Not everyone will understand your journey. That’s fine. It’s not their journey to make sense of. It’s yours.
Author | Photographer | CG Artist | Filmmaker
Always keep in mind that no matter what you’re dealing with now, now is not forever. Repeat that. Now is not forever. Your life will change. Your feelings will change. Your attitude will change. And your circumstances will change.
Whatever you are dealing with now, hang in there and do whatever is necessary to manage this minute, this hour, or this day in as healthy & productive a way as possible and you will see that things will change.
Now is not forever – now is just a passing moment in your life. You can get through this.
Just because something works for someone else doesn’t mean that it will work for you – but if it doesn’t, it doesn’t mean that you should stop seeking something that will.
Don’t let your lack of results be an excuse for a lack of effort. Your life is your responsibility.
When something that works for others doesn’t work for you, it’s your responsibility to keep trying new things until you find something that will.
If you’re weird, own that shit. You don’t have to be ashamed or embarrassed by it. In a world full of people doing their best to fit in, you don’t – and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.
But if you don’t own your weirdness – or you allow yourself to be embarrassed by it – people who prefer the ordinary will often find ways to make you feel like a lesser person because of it.
The fact is, the things that make you unique – even if they’re weird – can be a source of great satisfaction & immense personal power in your life – but only if you fully accept them and refuse to see the things that make you stand out as flaws.
When you learn to use your uniqueness as a source of power instead of weakness, your whole world can change. Because another word for weird is remarkable. And the world is drawn to remarkable things.
Many people use the term “weird” as if it’s a bad thing, but it’s really not. Anyone can try to fit in – and many people spend their entire lives making sure they do – but the fact is, there’s nothing remarkable about conforming to a crowd.
For better or worse, the world is the way it is. While you can influence by example and be the change you wish to see, living in the past and wishing things were as they used to be isn’t doing yourself or anyone else any good.
The modern world is different than it was when you were a kid. It’s important to accept that fact & adapt to changes & new ways of doing things or else you risk growing increasingly out of touch & incapable of doing what people growing up today consider simple.
These are crazy times and difficult to emotionally navigate for many.
It can be hard to think of effective ways to “fix” what’s wrong with the world and very easy to believe that things won’t ever change when we can’t.
Sometimes we get so wrapped up in how we think about problems in the world – and our inability to do much of anything about them – that we become demoralized and feel powerless as a result.
Understand that as much as you may want to see things change for the better, you are not responsible for initiating changes on a global level.
It’s important to be mindful of the fact that you can only affect things that are within your power to influence or control. And as limited in scope as this may seem, it is enough to make a meaningful difference in the lives of those you connect with.
And it often starts by doing the kinds of things that you respect & admire when others do them and taking action in ways that you can always be proud of no matter how you are feeling.
Just a reminder: making yourself feel miserable about your mistakes is optional.
While acknowledging mistakes is important, beating yourself up over history won’t change the past, but focusing on what you learned from the experience and moving on in a productive fashion can change the future.
Life is hard enough already without abusing yourself for things you can’t change. Focus on positive progress by changing what you can.
Even for the most resolute individuals, failure is always a possibility. But there is a huge difference between letting a setback mark the end of your journey and pushing forward – despite defeats – equipped with the knowledge you learned from the experience.
Not everything we do on our journey gets us the results we want, but setbacks only lead to long-term failure if we stop putting in the effort to make progress.
What we learn from failure & unmet expectations are an integral part of achieving goals.
Keep going.
