You Don’t Deserve To Relax
How much work do you think is necessary before you deserve to relax?
1 hour?
2 hours?
4?
8?
20?
40?
60?
120?
240?
Where do you stop?
Where is enough?
Where do you feel deserving?
Pick one in your head, and let me know below what you chose.
Whatever number you chose, it isn’t enough.
You don’t deserve to relax.
And here’s why:
Ryan Holiday writes about Marcus Aurelius, specifically how he got himself up in the morning.
‘“Is this what I was created for?” he said to himself. “To feel nice? To have it easy?”’
And this struck me.
Imagine being the creator.
You put your heart and time into your creation, and this is all they amounted to.
You placed so much potential in them.
Filled them with seeds of possibility.
And instead of watering those seeds, they use their time to procrastinate?
To give in at the first hurdle?
To scorn the hard workers and envy their achievements?
To curse their inability and lack of success.
To do less than a fraction of what you’ve sown into them.
This is all that potential amounted to?
I can’t help but think we’d be disappointed.
Or even disgusted?
That, this is it.
And for a lot of us, that’s how we’re living.
At a fraction of our capabilities, and a lot of it is voluntary.
On one hand, this view is extreme.
And true, your time is yours to use.
But,
I do want to offer a suggestion,
What if?
What if you are unknowingly neglecting your seeds?
What if your potential remains dormant?
What if you haven’t been giving it your everything?
What if there is significantly more for you to do?
What if?
Take some time to genuinely reflect.
Are you content with where you are?
Are you content with where your current activity is taking you?
And, as you are, do you even have a shot of reaching that which you dream of?
If the answer is no, there’s more to do.
You don’t deserve to relax.
And that’s fine.
I’m not there yet, either.
For reference,
“To be content doesn’t mean you don’t desire more, it means you’re thankful for what you have and patient for what’s to come.” — Tony Gaskins
It’s fine to have plans, goals, and desires — to have aspirations.
It’s fine to be hungry.
To be uncomfortable with where you are currently, yet still grateful with whatever you have,
Little or large.
That’s okay.
But that’s still one step short of contentment.
The final step is to be patient for what’s to come.
You can be content whilst understanding that you have more to do.
But to be patient for what’s to come requires a degree of expectancy.
It requires some sort of certainty.
In the same way, a farmer is content with a planted seed.
Despite the fact that the seed alone cannot sustain them,
Cannot garner them monetary value.
Cannot repay their initial investment of time and effort.
They are still patient for what’s to come.
Because they’re expectant.
They’re certain that what they’ve done, will do, and are doing will feed into their future.
But that requires action.
That’s the difference.
Action worthy of expectation.
That’s what separates those deserving of rest from the undeserving.
Is what you’re doing worthy of expectation?
If not, you cannot be content.
And in turn, you don’t deserve to relax.
Even whilst I pour hours into my passion, I’m still not deserving of relaxation.
I haven’t built anything worthy of expectation.
But I’m working to get there.
And I encourage you to do the same.
It’s not just what I’ve done, but what I am doing and will do.
All three must be worthy of expectation.
Itaque, carpe diemque carpe futurumque.
And so, seize both the day and future.
Become deserving of relaxation.
LM
Thank you for reading!
American psychologist Alok Konojia, or ‘HealthyGamerGG’, says:
“The absence of reflection is the reason you’re stuck.”
To solidify our growth, let’s reflect:
Petrichor’s 1-Minute Reflection:
- How did you feel before reading?
- How did you feel whilst reading?
- Do you feel any different now that you’ve finished?
- What is your one takeaway from reading this?
