in the dreamland, gravity doesn't kill
I was just reading Unf*k yourself by Gary John Bishop, and something he said hit me like a ton of bricks:
The only difference between you and the person who's living the life you want is that they're doing it. ... They're not smarter, more mindful, stronger, or any of that stuff. ... The only difference is that successful people don't wait. They're not waiting for the "right" moment. They don't wait for inspiration to strike or for some cosmic event to force them to action. They get up and they do, and they try, and they fail even before they may feel "ready." They're flying the airplane while they're building it. If it falls out of the sky, they'll piece it back together and try again." 🛬
Woah. This is the dreamland - living the life you want, the life you dream of.
And as Bishop says (and as many wise people have pointed out again and again), the road to your success is paved with your failures. 🚧👷♂️👷♀️ This is how it works. The sooner you accept that, that you don't try to wait for perfect (perfect mood, perfect capability, perfect product, perfect opportunity, perfectly safe space to fail and not feel bad/judgement), the sooner you'll be living the life you want.
At some point, we all leave the life we have, so better to have the life you want before you have to leave it.
But something about what he said really stuck out to me (if you hadn't guessed, it's what I put in bold above). Successful people don't figure it out. They take a chance. If it doesn't work, they plummet to earth. What happens next?
They don't die. The fall doesn't kill them, gravity doesn't build them up to a terminal velocity and then squish them against the earth.
Instead they get a chance to pick themselves up, dust themselves off, and apply what they've learned about building airplanes to the next airplane they build.
Or maybe they're ready to build a rocket. 🚀🚀
You can too. Just start. Start little, start small, start safe, but for the love of your future self and the respect you have for yourself, start.
Love you.
Paul
PS. As I think about it, I realize there's a question I didn't address above. If gravity doesn't kill in this land, what does? And I think the answer may be simple: it's not trying, never giving yourself the chance to test your mettle. Please, start.
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