Posted on Jun 12, 2015, 3:43 am
#1
"Find out what it is you want, and go after it as if your life depends on it. Why? Because it does!" -Les Brown
It was about two years ago that I first heard a recording of motivational speaker Les Brown by chance. At that time in my career and life I was quite comfortable with everything; I was coasting along and things were "good enough." My career was "ok," my dating life was "ok," my social life was "ok," even my level of contentment was "ok."
I'm sure many of you have also gone through the same thing in your own lives at one point or another. Nothing is wrong, and yet deep down inside you feel an indescribable tinge of restlessness within your soul. I remember having such boundless ambitions when I was young: I was going to do this and do that after finishing my Bachelor's degree and I was going to change the world.
I blinked, and a decade gone by and now I was 34.
Aside from the restlessness of my soul, there was also shame. Shame because I knew I wasn't pushing myself, I knew I wasn't choosing the road less travelled. I had grown too comfortable and was afraid of failing - afraid of getting out of my comfort zone and afraid that people would see through my carefully-crafted self image and see my insecurities for what they were. I had to make a change, or else my only legacy in this "ok" life would be a bucket list of regrets and un-chased dreams on my deathbed.
I had to make a leap; my life depended on it.
For many years I had told myself that, "someday I'll do LL when the time is right." It was like those people that say: "someday I'll go on a diet and start exercising" or "someday I'll quit my job and open that restaurant." But always I had an excuse, "after this project," "after the results for next fiscal quarter," "when I'm less tired." At some point I knew I had to stop giving myself excuses and I began to earnestly pursue my dream of LL.
The day I stopped making excuses and started taking responsibility for my dreams was the day that I started to truly live my life.
I took notes and re-read all the diaries, I started reaching out to doctors and asking questions, I began planning my finances for the surgery, I made it known that I was going to take a yearlong sabbatical at my job. Most importantly, I made a commitment to myself, that no matter what obstacles I'd encounter on this journey, I would never again give myself any excuse to not pursue my dreams.
And that, my dear reader, brings us here, to my diary. Whatever happens I hope this diary will serve as a documentary of the smiles and cries of my journey, and hopefully it can serve as a source of information for future LL'ers.
It was about two years ago that I first heard a recording of motivational speaker Les Brown by chance. At that time in my career and life I was quite comfortable with everything; I was coasting along and things were "good enough." My career was "ok," my dating life was "ok," my social life was "ok," even my level of contentment was "ok."
I'm sure many of you have also gone through the same thing in your own lives at one point or another. Nothing is wrong, and yet deep down inside you feel an indescribable tinge of restlessness within your soul. I remember having such boundless ambitions when I was young: I was going to do this and do that after finishing my Bachelor's degree and I was going to change the world.
I blinked, and a decade gone by and now I was 34.
Aside from the restlessness of my soul, there was also shame. Shame because I knew I wasn't pushing myself, I knew I wasn't choosing the road less travelled. I had grown too comfortable and was afraid of failing - afraid of getting out of my comfort zone and afraid that people would see through my carefully-crafted self image and see my insecurities for what they were. I had to make a change, or else my only legacy in this "ok" life would be a bucket list of regrets and un-chased dreams on my deathbed.
I had to make a leap; my life depended on it.
For many years I had told myself that, "someday I'll do LL when the time is right." It was like those people that say: "someday I'll go on a diet and start exercising" or "someday I'll quit my job and open that restaurant." But always I had an excuse, "after this project," "after the results for next fiscal quarter," "when I'm less tired." At some point I knew I had to stop giving myself excuses and I began to earnestly pursue my dream of LL.
The day I stopped making excuses and started taking responsibility for my dreams was the day that I started to truly live my life.
I took notes and re-read all the diaries, I started reaching out to doctors and asking questions, I began planning my finances for the surgery, I made it known that I was going to take a yearlong sabbatical at my job. Most importantly, I made a commitment to myself, that no matter what obstacles I'd encounter on this journey, I would never again give myself any excuse to not pursue my dreams.
And that, my dear reader, brings us here, to my diary. Whatever happens I hope this diary will serve as a documentary of the smiles and cries of my journey, and hopefully it can serve as a source of information for future LL'ers.
)