On the Gap Between Here & There | #005
What do we do when the life we have does not match the vision we had for it?
We all have a vision for ourselves.
A reality we want to live, a dream we want to make real. But how many of us actually fight for such dreams? How many put in the effort required to achieve them? Most people never do. They dream, hope, and complain.
But I’m not here to talk about such people.
Talking about them, like their own approach to life, is a waste of time.
Today I want to talk about those of us who dream and fight daily, as hard as we can, and still fail. About those who do everything for their dreams, but the gap between here and there still exists. The gap between where we currently are and the vision we had for ourselves, larger than ever before.
It's only into the journey that we realize how much effort it actually takes.
How much luck can help.
How working for the sake of working doesn't help.
How much patience is important in this bridge we've set out to cross.
From outside, without skin in the game, our mind goes wild with possibilities.
We get stuck dreaming instead of doing—it's addicting. The mind is so powerful that we can live our dreams before we reach them, without any real effort at all. But for some of us, dreaming isn't enough.
We need real fulfillment. After all, dreams are great, but we cannot live while sleeping.
So we set out toward our vision.
Brimming with possibility, life hits us in the face. And it doesn’t stop there, it shows us someone with much more doing a lot less, or nothing at all. What do we do when the life we have does not match the vision we had for it?
What do we do when it seems like even life itself is against us?
What if the challenge is the answer?
What if by choosing to pursue something great, the challenges we face are life working in our favor? Life isn't about having for the sake of having. Life is about becoming the person we need to become to create what we want for ourselves.
Challenges shape us.
What determines the shape we take is how we choose to act in the face of them.
I'm not here to say it isn't your fault, to make you feel good.
Whether it's our fault or not doesn't matter. What matters is what we can do about it. Give yourself the responsibility even if you're not the one to blame. If it's "not our problem," what can we do about it? If it's not on us, we have no control over it—there is "nothing we can do to change it."
But if we take responsibility, if we make it "our problem," if it is on us, then we can do everything about it.
It's in our control to change, not the world, but ourselves.
We can only bridge the gap if we give ourselves the power to do it, if we know that we can and take responsibility for it.
Once we give ourselves that power, we need to be raw and honest with ourselves. When we are not where we want to be and there is someone who is, there is something they know that we don't and/or something they are doing that we are not.
And we need to be real about it. Are we doing everything we could be doing? Is everything we are doing what we should be doing?
Study success and the journey those who achieved it went through.
When we understand the path, we can follow it. What did they do that we should do? What did they avoid that we should avoid? It's time to focus the power of your mind on what is actually within your control.
Focus not on the dream itself, but on the person you need to be today to achieve it.
Dissatisfaction with life comes from the comparison between here and there. Between reality and our expectations of it.
Have your vision top of mind but don't expect anything. Instead, focus on this moment, focus on what you need and can do today. After you've studied how others crossed the bridge, ask yourself:
What would the person who can do the same do right now?
The bridge is in front of you. Focus on becoming the person who can cross it.
This is the meaning of the challenges we face.
When we make it clear to life what we want, in some mysterious way, it puts us in a position to become that person. Our challenges are the path. They are life helping us, giving us the opportunity to become the person we need to be to achieve our dreams.
Don’t fight against it, embrace it.
With beliefs in yourself, and in that life is at your side.
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Practice
Write down where you currently are and where you want to be in one specific area of your life. Be honest about the gap.
Identify one person who has crossed a similar gap. What did they know or do that you haven't yet?
Based on this reflection, what is one small action you can take today that the person you need to become would take?
Share your action and commit to when you'll complete it. Remember: becoming happens one decision at a time.
When Nothing is Given, Create.
Fortune Favors the Creator.
To Be a Creator, Create.
- Caio