Living Up to Your Potential

We have all seen this sort of phrase. Live, Laugh, Love. Do what you love. Reach for the stars. Etc., etc., etc…

For a long time, I couldn’t stand these cliches but as time has passed, I understand now, why they are so cliche. We as humans are made for something, we have talents that we are born with from almost infancy and grow to understand more as we become older. A few years ago, I was watching a Ted Talk on Youtube. He asked the audience: “Where is the richest place for ideas?” The audience was pretty quiet with a few people shouting out answers. His answer was: “The graveyard”. He went onto explain that this is where numerous people have taken their ideas to. In fact, this comes from a guy named Les Brown who is quoted as saying:

“The graveyard is the richest place on earth, because it is here that you will find all the hopes and dreams that were never fulfilled, the books that were never written, the songs that were never sung, the inventions that were never shared, the cures that were never discovered, all because someone was too afraid to take that first step, keep with the problem, or determined to carry out their dream.”

We are all built for something, a purpose, multiple purposes, a final purpose. We all have that nagging feeling in our minds, but most importantly, in the depths of our souls, that eats away at us for days, months and years. We try to shut it out, or let others shut it down for us. We try to drug it away, drink it away, run away from it or ignore it. But in the end, it’s always there.

Everyone has a different purpose or reason for existing. If you live out the purpose given to you, it won’t matter how much stuff you have, how much wealth you accumulate or don’t accumulate, you will be living life to the fullest because you are doing what you are meant to do and therefore will enjoy being alive.

We all come from a background with a different story. Some people had everything available to them and wasted it. Some people had nothing, and built an empire from it. But most of us are in the middle. We have enough to survive and enjoy some activities, yet, we don’t live too excessively or else we will end up in the poorhouse. However, many people remain in the middle, forever. They stay on the sidelines and criticize others who try new things and fail. We all know these people. They say: “Ha! Told you it wouldn’t work”. Or: “Why bother?” Or: “What are you trying to prove?” Or any other variation of the aforementioned. We must squash these thoughts that eventually plague our minds and begin living our fullest lives, or else, we are not only cheating ourselves, but cheating the world from what we could have contributed in our short time on this planet.

Until next time.

Take care.

Thank you for reading.