ONE QUESTION

Is it a blessing or a curse to feel things deeply?

ONE THING TO PONDER

What you’re not changing, you’re choosing.

ONE PERSPECTIVE

We sabotage ourselves every day, many times without knowing it.

What I'm about to share isn't about judgment or criticism—it's about compassionate awareness. 

These are the subtle ways we all, myself included, sometimes work against our own best interests. 

1. Convince ourselves that mediocrity is safe and ambition is selfish.

Your ambition isn't selfish when it comes from a place of authentic contribution.

To suggest that true ambition is selfish and overrated is to encourage regret in the moments you can no longer change how you lived.

We tend to demonize everything - corporations, bosses, the government, political parties, etc, yet absolve ourselves of taking responsibility for where things are in our lives. 

When we suggest it's ok to blame everything outside of us as the problem, we give away any and all responsibility. That is the life of a victim, and also perpetuates dimming our own light.

QUESTION - Where are you holding back simply to allow others to feel comfortable?

2. Assuming success should feel easier than it does.

We are seeing this play out in today’s society. 

Collectively, as a whole, it seems that the majority of people expect results and outcomes to come much faster and easier than what life is willing to offer. 

The uncomfortable truth? Everything worthwhile takes longer than we expect and feels harder than we imagined. 

So we end up quitting far too soon while our potential sits in a dark corner and rots away. 

What if the expectation was that we knew it was going to take time?

We knew that it involves failure?

We knew that it involves sacrifice?

We knew it would be worth it?

Remember that it always feels like failure in the middle. 

QUESTION - Where in your life are you interpreting discomfort as a sign to quit rather than proof that you're growing?

3. Seek Validation over Vision 

The desire to be validated is a strong force. It confuses validity with value. 

If all of our validation comes from the outside, we're at the mercy of the world's praises to feel better and at the detriment to the harsh judgments. 

QUESTION - In what areas of your life are you performing for others rather than honoring your authentic self?

4. Wait for the motivation, it’ll just come. 

Here's what I wish someone had told me earlier: motivation is a feeling, but discipline is a practice.

Feelings come and go, but practices compound into transformation.

If we encouraged ourselves to look at discipline as restrictive, rather than a tool that builds character, freedom and true meaning, we end up staying soft and less resilient. 

QUESTION - What would become possible in your life if you could act on your values even when you didn't feel like it?

5. Rely on others to solve our problems. 

Freedom comes from taking radical responsibility for where everything stands in our lives. That's not a burden—it's a gift.

No one else can do our healing, our growing, or our becoming for us.

I can appreciate and actually agree that we aren’t always to blame what has shown up, but to improve things for ourselves for the future lies at our feet through taking responsibility, not deflecting with blame. 

The less we do for ourselves, the more we are at the mercy of others. 

QUESTION - Where in your life are you waiting for external changes instead of taking responsibility for your own growth and happiness?

Onward and upward!

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