underwater thinking

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“And I can breathe better when I’m underwater.”

Chelsea Wolfe

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“There is a part of everything which is unexplored, because we are accustomed to using our eyes only in association with the memory of what people before us have thought of the thing we are looking at. Even the smallest thing has something in it which is unknown.”

Gustave Flaubert

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Finding your way is most likely one of the most desired, and elusive, things in business and life. Now. We talk about this a lot, like a shitload of a lot, but truthfully very few truly find “the way.” That doesn’t stop us from proclaiming we have, or we are on our way (our journey) or even suggest the search for finding the way is actually finding the way. that said. I would argue finding your way and finding out you can breathe better underwater are related.

Going underwater to see if you can breathe is tough. Finding the way is tough. Not because we don’t have goals and objectives and even dreams. Mostly because things in life are rarely black or white and the outlines of what we really “want” are often a bit vague. The water is murky and the depths can seem, well, deep. Drowning can not only seem like a possibility, but maybe even a probability.

Which leads me to being underwater.

“Your way” is not a destination, and it isn’t even a path, it is more likely finding something within that. Yeah. discovering something within you that gives you breathing room in the outside world. Uhm. Like breathing underwater. Look. Some ‘don’t ever want to’ for fear of the unknown. Some people ‘don’t ever want to’ because they fear drowning. But it is what it is and you find things underwater you can never find out of the water. On a personal note, despite all the things that I have done that may appear risky or times I took a chance on drowning, I can develop as long a list, if not longer, of things I didn’t do — for whatever reason (some good, some bad). It reminds me of something a 20something wrote this:

Sometimes I think about why there aren’t more people running, sprinting towards greatness. Why there aren’t more people continually evolving into something better, stronger, and happier. I wonder this a lot as I read or listen to stories about miserable jobs and unsatisfying home lives and dreams that have been left to decompose. And, I think I’m starting to understand why some people just stay, as they are, and stop aspiring for betterment. I think I get it. I think I see why it’s not a matter of capability, but rather a matter of personal choice.

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Look. Some people start hurling themselves into deep water, but most people just aren’t that hasty. In fact, many people just don’t want to because hurling yourself can be scary. Diving in would be easier if you knew you could breathe underwater. I would be remiss if I didn’t point out what we do is try and make ourselves comfortable. Lists. Milestones. Quarterly goals. Self help books. Life coaches. All things that encourage you to never go underwater.

Anyway. I am not suggesting anyone hurl themselves anywhere. But I am suggesting you should go underwater on occasion just to see that you can, well, breathe. Explore. Explore and maybe you will see some things just a bit differently or maybe just see some different things. You will never be the same once you do. Ponder.