Wake up.
We need to talk.
I need you to wake up and listen because there's something I need to tell you. Something that you used know..... but that it seems you've long since forgot.
I'm here to wake you up and tell you you've been dreaming my friend. Yes you've been dreaming for far too long now and it's long since time for you to wake up, shake off the dreams and get back to living.
the only way it could ever be.
Do you remember how this whole thing called growing up seemed so foreign and foolish back when you were too young to be a part of it? Back when you would ask why and they would say because that's the way it is. Back when they would tell you to just be quiet and do as you're told. Do you remember that feeling when they said that? How wrong it felt?
Do you remember when your childhood contempt relented to adulthood complacency?
Somewhere along the way you gave in the tow of others, fell in line, and began marching towards a paycheque.
You did as you were told.
Yes you did as you were told so they told you that you did good and besides; it wasn't so bad you told yourself. You studied hard to get that job so you could afford that thing.You liked things. Having things was nice. You were proud of your hard work, your new knowledge and your nice things so you worked harder.
But then came the other things. Expensive things. Things piled upon things as you worked harder and harder. Then one day you found yourself stuck in traffic in the car that you only bought to go to work, in the clothes that you only bought to wear at work so you could buy a house that you never see because you're too busy at work trying to pay for the clothes the car and the house.
When the hell did that happen?
Maybe it happened when you stopped wanting to wake up in the mornings. Maybe it happened when you stopped living your dreams and started sleeping through life. Maybe that's why you stopped wanting to get up in the mornings and go to work, because all that work wasn't for you anyways was it? Deep down it was always for someone else.
It usually is. And it was for the things.
All those expensive fucking things.
But it was too late. You were signed up and locked in. So you sat back in your predictable comfortable life that made sense and entertained yourself with your entertaining things. You traded your little free time for big expensive stories.
Entertaining and interesting never-ending on-screen tales that let you mute your rented life if only for a little bit; while they made you feel alive again.
So you tuned in and turned off and in-return bought the stories they sold of a pre-packaged life;
but it turns out it wasn't enough was it?
No. It wasn't.
Which I guess is why we're having this talk.
Because while you've been watching and living other people's stories instead of writing your own you've unwittingly written yourself as the bad guy in the story of your life.
You've been watching a world on fire when it should've been every ounce of you on fire. Every ounce of your soul burning to crawl out of that comfortable, complacent, couch of concessions and get the hell out. To stop watching a life that isn't yours and wake up already.
Wake up and realize that the world you've been watching on TV might not be there tomorrow to see. Wake up and remember your dreams. The ones that used to be so important to you but were quietly given up to the impatient expectations of today's march towards another paycheque.
It's time you wake up and realize that tomorrow I will be happy isn't good enough anymore.
No it is not. You are alive right here and now and thus it is your job to thrive. Right here right now. Not tomorrow but today. On your mark, get set, go was a hell of a long time ago so stop stretching at the starting line of your life and get going already. This is not a trial run and there will be no second chances so don't you dare spend your life working at some job you hate. Instead take up the job of being alive in the most breathtaking of ways you can imagine. It is your job and responsibility to say thank you for this amazing gift of life by cramming as much of it through your tear soaked eyes as you save it's golden memories in your ever-shrinking brain.
It's your job to take the name you've been given and go make yourself a new one as you travel the worlds cracks and craters. It's your job to go forth and hear life through the drum of your pounding heart as you find it all anew. As you climb it's towering mountains and cross it's unknown valleys. It's your mission to push yourself through this worlds highs and lows and champion the search for the same in your heart. To embrace the gift of seeing it all for the first time. The gift of seeing what's right there in front of you in a whole new way. It's your duty to go find it all; not just to see the world but to find the world inside yourself. To see you again.
For new again.
I plead you to write your own religion, make your own legacy, and build a testament to a life well lived.
I beg you to stop sitting around waiting for a better hand, in a game where you only get to play one and just go all in already. Flip the table if you have to.
I beg you to stop sitting around waiting for a better hand, in a game where you only get to play one and just go all in already. Flip the table if you have to.
Be the great human being you were designed to be.
Yes you were made to do this so let go already. Let go of your expectations of perfection. Let go of your doubts of self and let go of all those expensive heavy things weighing you down.
Let go of trying so hard to look good on paper and choose to be better in person.
Go fill your life with heart filled moments and love-soaked goodbyes as a melancholy tribute to this sweet and sour dish of life. See it all for the first and last time through your tired, youthful eyes and do it with the biggest smile you can afford to offer as you traverse the ever changing love affair of soul and body.
The sun is setting and the time is now so go do it all. Go give your very best and then give it away as you sing out your war cry; letting loose your dogs of war. Don't ask for permission or forgiveness let alone wait for green but instead take the middle of the street and claim the night as yours. Pull up the anchor, grab the reigns and hit the throttle. I can promise you the pedal on the right is more fun anyways. I can promise you you won't have to worry what it could've been.
I don't know where this whole thing will take us....
but I can promise you it's going to be worth it.
Neither will it be everything you ever wanted, but that surely is a good thing for the only thing worse than not getting what you wanted is getting all of it.but I can promise you it's going to be worth it.
You see, the magic of this whole show will always lie just past our grasp. Past our explanations. Which is why the best things in life cannot be explained, only understood. Why no combinations or words and letters will ever convey one's personal truth.....and yet still, we are compelled to try. I'm compelled to try and convey the soul-awakening gift that the travels through this life have taught me. I'm compelled to try and tell you how whole thing is temporary and that all of this will go away far before we are prepared for it. That the only thing more astounding than being alive is the realization that one day we won't be. That a world that made you without asking will take you back in the same.
One day you are going to die.
And as much as your brain would like to bury forget it, I urge you to stay in this moment with me. To think about it. Ponder it. Let it in. Stay with that truth as contemplating it takes your sanity to the brink of its capacity and then use it as a catalyst of comprehension to find freedom in it's knowledge. Freedom in what you can't control.
Freedom in this simple truth:
Any rules or expectations that life puts on you will always be superseded by the inescapable truth that this is all but temporary and thus the only chance you have to achieve your life's purpose.
So embrace that the human race has a finish line and see it not as not a curse but a blessing for our death is the very thing that gives our life so much purpose. Whatever you chose for that to be. And that is the greatest gift of all, for the purpose of life is yours to find. And then yours to give away.
This is whole thing is happening inside you thus You. Are. The. Maker. You decide it all. The realization of your eventual death with today's sunset sets you free from tomorrow's expectations.....but only if you choose to accept it.
So wake up, look it right in the eye and embrace it because in the blink of an eye we will all be old beyond our years......so why not build a life so full that you don't dare blink?
So before I go, I ask you; remember this:
This was never me saying this to you, but instead my soul screaming it to me. This was written as a wake up call to myself. This was for me to understand. My personal truth for me to take in, to let go and then for me to give away.
And with that, I'm giving it to you.....if you want it.
Ergo,
I speak to you with purpose, with intent and with a need.
I beg you please, heed my call and go.
Go forth.
Go on.
Go west young man.
Just go already.