To All The Different Identities You’ve Lived.
As we overtook the red tail lights on a deserted highway, I looked back and watched the flashy white eyes slowly fade away into the darkness. There were no more illuminated lights behind us. The moon was enveloped by dull cotton candy clouds and the stars were ghosts to the naked eye. The road reflectors created a linear passage of asphalt that was meant to take us home.
I shifted a little in my seat and put my eyes to rest. Immediately, thoughts began to flood my mind.
We have within us, scores of different versions — people we want to be and experiences we wish to have. With each new decision, we weave into ourselves a new identity that overtakes our old identities and leaves the others in the dust. Some people leave behind their pursuit of success after years of grinding while others leave behind their old lethargic self for a new-born start. Our choice has the power to propel us in the direction of the lane we choose to take — some take us away from everything we ever wanted and some help us break our own limitations and seize the very best.
All the different choices we can make are clouded in darkness until our headlights are pointed in that direction. A new road may be intimidating to take because we do not know where it would take us, but would we ever know if we didn’t take it at least once?
Whether things end up well or not, everything slowly dies until all that remains are neuro-copies of information from our distant past. The people who gave us the best memories may eventually become a memory. But at least we got those memories! (ref. J Cole). It’s inevitable.
But continuing down the same road, knowing that it does not lead to the life we want, is where we’d be guilty.
What if I gave up every time life was hard? Where would I be?
You’d be as good as dead. Because if you’re not persevering and changing, you’re barely growing. And growth is the bread and butter of living your best life. Everything that remains stagnant/stale will eventually rot or become the breeding ground for the pests to call home.
I open my eyes slowly and see a familiar neighborhood basking under the warmth of the streetlights. A little tilt of my head and I can see that the moon has made its way past those thick barriers to reveal its slight sheen. A white ball embellishing the jet-black night sky — it was beautiful.
I guess we’ve finally made it out of the darkness, huh?
There are a lot of moments in life where we’ll be stuck in between crossroads. This or that, now or later — we will never know which one is the right choice. In fact, there will never be a right choice. So close your eyes, take a deep breath, and picture yourself 5 years down the line.
What lifestyle do you see yourself in?
Does the road you’re driving on, lead you there?
If it doesn’t, spin the wheel and take the next left. You, sir, are going the other way. But if it does, think no more!
For every identity that you had to give up, you’re going to reclaim the best ones. Not tomorrow, but starting today. Maybe you got exhausted from grinding endlessly for several years with no results. But you know, it may work out in the fifth year and you’ll never get to see that happen if you give up.
Would you be able to be at peace knowing that you killed an opportunity of a lifetime by allowing yourself to be driven by results?
Maybe you would, when you’ve given it everything you humanly could. But you’ve still got so much left to give! Take a break! Take it for as long as you need to and find all those little pieces of yourself that you had to give up. It may slow you down, but even a slow-moving car eventually reaches its destination.
However, there are some identities that need to be left behind, that need to disappear for you to reach your potential — the version of you that is living off of your parent's money after college, the version of you that procrastinates every time you have to do something and the version of you that decides that life is comfortable with the way it is.
If you ever find yourself leading a life that would eventually kill your growth, remember that this is not how you wanted your life to look. The person you’re looking to be doesn’t just pop out of a gift box. You’ve got to make decisions that can take you on the road to get there.
So get off your chair and start working on things you want to have. It doesn’t have to be a 24x7 effort. It just has to be enough to feel like you’re moving forward.
For Life is a collection of different identities all woven interchangeably to create a single unique self that is capable of achieving things far beyond his imagination.
So don’t just live a single life. Live a thousand different ones.
To all the different lives I’ve led and all the different roads I’ve taken, you all make me, me.
Here’s the thing. I run a podcast. And because you’re great readers, I know you’re great listeners too. Everything I write, I narrate in my podcast. I won’t lie when I tell you that the podcast has helped me, more than anyone. So if you think you’d like to revisit my thoughts, you can head to my podcast, Within 5 Minutes, which serves as an audio library for these blogs — https://linktr.ee/hacchuu
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