Do you ever wonder what are we still afraid of?
We were children once, afraid of the world, afraid of getting in trouble, afraid of speaking up, afraid of falling or failing, afraid of being different or what our friends would think…
But then we grew up. We became adults. We make adult choices, we have adult responsibilities, and we live adult lives.
And yet, we still live our lives afraid. Afraid of the world, afraid of speaking up, afraid of falling or failing, afraid of being different, or vulnerable, or what our friends will think. We hesitate in so much of what we do. We have replaced childhood fears with equally irrational adult ones. Childhood pressures to fit-in have simply been replaced with adult rules and social expectation. Fear of not being good enough, disappointing our loved-ones, not being able to manage our responsibilities, not achieving status or being successful…Fear is alive and well in our adult lives.
In fact fear is so strong that survey ranges anywhere from 60% to 80% of people are dissatisfied with their current job, but more shocking than that is that the majority of people will never do anything about it. It is the same for overall life satisfaction!
Adults practice many professions, but the one profession that each one of us is an expert in is our own oppression. We demonstrate our true and mighty creative brilliance in how compelling and effective we can deconstruct our own lives through carefully placed excuses. We all have them and they are perfectly shaped into the most realistic and rational truths for our logical brain to devour.
How could any reasonable person argue with the fact that, “I have bills to pay” and “I have a family to support”? Venture Capitalist Fred Wilson was quoted saying, “The three most harmful addictions are heroin, carbohydrates, and a monthly salary.”
Or how about the usual, “Everyone else is already doing it,” or “I’m honestly afraid I will fail.” Henry Ford tried to shake sense into people way back, reminding them that, “Failure is the opportunity to begin again, more intelligently.”
The truth is that we will find very rational and reasonable ways to stay in a familiar and uninspired life. We like familiar and we don’t like change. We create the paradigm and we have a filter that will show us exactly how right we are every time we look through it. We are the masters of our own world and we are highly skilled.
So, as adults we can continue to blanket our lives with childhood fears and allow those masked insecurities shape the rest of our lives, or we can remember a far greater lesson from the children left within us. We could, instead, see this day with wonder, with new eyes, with nothing but great possibility. We could get beyond the curtain of the great and powerful OZ and say, “Well, actually, I don’t need to check in with you to find my self. I already have a brain and control my choices. I follow my heart and value my passions. And I am brave. I am brave enough to imagine a richer and more meaningful life for myself.”
Today you could pull the curtain from in front of your own eyes and realize that it is us…each one of us is the puppet master behind the curtain of monotony of our each and every day.
You are the ONLY thing holding you back from the life you are meant to lead.
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us…”-Marianne Williamson.
What truth will you tell yourself today?