a leap of faith. Sign up for a 5K race. Go to church. Read a new book. I don’t care what it is, just do something! Do something so that when all is said and done, you can say to yourself, “Wow, that felt good.’’ This is what it means to push yourself to a realm of possibility that you may not have known existed.
Another way to think about it is through the word complacency. This simply means satisfied. In other words, you feel good and what you have and your position in life has you filled… for the moment. For some, this is a great place to be. The struggle I have is that I feel complacency breeds mediocrity. The more complacent we are, the less likely we are to take a chance. The less likely we are to see things as an opportunity rather than a risk. The less likely we are to challenge our own way of thinking in order to learn something new. The less likely we are to test the thresholds in our lives.
Why?
So we won’t ‘fail’?
So we don’t have to say ‘that didn’t work’?
So we don’t have to use any ‘negative’ talk?
On the other hand, we could succeed. We could experience something incredible. We could learn something new. We just might surprise ourselves at what our true potential really is.
This is to live. This is to take control of our lives. This is the moment when we can begin telling ourselves that we know we are capable of not just doing more, but being more.
Have you ever wondered if there’s something more to your current state of life? Thought that you are ‘stuck’ where you are? Do you ever wish for something more? Stop wishing and start doing. Challenge yourself. Through challenge you will grow. Through growth you will create opportunities. And in creating opportunities, mediocrity will no longer be a certainty.
Make your dreams and goals in life a possibility.
They are attainable.
You must step outside of your comfort zone.
Ask yourself, "What are of my life would I like to improve?"
Then, take one small step.
Start today. Today is possible.