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“To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else.”

Emily Dickinson

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Life is startling.

Well.

That is if you let it be.

So often we spend time comparing ourselves to others, comparing our lives to others, comparing what we have versus others and comparing where we are, uhm, versus others.

Others, others, others.

Life isn’t a race nor is a competition.

It is a journey for fuck’s sake.

———

“Stop comparing where you’re at with where everyone else is. It doesn’t move you farther ahead, improve your situation, or help you find peace. It just feeds your shame, fuels your feelings of inadequacy, and ultimately, it keeps you stuck. The reality is there is no one correct path in life. Everyone has their own unique journey. A path that’s right for someone else won’t necessarily be a path that’s right for you. And that’s okay. Your journey isn’t right or wrong, or good or bad. It’s just different. Your life isn’t meant to look like anyone else’s because you aren’t like anyone else. You’re a person all your own with a unique set of goals, obstacles, dreams, and needs. So stop comparing, and start living. You may not have ended up where you intended to go. But trust, for once, that you have ended up where you needed to be. Trust that you are in the right place at the right time. Trust that your life is enough. Trust that you are enough.”

Daniell Koepke

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Life can be a shitload of fun if you enjoy it. If you open your eyes to what is around you and not comparing yourself to what is around you.

Yes.

I can guarantee on the journey:

  • You will break down <on occasion>
  • You will get caught in a downpour <so strong you cannot see an inch in front of your face> at some point
  • There will be nights so dark you will feel alone
  • You will get lost
  • You will have an accident
  • <add in any unfortunate mishap you can think of>

But.

You will drive <you do actually get to steer you know>.

You will experience shit.

You will laugh & cry & be disappointed & be delighted.

You will be startled by how good, and interesting, and vivid people and life can be if you actually look around.

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“One of the interesting things about success is that we think we know what it means. A lot of the time our ideas about what it would mean to live successfully are not our own. They’re sucked in from other people. And we also suck in messages from everything from the television to advertising to marketing, etcetera. These are hugely powerful forces that define what we want and how we view ourselves. What I want to argue for is not that we should give up on our ideas of success, but that we should make sure that they are our own. We should focus in on our ideas and make sure that we own them, that we’re truly the authors of our own ambitions. Because it’s bad enough not getting what you want, but it’s even worse to have an idea of what it is you want and find out at the end of the journey that it isn’t, in fact, what you wanted all along.”

Alain de Botton

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Aw. I don’t know. Maybe I have a whacked view on what and how Life is and should be.

All I really know is that you may think you know what success is, what happiness is, what failure is, what sadness is, and, yet, life will startle you if you pay attention. In fact. If you pay attention to living, you may have time for little else. Ponder.

Written by Bruce