This is today’s generation main question. Long gone are the days where we accept blindly what was instilled in us. Long gone are the days where we would have a job for the next thirty years. Long gone are the days where the sole purpose of our existence is to have good grades, get a good, stable job, marry, have children, build a home, retire, and enjoy life with the grand kids. This mentality for the most part is passé and we now crave adventure, we want ‘more’ than what our parents had.
I can say I have a chip on my shoulder. I’ve been told so many times that having a college degree is the ‘it’ thing to have. That if you don’t have it, you’ll be destined to a life of miserable, low-paying jobs. It seems that I’ve been fighting this my whole life, doing my best to prove everyone wrong.
In my early twenties I began to study successful people and the more I learned, the more I discovered that passion comes first when it comes to a sustainable, successful career. In my opinion, everyone should read ‘Life Is What You Make It’ by Peter Buffet, the son of the richest man in the world. When it came time to choose a career, his father advised to choose something that they love, he did not urge them to a college a degree.
Our education often pushes us to look outside of ourselves instead of inside. We are taught to perform, to be competitive, to wear nice clothes, to be attractive. In my life, no one pushed me to look inside myself. I had to learn this on my own. After my back injury in wrestling, I stopped everything I had done until that age and I learned about meditation, and I wrote personal journals as a way to change my way of thinking. I understood that something was wrong in the way I had been raised. I also understood that if I wanted answers to my questions I couldn't ask those close to me; every one seemed to be in the same mind frame.
In need of answers, I decided to meet with a therapist. Why? Because I needed someone to listen to what I had to say, not someone who would tell me how to think, or try to instill in me their values. Parents, as much as they love their children, are often too emotionally involved to give objective advice. The experience with the therapist was life changing, and it was the confirmation that I wasn’t crazy.
Through life experience, reading, meditation, and studying my behavior, I feel I am fulfilling my life’s purpose.
What’s the first rule of most religious traditions? KNOW THY SELF. For the most of us, it’s the last thing we do after good grades, a good job, a good marriage, good children, etc… In my opinion, it should the first thing to learn as early as we can, it would save us a lot of grief, time, and money.
How many of us had the ‘light’ in our eyes in our teenage and young adult years, and now in our late twenties onward that light dims a bit more each year? How many of us feel like life is passing us by? How long are we going to ignore that little voice inside of us, that spark wishing to turn into wildfire? Come on, you know what I’m talking about.
If you weren’t getting paid, would you do the job that you’re doing? Go inside.
With Purpose, Passion, and Love,
Frederic Bye
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