Life. It's a funny old game isn't it. But could it be anything different than what we have right now?
As children we are told fairytales, and as I think about that, I think of the stark contrast in Nursery Rhymes! Cinderella gets to live happily ever after but poor old Humpty can't get put back together again? Whats that all about?!
Are Fairy Tales to help us recover from the trauma of Jack and Jill or Blind mice?
What are the children of the world learning!!?? (Mind already blown and I've only just started this blog post!)
Alas, we see in the movies and the fairy tales of happy ever afters and I literally wonder when that 'wonder' of life disappears from us, we grow up hopefully having some sense of being able to do anything, anything we dare to believe, as we have spent many years envisioning after all, to be something amazing like a premier league footballer or an accomplished dancer...something, someone special...
Then we're told to get a job. You can stall this by going to university, but ultimately you have to get a job, bills need paying, you can't live for free.
I remember this change in my life distinctly.
I left school at 16 and I went straight to work. I went from a cushy 9am til 3.45pm (with frequent 'days off') to a 5 day 8.30-5.30 week and to add insult to injury this also coincided with my mother deciding that now I was 16 she'd teach me a life skill of cooking, and therefore was responsible for cooking my own tea when I got home from work too. This was a culture shock!! Responsibility? Me?
I was 16 and clueless to boot.
I had my eyes opened quickly and saw people just like me, at the bus stop, walking to work, grabbing lunch in their lunch hour, leaving work and going home.
'Is this what life is now? is this it????...' were thoughts I had frequently, and as I thought them and saw this new life, a piece of me died inside, as I joined the rat race and ran the hamster wheel each day.
Thats when money escalated its importance in my life. It was the only good thing to come out of this drudgery, to offer me some happiness for my sacrifice of a 40 hour week on my feet, in retail.
And so there dies an inner child, a dreamer, an 'anything's possible' thinker.
But
Does it have to be this way?
Can we choose something different?
Yes. Yes we can.
The thing is you have to believe and no this doesn't work like Santa (although it doesn't have a certain magical feel to it)
You have to believe that you can have something different in your life. You will likely have to work hard to get it too, but you'll be working hard on you. Investing in you. Tapping into your passion, tuning into your own unique selling point.
We are not all the same, and for good reason. We all need to apply our own personality to the world. The world needs us, as individuals, as unique people, not hamsters.
So whatever your passion is, feed it. Dwell on it. Grow it. Believe it.
One day you will realise it and make it happen.
This won't happen if you don't pay any attention to it.
If you think 'I can't' or 'it's impossible' ...you won't and it will be impossible.
Take this puzzle for example. You can look at it and think, 'I can't do that' or you can think 'I can do that', think about it long enough and you will find the courage to tackle it. It may take time and patience but keep thinking and believing that you can do it and you will. You are wired to succeed.
You are capable of amazing things and you can have a life that's filled with achievement and joy. You are a natural problem solver, a survivor and if you present yourself with situations to solve you will find solutions.
The bonus to thinking this way? ...it makes you happier in your day to day life now, because you are paying attention to you, you are listening to you.
Do it, I dare you. Dare to believe! (go on, admit it, your a little excited now right...?)