Mediocrity is the Root of all Unhappiness
If you met yourself from 10-years ago, would that person be proud of who he’s become?
Think about this for a minute.
Would that person be happy with the life you’re living? Would yourself from the past be happy with how things turned out or would he be ashamed of who he became?
Sometimes we stray off the paths we swore would walk until the end of time, and we aren’t even aware of it. But ask yourself this.
Are you happy with what you do?
Are you happy with your relationship?
Are you happy with the person you’ve become?
Are you? Don’t be afraid to ask the big questions, because they will wake you up from the deep sleep you’re in. They will shine a light on places you’ve long forgotten to visit.
I get that when you grow up you get to see that the real world isn’t all that easy to live in. But most of us drift off, forget about our dreams, and learn to accept the things that we get in life, even if we’re not happy with them. We settle with what we get instead of chasing after what we really want.
But the harsh reality is that in life we get as much as we invest.
If you work more on perfecting your knowledge about a certain field, chances are you’ll become more proficient in that field, and you’ll increase your chances of becoming more successful and happier.
But if you don’t do that, if you don’t put your effort where it counts, life is gonna smack you in the face with mediocrity.
And the sad part is most people are okay with that.
They’re okay with giving up on their dreams just because it’s inconvenient to go after them. But, how is it inconvenient? Just because someone tells you that you can’t do something, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. Why are you afraid of what people might think of you?
The only approval you need to seek after is your own, and that is what you need to realize right now.
No one will care about your dreams more than you.
The people closest to you will be happy to see you do okay in life. But they won’t really care if you’ve lived up to your potential. As long as you’re healthy, have decent pay, and play by the “rules” of society, you’re doing fine. But fine doesn’t cut it, does it? Simply drifting through life isn’t enough, right?
Working on something menial day-in-day-out will eventually create a void inside you that will only continue to grow. You will forget about what sets your heart on fire and you will obey the rules of society, but you won’t be happy. And what good does hiding your unhappiness do?
If you aren’t happy with what you’re doing now, what do you think is going to change about that in 5, 10, 20 years? Will you magically become happy with what you do? No, you will learn how not to care, at the very best. But if you don’t care, you lose the very thing that makes you human — emotions.
Embrace your mess, learn how to own everything you do. Don’t place the fault about your failures elsewhere. Don’t shy away from admitting your defeats, because you wouldn’t hide your victories, would you?
Be proud of what you are, but also learn how to acknowledge your shortcomings.
The world won’t suddenly reward you just because you’ve suffered too much. No, that’s now how it works. The reality is that sometimes you might suffer for no reason at all. Sometimes, better days might not come just because you’ve lived through the worst. The harsh reality is that sometimes suffering doesn’t have a silver lining. Sometimes we suffer without any reason and without any reward waiting for us on the other side.
Remember, the world doesn’t owe us anything.
Don’t expect anything to just be given to you and learn how to work for what you want. Don’t rely on the universe to make your wishes come true. Just realize that you’ve screwed up when you have and move on with your life, but be a bit wiser the next time.
If you don’t learn from your mistakes, you will just keep on repeating those mistakes and you’ll get nothing useful in return.
Forget mediocrity. Forget being only good enough. Stand up and fight for your dreams, because no one else will. And if you don’t fight for your dreams, what are you even doing?
