As I approach the mid-point of my last official summer as a college student, I can't help but wonder what the rest of my life holds for me. The future is unknown. Questions cloud my thoughts constantly. Where will I live? What will I do for a living? Who will I become? Will I be happy and love life for all it is? Or will I just settle for being content?
Out of all of the questions I could possibly conjure in my overly anxious head, I know for a fact that the answer to that last question is "heck no." I don't believe that any of us should ever settle for contentment. I don't believe that we should be satisfied with the way things are going in our lives. I believe that we deserve more than just waking up for a nine-to-five desk job and sitting in meetings just to waste time.
We all have something we're passionate about — you know, that something that lights a spark within you every time you talk about it. That something that you could spend hours describing to a stranger. That something that makes life exciting and worth living for. But often times, we find ourselves sacrificing the things we're most passionate about for things that are safe and comfortable. Instead of pushing ourselves to reach a career where we're self-motivated and dedicated, we settle for a life of monotony that gets you by. We talk ourselves into thinking that not pursuing our dreams will be better than the humiliation and self-defeat that could come with failing at what we love to do.
Believe me when I say that I'm right there with you. I'm searching for this courage deep within to follow through that goal in life where work never feels like work. Where life is just meant for living. Where the good times will always outweigh the bad. But there have been days when I think about taking the easy way out. You know, agreeing to take on the next task at hand, regardless of what the purpose of that task it, and settling for "good enough."
Never settle for good enough. We are all more than what we give ourselves credit to be. We all deserve a life where waking up in the morning is something you look forward to, not a burden. Our time and our energy should be put towards the things that we want to fight for and make a change for in life. We need to allow ourselves to risk a little failure and disappointment to get us to that point in life when every day is a new adventure filled with joy, love and light. We need to realize that we are capable in doing the things we seek to do in life regardless of what our peers and society think.
We don't want to settle for contentment. Because at the end of the day, it doesn't matter what we're doing. As long as you love what you do, cherish who you're with and find joy in even the simplest moments of life, why would anything else matter? We deserve to be more than content in our lives. Remember that.
