My Reality Check Bounced! - Jason Ryan Dorsey [3]
3. Your future starts today! The sooner you work to create the life you desire, the sooner you will have it!
YOU’VE GOT THE POWER
At twenty-four, Tiffany had to start living like she meant it if she was going to feel truly alive. No other person understood her hopes, dreams, memories, and fears the way she did. No other person understands your hopes, dreams, memories, and fears the way you do. Tiffany felt as if she were being smothered by her job and forced to silence her dreams. But settling for safe was her choice. All along Tiffany had the power to make her life the way she wanted it, and now she’s doing just that. Will you?
You have ambitions and abilities; it’s time they produced results. You have good ideas bouncing around in your head; it’s time they came to life. You know in your heart you were born to do more, be more, and experience more. But only you can make what you believe to be possible spring to life. Only you.
If I’ve learned anything listening to and documenting so many different individual life stories, it’s that finding your place in the world doesn’t hinge on the impersonal real world. It hinges on your world. Once you let go of common twentysomething beliefs—such as “it’s out of my control” and “it’s not my fault” and “it’s not the right time”—you will be free to start doing what it takes to get where you want. You will rise above your confusion and be able to live life on terms you establish and to get what you demand.
NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT
Like Tiffany, you may have lost sight of your power to choose and, as a result, talked yourself out of control and into an unsatisfying rut. This is a challenging predicament and can be solved only by recognizing there will never be a magical right time to stand up for yourself and your future. All you have is right now. Until you see right now as the time to make changes for the better, you will continue feeling overwhelmed by your surroundings and situation. You will turn this feeling into excuses that keep you from breaking free such as: rent, car payments, credit-card bills, how your boss is unfair, how you need another degree, what your mom wants you to do…all of which only reinforce your unsatisfying holding pattern.
Waiting for any other time, especially the right time, to make your break for your dreams just wastes irreplaceable opportunities. You end up sitting on your dreams while your fears and insecurities take the lead. You continue getting older and more frustrated but not an inch closer to what will bring more meaning and satisfaction to your life, yet it’s entirely your choice—even if you decide to ignore the fact that you choose the life you lead.
This was Tiffany’s challenge. The more she stalled waiting for her situation to get better, the more helpless she felt. Unfortunately, most twentysomethings never experience a neon-bright moment of divine intervention or profound clarity that inspires them to finally leap after their dreams. Instead, with each passing year of not being satisfied and not doing anything about it, they grow more reluctant to take the risks necessary to create the outcomes they long for. Before they know it, they look back and wonder where all that time went. You deserve better.
You deserve to be excited about each and every day. You deserve to wake up feeling confident, inspired, and on the right track. You deserve to go to sleep beside your best friend secure in the fact your life means something. You deserve to give yourself a chance to make this happen.
GETTING A GRIP
Your true passion for life will surface only when you take responsibility for creating the life you want. Until you do this, other people and events will choose for you. And your boss, neighbor, parents, and old high-school friends don’t have nearly as much riding on your happiness and fulfillment as you do. Taking responsibility for your future gives you the choice to put everything you have into getting what you want, whether that is inner peace or