Sometimes it seems so easy to just give in, give up, and go along with the status quo. Such a relief to just let go and allow yourself to become that proverbial fat, dumb, and happy person.
Carving your own path can be too challenging and fraught with many risks and dangers.
Going with the flow, following the pack, doing what normal people do (whatever that is these days!), is so much less trying. Traveling the well worn path with the masses rather than the road less traveled makes so much more sense to most and requires so little thought and effort. It’s safe. The risks are minimal, the rewards are known. It’s a sure thing.
Why then are we warriors not content to do that?
Why are we not cut out for it?
Why are we the rouges and renegades?
Why do we yearn for something more, something different, something better? Why is normalcy so dull and unattractive?
What is that thing inside us that refuses to back down, refuses to quit?
What is it that causes us to rage against the dying of the light?
I’ll tell you what I think it is. And I’ll also let you in on a little secret. I think it’s the human spirit, and it’s not just in some of us, it’s in all of us. It’s just that some of us have forgotten.
Some of us have allowed ourselves to become so bogged down in the day to day details that don’t really matter all that much that we’ve lost touch with that special spark that ignites our passion and guides us to new heights and greater things.
We’ve become so enamored of being comfortable that we’ve trapped ourselves in our own comfort zones. We fear to go beyond them; and the walls of those zones get closer every day. The thing with comfort zones is this – if you’re not moving forward, expanding it and pushing its edge on a consistent basis, then it is growing smaller and tightening around you causing you to die a little every day.
So What Do You Do?
Remember this – only dead bodies float downstream and “go with the flow”. To be truly alive you must take risks. Take a chance. Get out of your comfort zone. Get comfortable being uncomfortable. Don’t give up before that final buzzer, keep pushing and striving. Do the thing that scares you. Find the limits and move them out just a little bit farther. What have you got to lose? Understand the reality that none of us get out of here alive, so why not make it count while you’re still here.
Do not go gentle into that good night…
Rage against the dying of the light!
2 Comments
Amanda
October 9, 2012Jon, thanks so much for this inspiring post! I couldn’t have said it better myself. At 47, I’m in the best shape of my life, and love to get other people (especially women in their 40s) excited about the possibilities for their own fitness. Why do so many people just give up? It used to be mainly people in their 40s, because our society programs people of that age to expect “inevitable” overweight, disease, and dementia to begin then. Now I’m seeing more and more younger people, even in their 20s, falling prey to those erroneous beliefs. I feel very sad when I see that, because having a fit, healthy, strong, and flexible body is so important to our enjoyment of life! And we can have that at any age. I believe that we’re meant to leave this life at a very old age, with a body aged like fine wood and still strong, supple, and beautiful. Thank you, Jon, for encouraging people to take back their power from the many purveyors of self-defeating beliefs about age and illness. Keep up the good work!
Jon
October 9, 2012Thank you, Amanda!
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