My Reality Check Bounced! - Jason Ryan Dorsey [85]
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BOUNCED: There has to be more to life than this.
CASHED: By opening myself up to different possibilities and a more authentic path, I can experience more meaning than I ever dreamed possible.
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I asked Mysha why she teaches in South Central. I wondered why she put her life on the line when she could work in so many other less physically, emotionally, and spiritually challenging schools. She gave this example as an explanation:
At the beginning of the school year, my kids hated after-school tutoring. They refused to bring their textbooks, homework, or supplies. Last week, with the school year winding down, I left my classroom to talk with a teacher across the hall. When I got back the students were arguing loudly. I settled them down and asked them to explain what they were yelling about. It turns out they were arguing over how to solve a math word problem! In disbelief, I offered to help, but they said, “No Ms W. We can figure this out. You made us smart enough.” Mysha, or—as her students refer to her—“Ms W,” found her authentic path in the world by going in a direction that she knew would test her to her limits. But that was what she needed to find out what she was made of. Sure, at times she was scared, frustrated, and insecure; but better to face those fears and feel alive than play it safe and never know the reward of living in the moment.
SPREAD YOUR WINGS AND START FLYING
You don’t have to go to work in South Central to find out what your life is all about. That was Mysha’s answer to the question. What you do have to know is that life rarely goes exactly as planned. There will always be unexpected challenges with good and bad outcomes. But it is seizing those moments of highs and lows that make your heart race, your spirit soar, each day count, and your grandkids sit up in their seats at dinner when you tell them your life story!
Whatever path you choose to start living like you mean it—whether that’s joining the Peace Corps in Africa, taking an entry-level sales job, getting a master’s degree in molecular biology, or starting your own denim boutique—you have to invest yourself 100 percent. If you don’t jump into life with both feet, you never get the satisfaction, thrill, and lessons that are waiting to be discovered. You will know you’re on the right path when you willingly do the most menial, repetitive work necessary to make progress, because you know it’s moving you closer to where you are inspired to be.
You don’t get out of your life what you are given. You get out of your life what you do with it.
MAKE THE CHOICE TO FEEL ALIVE
When you choose to keep learning, growing, testing yourself, and evolving, you are on a course that leads to your highest state of being. This commitment to applying yourself day after day, month after month, year after year is certainly not the path of least resistance but it certainly is the most rewarding. When you choose to live on terms you dictate, you add greater meaning to every waking moment. You set in motion a chain of events leading to the Future Picture you created in the beginning of this book.
No matter where you are starting from:
1. You choose where you go from here.
2. You can change direction as many times as you need.
3. You will find what makes you feel most alive when you start living in the moment!
These three facts make this period in your life so incredibly exciting—and sometimes overwhelming. The key is to not lose sight of your power to make your life more the way you want every day. This is your time. Courageously seek to discover who you are, what makes you excited to be alive, and when you most savor every breath. You have an inspiring Future Picture. Pour yourself into making it your present, and you will know you’re living to the fullest.
SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS
Sometimes going