Can you hear it? That still small voice that nags at you.
Maybe it’s a yearning to go somewhere, do or be something else….an overwhelming desire to give up who you are now and become the person hiding inside of you.
What stops you?
Fear?
Of the unknown? Of failure? Ridicule?
There is a great deal of safety in the known. Haven’t we been told all our lives, ‘better the devil you know’ or ‘you have a good steady job, why throw that away’ or even ‘who are you to have these high flying ideas?’
Have you ever wanted to get past that?
Lots of the beliefs we have grown up with are simply that; beliefs. They established themselves in our mind over many years. We are (and have always been) constantly influenced by the opinions and beliefs of authority figures and peers. Everyone from our parents and extended family to our teachers, church, newspapers and TV have instilled in us information that we have built our beliefs on. We have been compelled to prioritise these beliefs to shape a future in our mind of what a ‘successful’ life looks like.
It almost seems to be that as long as we have that steady job, a car, a house (and of course a huge mortgage to keep us in the successful situation), we have somehow proven our ‘worth’ to society.
Of course, to keep that worth, we have to keep slugging away, day in and day out, no matter how miserable we are. Of course, if we were to lose everything, then we also lose that worth; we have failed.
Nobody wants to know why you failed, only that you did. There are many ways that can happen overnight, from redundancy, recession to unexpected life threatening illness.
Sadly, the illness is usually brought on by the stress of maintaining our position….our job, house, belongings; not living a life where we feel truly happy but instead pushing on and doing the ‘right thing’.
If you were told tomorrow that you had cancer and had six months to live, how would your life change? How would you choose to live your last six months? What would you prioritise? How would your beliefs change? That picture you have in your mind of how life should look, is that built on on some inaccurate beliefs or is it built on fact? Would holding on to material things be at the top of your list? When you think about it now, how you struggled to get that something you really wanted (even if it only meant keeping up with peers), how happy were you when you finally got it? Did it make you feel really satisfied or was there suddenly another ‘thing’ to get that would really make you happy?
In six months time, things won’t mean much to you, you can’t take them with you. What do you think you would do? Probably cram as much living as you can into six months.
You may get hit by a car tomorrow as you walk back to work with a coffee for your boss. Maybe it’s time to really start living right now.
Those beliefs you live by …are they facts? or are they just beliefs?