They are the dreamers, the changers, and the movers and shakers. They hold stardust in their bones and magic in their veins, and they see the world for its beauty and all that can be. When they have a vision, a dream, a goal, and an idea, they move heaven and earth to make it a reality. They have no care or concern for what the naysayers whisper and shout, for they believe in possibility.
Here’s to the ones who set their own course.
They are the ones who see a closed door and do not fret, for they know that they can open a window or find an entirely new door. They do not stress about the roadblocks that come up throughout their journey, for they will walk barefoot along the road for miles upon miles if it means that such a trip will bring them closer to their goal.
Here’s to the ones who set their own course.
They are the ones who do not buy into the notion that life milestones must be on a timeline. They know that sometimes plans go awry and dream change and that it’s never too late to go after what you want.
Here’s to the ones who set their own course.
They know that the dreams that they try to make come true must be the ones that come from within themselves. They know that advice will come solicited and not—and that even when it comes from the most well-meaning folks, it’s not their job to live out the dreams that others have dreamt for them.
Here’s to the ones who set their own course—they are the ones who inspire us to step more fully into the person that we were born to be each and every day.
There’s nothing holding you back from getting what you want but your own insecurities and fears. No one has the power to put you down or talk you out of something without your consent. No one can tell you that you can’t do something or discourage you from taking a risk if they know you won’t listen to them because your inner voice is stronger. People know you’re not afraid of failure and others have failed to change your mind before.
Sometimes you need to show people that you’re not someone who is going to take no for an answer. Sometimes you just need to believe in what your gut is telling you, even if it goes against what everyone else thinks. Sometimes you just have to be okay with making mistakes or making wrong decisions because this is what builds your character and this is how you gain wisdom and confidence in yourself. The truth is, without confidence and experience, your life will be stagnant, led by the opinions and choices of others.
Sometimes you just have to dare more and dream bigger, even if you have to face criticism or judgments from others, because if you’re always afraid of the outcome or what people may think of you, you will never truly go after what you want or what could be right for you and you will never make a big move that could change your life. Sometimes you just need to let people know you appreciate their opinions and concerns but you will do what you want either way, and most importantly, you need to stop waiting for people’s approval and validation, because when you stop seeking their approval, you become more powerful, more mindful, and more assertive in your own decisions. You take back control of your life.
Nothing holds you back more than comparing yourself to others, you only have who you were yesterday to compare yourself to. Nothing holds you back more than trusting others instead of trusting yourself. Why do you believe that people know better than you? And even if they do, you will never know what you’re capable of doing until you try and know for yourself. What makes you think that your experience won’t be different than theirs? Why are you afraid of what someone else went through? Nothing holds you back more than taking on other people’s fears and insecurities.
And last but not least, nothing holds you back more than being too hard on yourself. The world is already too hard on you, and most people are not going to lift you up when you need it most, so you have to repeatedly do that for yourself. You cannot lose if you keep betting on yourself after every defeat. You cannot lose if you keep investing in yourself every time someone discredits you. You cannot lose if you’re no longer afraid of losing or trying again when things don’t work out for you the first time. You cannot lose if every time someone abandons you, you choose yourself without hesitation.
If you are someone who is worried that they will never get their life together, your fear is clouding your vision.
These words will bring you back to clarity.
If you are someone who is worried that they will never get their life together, it means that despite all of your disbelief, and through all of your confusion, and though you feel so lost in this moment, you still know that there is another life calling to you, and waiting for you.
You know you are meant for more, and capable of more.
If you are someone who is worried about getting their life together, the magnitude of this vision likely keeps you away from the actual work of bringing it together. In becoming so swept up in all that you know you desire, and all that you know you’re meant for, you overlook something vital.
The work of changing your life is subtle.
It happens in small moments — the ones you overlook, the ones that are passing you by right this second.
It means that when you realize you should wear SPF to protect your skin, you wake up and you put on SPF. It means that when you don’t have money to spend, you don’t spend it. It means that when you realize you’re acting irrationally and taking your feelings out on someone who doesn’t deserve it, you stop taking them out on someone who doesn’t deserve it.
It means that when you realize you need a glass of water, you drink a glass of water. It means that when you commit to only checking your email twice each day, you only check your email twice a day. It means that when you know something must be done, you do it, instead of waiting until it’s snowballed into a far bigger problem.
Getting your life together means that you stop avoiding the subtle discomfort of doing what’s not ideal in favor of being able to completely avoid the massive discomfort of realizing that you’re in yet another crisis.
So much of what makes our lives go off the rails is not what comes along and throws us off course, but how we slowly allow ourselves to fall off in the micro-moments that we don’t choose the right thing.
The right thing is very often not a heroic act. It’s never backed by movie music, there’s usually no victory lap, no recognition, and for a while, no reward.
It’s just you, and a choice, and how you make it.
For most of your life, you will be able to get away with not doing a lot of it. You will be able to slide by doing the bare minimum, resorting to what’s comfortable, denying what you need in favor of what you want.
You are a free being and you can choose that.
But then you cannot be surprised when the consequences choose you.
So instead of waking up tomorrow and feeling overwhelmed by how far you are from where you want to be, and how much has to get done, and how deeply you believe you are falling behind, what if you woke up and just figured out the next right step, and then took it? And then figured out the next right step after that, and took it again?
What if your life was no longer a picture you were trying to paint so perfectly but a collection of moments and choices you simply had to allow to build up upon one another? What if you’re not overwhelmed by the mountains you’ve yet to climb, but the fact that you continually delay taking the first steps?
The truth of that matter is that there is no such thing as really having your life together.
There’s no measure at which you’re an adult, at which you’re safe, at which you’ve done it all right.
There is only a life that you are comfortable with, and a life that you are not. A life that you are proud of, and a life that you are not. The difference often comes down not to the big facts about who you are or aren’t, but the little things you do within those ideas and identities that make up your character, the heart of who you are and the soul of what you are yet to be.
The way out is not overhauling your life one day, it’s waking up every day and choosing to figure out the next best thing to do with what you have and where you are, and then doing it.
You will not be able to avoid every challenge, mistake and problem this way, but you will be able to avoid a lot of them.
We spend so much of our lives wondering about the people we might be — how we appear, what we could change, whether we are good or not. We spend so little time actually being those people, actually changing, actually doing what we already know is good.
It’s not as complicated as you want to believe.
A good life is built of tiny, good decisions, made over and over again, until you’re reaping a full harvest of all that you’ve sown.
You are constantly in a process of becoming and unbecoming, but in each moment that we’re given an opportunity to choose differently, we usually revert to the same old familiar habits and choices.
What if, instead of reinventing ourselves from the inside out, we just decided to do one thing right, and then allowed it to unravel and transform the rest?
