I haven't been on this universe for long compared to a lot of people that i know, but with the time that I've spent here so far i can say that I've been exposed to a few life changing ideas. I've recently stepped out of that stage every teenager/young adult goes through, the one where you begin to ask yourself the big questions like who am i supposed to be? Where to i find my calling? what is my passion? I truly believe we all struggle with these kinds of questions at some point in our lives and i think it has a lot to do with having so much on our plate and not enough time to pick which piece we want to bite. We have to deal with our ideas about what we want to be, what society wants to be, what our loved ones want us to be, that in the end the last thing we are able to do is be. I also believe, this is why so many people get flustered. They become confused, so overwhelmed that reaching their greatest potential as an individual as been stripped from them and all they have left is settling for something so much less than they anticipated. They end up settling for that job they hate because it pays well or because society tells them that it will gain them respect or an opportunity to be look at as an idol. Everything is so imaged driven that people are ashamed to do what their heart really desires because they are afraid of how they will be looked at, even treated.
The thing is if you were to present people with the ideas such as quitting a job on the spot to turn your hobby into a career, or cutting off people in your life that don't bring an value just negativity, or even deciding to spend the weekend home instead of out with friends so you can use that time to develop your dream business they will smile and say "Yes, of course" but when it comes time to push their thoughts into reality and it is presented before their eyes they freeze up and walk away.Some will say its because they decided it wasn't for them, most will say they just don't feel that it will provide job security. The truth is that its fear, risks have to be taken in order for someone to find what they really love. Just like English historian Edward Gibbon once said "In the end, they wanted security more than they wanted freedom". We are too comfortable, too secure, that when its time for society to get creative and come up with our own ideas we cant, because we've been too busy living in fear and therefore carrying out the ideas of others. My whole life has consisted of working for other people, listening to other people, giving my time to other people. My time which is effort and that in turn becomes money, if there is anything i have learned so far it is that who i give my time to is so precious, because time is really all that we have that we can actually control.
With all of the jobs that i had through the years i was able to easily see the ugliness of society, how a lot of people fake a smile and when you ask them how they are they always say good but not because they are but because society has taught us that we always must give others the impression that we are doing better than they are. All these jobs also showed me how materialistic society is, how people cant wait to get their paycheck to splurge on something they "need" or the hunger for getting a promotion but not because they are actually passionate about that job but because they are passionate about the money. After a while i was able to really stand outside the box that society is in and realize we don't understand that we are so much more than where we work, how much money we make, or where we live. Society has taught us to project so much of our own perceptions onto one another, without ever realizing that how we feel about people and what they do isn't their problem, its the projectors problem. This is why I've finally stopped caring what people think of me, I've stopped listening to what I've been told. I've stopped being that person that has followed all the other sheep because unlike them i actually want to go somewhere and be someone interesting. I've started doing what i feel is best for me because i just wont give them the satisfaction of being what they want me to be. And i happen to think this is what finding the road to happiness and becoming who you truly are is really about.
"And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in all the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected. And this I must fight against: any idea, religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual." - John Steinbeck