Keep Going
About two weeks ago was the first day in my life I didn’t want to get out of bed anymore. That’s especially rare for me: I was blessed with high amounts of energy (or undiagnosed ADHD, as my friends like to point out). Having high energy is a great quality to have. Until you don’t have anything to do.
I returned from traveling the world six months ago. After I came back, I struggled finding work. It’s not that I didn’t have any chances. Yet I swore I would find work that I find inspiring.
Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
I can still co-run the family-owned real estate business, so I’m very lucky in this regard. Still, writing over 100 applications with only five chances of getting into the second round feels like getting punched in the face by prime Mike Tyson over and over again.
But whether you get concussed by it is in your power. Getting up again lies in your hands.
I’ve tried feeling bad about my life over and over again. Didn’t change a thing. Maybe by the thirteen hundredth time, I should’ve figured out that this is not the way forward. Yet here I went for the thirteen hundred and first time, running head first into a wall, still having the audacity to complain that my head hurt.
Whether you have a positive outlook on life is not dependent upon your circumstances, it’s a decision. Every day, it’s yours to make.
I don’t know about manifestation and the sort. Sitting in a room imagining a Porsche won’t make one materialize into your garage. Yet I think there’s some psychological merit to it. Not in the make-all-your-dreams-come-true sort of way, but in how you approach challenges. There’s this funny trick your brain does. It’s this held belief that if I only suffer enough, the bad thing won’t come to pass. As if there were some cosmic balance sheet with suffering on the right side and all the beauty of life on the left. If I stack up the right side enough, then the universe will bestow a coupon upon me that I then can exchange for all my dreams in life.
I danced that charade every time I had a big exam coming up: if I worry long enough, then the cosmos itself would give me a hand and let me pass.
What a bunch of bullwhip.
Worry is a spiral with only death at the end.
– Aurae in Light Bringer (Red Rising Series)
Suffering and worrying as an investment produces horrible yield. You think it’s an antidote to failure when it is instead the poison. Speaking of poison: I complained, complained, and complained some more. It only intensified the already negative situation. What is it that they say again? If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.
The path is there to be walked. Sometimes it feels like you fly, sometimes like running. Sometimes you’ll even be crawling. It’s in these moments it’s good to remember that wings will follow yet again.
Whatever happens: keep going.
And guess what? Today, I got a new job that sounds extremely interesting. It’s the next step on my journey. Because of the decision to have a positive outlook, I engaged the world differently. Positivity has this pulling force. People are much more inclined to engage with you if you radiate positivity. They will not just help you take the next step, but walk part of the way with you. And why do they do that?
Because you kept going.
