from What To Do When It's Your Turn by Seth Godin
Jan. 8. 2017
They trained us to seek out security & stability.
But, financial security can also imprison. It can stifle gifts that would require guts enough to leave its comforts behind.
So my question is, can't it ever be OK not to know what to expect? To take a course of action that does not guarantee what exactly life, the bank account, the retirement fund, & the future will look like?
No. Not according to this outlook, which has very little tolerance for risk, uncertainty, & the kind of guaranteed instability that's part of the process of building your own future your own way. The old model teaches us to follow the system. To avoid instability & risk at all costs. It insists that that way is the only way to success & well-being.
But the problem is— Safety & security build not the dream.
If you feel in your gut that there's some rogue dream in you that you were born to bring to life, then the way forward for you may not be feasible along the pre-laid plan that leads most to "success". If that's the case for you, then here's my advice:
Dare to defy the system, if you have a dream that doesn't fit into that format.
For me, it's the only way to fulfillment & happiness, & it's the only way for my dream to survive. It may be the only way for you too.
My challenge to you is this: Question the model. Reevaluate the societally-rejected options that may lead to the future of your dreams. Challenge the systems that suggest that the answer is No. What if they're wrong? What if you shouldn't follow along their static trajectories of security & "one size fits all" success. What if their path to a happy future will only lead you to a dead end road?What if you are screwing up by trusting them?
What do you want your life to look like? Is that kind of future accounted for in their "one size fits all" model? Or is it time to throw out the map & start drawing your own? Only YOU can answer that.
(Hint: you'll never uncover any answers until you start asking the questions. And enlightenment doesn't begin until you shut out everyone else & start looking within, where so many of the answers have been waiting for you to let them show you the way.)
Dare to ask yourself the tough questions. And dare to answer them honestly. Remember that you, too, have a right to rebel. And defiance in the name of a dream is a most beautiful & worthwhile act of rebellion.
Let your battle cry ring out, fight for your dream, forge your own way if you must, & GO ROGUE.
From Seth Godin's Ship It Journal, pg. 26
♦ If your battle cry is sounding more like "Status Quo? Hell No!" than "Follow the leader", then you gotta read this book: What To Do When It's Your Turn by Seth Godin. It was a very inspirational, dream-empowering force at the beginning of my transformational journey. Check it out. You never know what kind of magic it might stir within you.