Have you ever had a dream or a goal that you told someone about only to receive less than desirable feedback? Have you ever set your sites on a target that you knew you could hit only to have those around you ridicule you or tell you that you would never make it? Of course you have. We all have.
At some point in our lives we have all had our hopes bashed, our dreams squelched, our goals ridiculed, or our bubbles burst. Often times, it is those who are closest to us who do the bubble bursting. It usually starts with the phrase, "I hate to burst your bubble, but..." Knowing full well, they really don't hate to burst your bubble, they actually quite enjoy the process.
As a trainer, and as a person, I see this happen all the time. My clients try to better themselves: get stronger, move better, lose weight, lose body fat, or whatever, and someone will come along and burst their bubble. Why does this happen? It is simple. Most people around you don't want you to succeed. I know you are probably thinking that "Wait, my bubble poppers are usually my loved ones! Why wouldn't they want me to succeed?" If we succeed at our goals, that makes us successful - that makes us outliers, reachers of the un-normal! Our loved ones don't really mean any harm towards us or our goals, but they assume they know us. And, they assume that if they struggle, or fail, to lose weight or run a marathon, then you should too.
We live in a world of apathy and complacency. That is the norm for most everyone around us. Those of us who want to better ourselves or who want to achieve greatness are looked at with contempt because we are the ones who are swimming up stream. We are the ones who are running the race.
Have you ever heard people watching a game from the sidelines talk about how if they were in the game, they would have done it better? That is so easy to do - talk about what you would have done. Most people are just spectators who only talk, they only make noise. And that is the point, there is a lot of noise in this world. Noise that is only there to distract you and slow you down, to hinder you and make you just stop and join them on the sidelines. The goal of noise is to make you conform to the apathy around you.
Don't listen to the noise!
Run your race. Every step you take brings you closer to your goal, your target. No matter how fast, long, or slow you step, if you keep stepping and don't allow the noise to stop you, you will reach your target. Sure, there are more direct routes than others, but who cares! If you take the long way, the hard way towards reaching your dream, and you reach it, how blessed are you?! How much knowledge and wisdom will you have gained? All that matters is that you pursue your dream with relentless determination.
If you have a dream, a goal, a target, go get it! If you want to lose 30 pounds, do it! Do not settle for less. Do not yield to the noise around you. Just because your co-worker couldn't keep his weight off, doesn't mean you can't. Just because your sister couldn't run 3 miles without a car, doesn't mean you can't. Also, just because someone says you are doing something wrong, doesn't mean you are!!! Run your race.
Truly, not everyone around you is against you. But you will know those who are and those who aren't by what comes out of their mouths. If they only speak negative towards you with no hope of help or wisdom, they are not for you. If however, they speak love and helpful things to show you how to aim at your target better, then they are for you. You will know those who are for you by what comes out of their mouth because the mouth will speak what is in the heart. This is truth.
Anyway, run your race. Whatever it is.
Here is the question of the day:
Do you listen to the noise around you?
Don't let the voices of those without hope drag you down. Even dead fish can swim down a stream. Salmon fight to swim up stream. Salmon fight to live. Fight. Run your race. Don't let the noise distract you. Don't start floating down stream. If you want to succeed, do not stop until you do. Do not settle for less.
You are a conqueror. You are an outlier.
Have a great weekend!
TA
2 comments:
Everyone should read this blog. I have one loved one in particular and a variety of friends who did this to me constantly when I was younger, and it wasn't until I got older and started ignoring the noise and all that stuff that "could go wrong" or not work, that I started to become something and start on my path toward self-improvement! I work with so many clients who think they can't, and whenever you show someone that they can do something big, they start to see that they can do anything. Breaking that mental block is the first step to the rest of our lives.
Aleks,
Thanks for the post! I'm with you. Sometimes people just need to have some small successes so that they can start believing in themselves and believing in what is possible. Small can lead to BIG too. Even a small physical success like hitting a PR, can open a whole door of vision and possibility for someone into other areas of their lives.
Keep up the great work, my friend!
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