If money were not an issue, what is the job that you would do for free? Ive learned that finding the answer to *that* question will lead you right to your lifes purpose. One of the greatest evils embedded in this thing called capitalism, is that it has robbed most human beings of their ability to actually pursue their dreams or live lives of maximum fulfillment. This is especially true for people in their early 30s and beyond. By the time most of us graduate college in our early twenties, we immediately begin sacrificing and/or abandoning the best versions of ourselves for cheaper versions: i.e.- whatever version will fit into the confines of a paycheck and a 9 to 5 existence. Indeed, Benjamin Franklin got it right when he observed that many people die at 25 but are not buried until they are 75. It never ceases to amaze me how many people I come in contact with who are living dead lives. Physically, they are perfectly healthy; and many of them have finally obtained all of the requisite ornamentations associated with the American idea of success: they have the 401K, their bills are being paid on time; they are happily married with children. But deep inside of them there is an inner yearning--the yearning that comes from having to spend ones life thinking what if? I certainly am not unguilty of this. I often ask myself how on earth did I go from spending my undergraduate years pursuing my dreams of being a professional stage actor---to suddenly pursing a career as a professor teaching at the university level? What happened? What happened was---like many young people--I was encouraged to take the safest route (a mistake for which I have only recently began to rectify and undo). This is precisely what James Baldwin understood when he wrote about (in a different context) what he called the danger of safety. I say: the hell with safety. Go for the remix. Gather up your dreams today, gather them up from wherever they have been collecting dust. Brush them off, polish them up, and get to work---again. If you are reading this message it means that it is not too late: there is still time for you to make a U-turn right into the direction of your dreams.
Posted on: Thu, 31 Jul 2014 23:52:51 +0000
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