As I sat down to write down this, I heard footsteps within the hallway echoing close to my condominium door. As they bought nearer, so did the acquainted melody all of us might always remember, even when we tried. It was the notorious “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey.

The query is, when did we cease? When did we cease believing that we will be, do, or have something on this life?  We’ve by no means forgotten the music, however we’ve definitely forgotten the precept. We’ve change into a society that stopped believing.

I've been many issues and I'm none of these issues now as a result of, in my life expertise, I've expanded, as all of us do. And someplace alongside the best way, I embraced a brand new concept and perception that as a result of life is fluid, I could possibly be too. I noticed I used to be allowed to alter and adapt and remodel who I used to be within the midst of who I used to be changing into. I’d all the time questioned the constructs of societal pressures and the ludicrous expectation that comes with us supposedly understanding precisely who and what we wish to be contemporary out of highschool. We’re simply ripe sufficient on this planet to barely perceive ourselves, but right here we're, compelled to declare a serious and select a career that we'll have for the remainder of our lives? This sort of permanence scares me. The place precisely is that this rule written, anyway?

I’ve by no means been one to evolve. Since then, I’ve had my arms in every kind of random issues, particularly the instances I had modified my thoughts about who I wished to be and what I wished to do. I received’t say I used to be misplaced, as a result of we by no means are, however I used to be wandering. I’ve been a waitress and a bartender. I’ve cleaned strangers’ homes and even took some desk job the place I had completely no Concept what I used to be doing half the time (I stop in the midst of a gathering, as a result of although I attempted to love looking at a cubicle all day, I hated it with all of my being). I’ve by no means been one to fake. I’ve by no means been somebody who can bear to do one thing for the cash once I discover myself someplace that silences my soul or dims my lust for all times. I by no means belonged in an workplace or within the company world, and as a lot as that is pushed on us, I used to be bored with attempting to suit right into a mildew that didn’t match me in any respect. So why not create my very own?

I’ll by no means once more be in one thing that appears like it's sucking the life out of my soul. I actually used to imagine that my life would get considerably boring after school as a result of I adhered to a perception that was by no means mine to start with. I swear, somebody used to say to me on a regular basis rising up, “It’s all downhill after 30.”

Is that purported to be a joke? What do we've got to look ahead to if our lives repeatedly decline after 30? This solely made me worry the concept of getting older as a substitute of embracing it. However even nonetheless, I didn’t purchase it then, and I definitely don’t purchase it now as I method 33.

The half that issues right here, is that you just don’t need to undertake the beliefs of others. The half that issues is that life is what you make it, and so as to dwell out the life I wished for myself, I merely needed to change my thoughts about it. And now?

My perception is that life will get higher and higher. My perception is that life continues to shock me. My perception is that life is however one massive ass journey, and I can dwell my life any means I need that feels good to my insides. I can promise you received’t be seeing me with a child on my hip anytime quickly, contemplating I nonetheless discover myself needing area from my canine and would slightly purchase flights than furnishings.

I’ve swam topless in oceans half a planet away from right here within the bluest waters you’ve ever seen. I’ve skinny dipped underneath the sunshine of 1,000,000 stars within the clear waters of the Caribbean at midnight and sneaked off into the darkness with the one which I beloved for a quickie in a beachside dressing room. I’ve danced in island rain storms barefoot when others ran for shelter. I’ve lived and fallen in love with new locations the place nobody even knew my identify.

To me, that’s dwelling.

I’ve been a profitable inside designer and marriage ceremony photographer, neither of which I'm anymore as a result of one thing else started to name me in direction of it. So right here I'm, amidst the liberty to alter my thoughts but once more about what I need out of this life.

That’s dwelling.

That’s the fluidity that I crave. That’s with the ability to determine that possibly these issues had been for me on the time however aren’t anymore, and now I'm a painter—I paint with phrases.

The ethical of this story is that life was by no means meant to be deflating or stationary. I can’t wrap my head round the concept any of us had been put right here to work 40 hours per week doing one thing we completely hate. I can’t fathom the thousands and thousands of souls who go house after work and dread the times forward or dwell solely for the weekends as a result of they really feel as if they don’t have a selection within the matter. That's nothing however believing a lie offered to us earlier than we had a chance to know any higher—earlier than we had a chance to determine for ourselves.

So the idea that we've got to remain the identical and do the identical factor endlessly as a result of we’ve all the time executed it's simply remaining in a cycle. And typically, we've got to interrupt out and away from the issues that not breathe life into our lungs. We're allowed to alter. We're allowed to adapt. We're allowed to increase and stretch and circulate with life, slightly than towards it, simply to remain in some mundane routine.

Now’s the time for reinvention. Now’s the time to get up to the likelihood that life is supposed to be lived, and I do know it sounds loopy, however we’re meant to like our lives and be endlessly joyful inside them, no matter meaning to every of us. Perhaps now’s the time to forgo a brand new concept that simply since you selected it then doesn’t imply you need to select it now, particularly if it doesn’t mild your soul on fireplace. I wish to be an instance on this world of somebody who went for it, regardless of the articles written by writers about how laborious it's to be a author. That’s cool and all, but when that’s what I used to be placed on this earth to do—if that's my calling—then my plan is bulletproof, and all I want is somewhat belief and inspiration.

Don’t you suppose it might be the identical for you? What's your divine function right here? Have you ever requested your self currently? I encourage you to. As a result of I imagine in a world the place persons are dwelling out their passions and fulfilling goals. I imagine in a world full of people who've woke up to new concepts of what life might appear to be. We’re continually given alternatives to recreate ourselves, and the lie is that we by no means have a selection in that. The reality is that we all the time have a selection, and that's breathtakingly lovely, isn’t it? The true reward is freedom—the liberty to decide on and the liberty to be whoever you wish to be.

However the query that also stays is: When did we cease believing? When did we cease believing in ourselves and within the magic that's this life? When did we cease believing in our personal energy? I do know the type of world I wish to dwell in, and if it doesn’t exist, I’ll create it myself. However above the rest, I wish to see individuals besotted with the life that's in entrance of them. I need individuals intoxicated by their very own life expertise a lot that it turns into an epidemic. You need a modified world? Gandhi was spot on—you need to be the change first.

Right here’s to doing that.