In my opinion the real tragedy of life is that
everyone has the ability to think, but few take advantage of it. People
are in such a rush nowadays that there is no time to think, and when we
do take time to think, it’s usually not very constructive. We think
about the game, what was said about someone else, whether it’s true or
not, we overthink, we daydream and think about what we should have done,
but when it comes to things that really matter, some of us are often
clueless.
I realize not everyone is clueless; some think things
through very well. Still, I am amazed by the amount of people who fly by
the seat of their pants and hope for the best. Life is hard; it can
knock us to the ground and make us yell “uncle.” No, life is not a game,
it is not a popularity contest, it is not like Dota where we can get a blunder and give another try next match, we only get one shot at life. Now, we will make mistakes, no
one on Earth today is perfect, but we should take our time to develop a
general idea of where we want to go.
I’ve been out of school for
10 years now, but I can still remember what it was like to think about
what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. Everyone was so excited to
get out of high school and go off to college. I tried to figure out
what I would want to do with my life. I knew I wanted to further my
education, but I didn’t know what I truly wanted to do for a living. I
was told by my parents that I wasn’t going to college if I didn’t know
why I was going. Some parents want their kid to go to college because
they believe it will give them a better opportunity at a good-paying
job. My parents, on the other hand, didn’t believe that; they know
people with college degrees who work day labor jobs, and it would have
been a big waste of money.
I always believed that going to
college automatically made someone successful, and they would have a
better life overall. I didn’t go the fall after my senior year of high
school. I would continuously think about careers I might enjoy or
thought would be fun. Writing would come up every now and again and I
would tinker with the idea, but I know very few people make it in the
writing world and I was very poor at phonics. I thought about becoming a
lawyer, but my speech is not good enough, the same thing with being a
minister. I could go into computers, but computer people are a dime a
dozen. Every occupation I thought of, there always seemed to be
something that was holding me back.
Sometimes I would have people
tell me that I needed to stop goofing off and make something of myself;
that would really sting me. I felt like I was doing my best, and my
best was obviously not good enough. I heard things such as: “You are
smart. Why don’t you go to college?” and “You are in your mid twenties;
it is time to make something out of yourself.” I had to take my time,
not listen to all the noise, and find out what God wants out of my life.
Every time I would try to seek God’s will for me, it always came down
to writing. It wasn’t until I stepped back that I realized my true
calling in life at this time is to write.
Life is not a game. I
don’t know what people think it is, but it’s no game. I am amazed by how
many people don’t take their time to think, talk, experiment and
analyze things. They just forge ahead without any plans and hope they
are successful. This is not how to live one’s life, just by rolling the
dice and seeing what comes up. I realize sometimes we don’t know how
something is going to work until we take action, but action without some
planning is carelessness.
It takes time to know what we want out
of life. People may tell someone, “You are 28 years old. You need to
know what you want to do.” I think people should be thinking about it,
but they shouldn’t be forced into anything. When we try to pressure
people into making something out of themselves, they shut down and
nothing gets accomplished. Instead, work with them, try to come up with
ideas. This will encourage them instead of discourage them.
Maybe
we are already in the midst of doing something and it just is not going
our way. Take a step back and give ourselves time to think about what
we need to do. Don’t be in such a rush where we can get ourselves into
trouble. There is no telling how long this might take, it could be a day
or five years, but in the end it will be worth the wait. The goal is
not to be done quickly; the goal is to get it done the best we know how.
Don’t rush into anything. Instead, take a step back and think.
-y.m.p-
