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| We're all very, very busy. We have emails to answer, planes to catch, phone calls to make, member of more than 10 Internet forums, planes to catch, and we're constantly reshuffling schedules to squeeze in new meetings, each more important, more urgent than the last. But every now and then, we get a signal: life should be more satisfying.
Have you ever found yourself counting up the days to the weekend--- and it was only MONDAY?
We start searching for daily pleasure to reward ourself for just getting through another day: ice cream, Starbucks, shopping, or going out for dinner. Some people even believe that a two week vacation once a year is enough to keep them feeling happy and fulfilled. is it right that we spend so much time planning our next escape?
When we were small, we blew out the candles on our birthday cake believing that all of our hopes and dreams would become real. And when Jimmy cricket urged us to wish upon a star, we all tried it, at least once. So when exactly did we stop wishing? When did we start doing the things we had to do instead of the things we wanted to do?
When did our dreams get buried under the responsibilities of adulthood? Now we sense that something needs to change, but we're too busy to stop and think about what it is. We long for those forgotten times when each day's accomplishments filled us with joy and excitement, when we embraced life with energy and enthusiasm, when there were million special days. The first day of school, the night before our fifth birthday, summer vacation, our first kiss...all of these were momentous achievements that make us feel almost giddy inside. But now we sometimes feel as if we're stuck in a great big rut and, as the years go by, the rut keeps getting deeper and deeper. We sense loss, understanding that we were meant to do more. Our dreams feel so far away and always seem to be just out of reach. But they're silly dreams, we tell ourself. Get real. After all. we have a job: earning a living, we have responsibilities, we can's go off chasing crazy dreams. Besides, It's scary to think about going out on limb. But the dreams just won't go away and they keep popping up, wish we had anti pop-ups. If only dreams came with a guarantee. Then we'd be as secure as we're now. Our job is secure, Right? Wouldn't it be awful to live our whole life and then say, wai wai Wait! I need another chance. I just wanted to try this one thing.
Remember how scared we were to take the training wheels off our bike? or how much courage it took for that first kiss? Nothing stopped us then.
So what's stopping us now? | |
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What's stopping us is simply the fact that as you get older, your optimism is replaced by realism, and the big shiny world so full of boundless possibilities suddenly becomes a lot, lot smaller. Then factor in personal tragedies, jadedness, added responsibilities in life and work, and all the other things a fresh and inexperienced brain has rarely encountered before (or at least not at an age to comprehend it), and whoosh... a radically altered state of mind.