Most people do not aim to look foolish. Quite the opposite! The average person does their best to avoid looking foolish. Societal norms, fashion trends, rules of thumb and so many other mechanisms are in place to keep us from looking like a fool. The problem is that sometimes, being a fool is exactly what it takes.
It may look foolish now but at the time, we LOVED these jerseys!
All of those things that keep us from looking foolish, make us ordinary. Therefore, in order to do anything extraordinary, one must chance looking foolish. That little bit of extra effort, creativity, love, investment, etc. takes us outside of the norm. Any normal person wouldn’t do that. But that’s exactly the point! The results that make us stand out are linked directly to the attempts that might make us look foolish if we fail. So why chance it?
It’s completely possible to live a life of relative happiness without ever chancing playing the fool. Calculated bets surround us all and sanity can be claimed at every corner. For some reason, the risk of playing the fool seems to be a requirement.
It’s easy to get caught up in how things are “supposed to be”! A speed boat is supposed to go fast, induce a rush of adrenaline and glide across the water with ease. That’s what a speedboat is supposed to do. BUT what about when it doesn’t? What happens when there is an engine malfunction or an electrical problem? The anticipation of how things are supposed to be are not connected to how they are! It’s possible that when things break down, that oars might be necessary on your speedboat.
None of us prays for hard times or difficulties. We do not want to be stranded, troubled or defeated. The reality of life is that from time to time, it’s going to happen to each of us. Those circumstances do not say anything about us as people. Falling on hard times does not make anyone a bad person. The reaction to those hard times is more important. Becoming seduced by a preconception of a status quo of ease and comfort is not likely to produce the fortitude necessary for hard times.
So OARS! Your speedboat may need them from time to time because muscles and work may have to get you “unstuck” from a situation. It may not be the picture of perfection but perhaps that forward rowing motion will get the engine started again. A speedboat may be designed for fast but that will always be a relative term. Slow is infinitely faster than standing still!
As a father of two teenagers, I recognize that I have a limited window in which I am still their primary caretaker. At a certain point, they will take care of themselves. It’s the eventuality that parents tend to both desire and lament. The children that they have raised since birth, no longer need them. The work has already been done. Now the results are all that are left!
The same is true for almost any goal. The life of it begins with control, care and influence but eventually we have to let go! Our actions are all that we can take care of. They are the children of our life. At a certain point, the results take care of themselves. We’d all love to believe that we can WILL a result to fruition. The only thing that we do is care for the actions that lead to results.
If you want your goals to mature, you need to take care of your actions consistently. Otherwise they will be hanging around in your basement, depleting your resources and shadows of lost potential.
My grandmother worked at a roller rink for my entire childhood. Despite that fact, I didn’t get “good” at roller skating until there was a rink in my hometown. For a few months, at most a year, it was the place for every teenager to hang out on a Friday night. I definitely got slapped across the face for skating “too close” to a girl by my then girlfriend but I digress! Putting wheels on our feet is a recipe for disaster in so many ways but it’s similar to the way we travel through the world.
Most of us are off balance and uncomfortable but trying our best to look cool and not fall flat on our faces. Some people really have it all figured out but they often get ridiculed for trying too hard or being odd. There’s probably a portion of each of us that’s jealous of those roller maestros but getting really good would probably require a ton of experimentation and painful falls. In the end, it’s easier to stay safe and average rather than get really good at something that could prove to be a fad or get us ridiculed. Why chance it, right?
The truth is that most of the people that you’re worried about judging you for falling on your face are just as scared and will be gone in a moment. The people who came with you will help you get up if they can. If they’re off balance too maybe it’s best that they focus on themselves. You’re more than capable of getting back in your feet by yourself! All you have is an unpredictable number of songs to get in your number of laps around the floor. The disco ball is spinning and this is your chance to shine. It will surely hurt when you fall but it will probably hurt worse at the end of the night if you just played it safe!
Keeping things alive is often the order of the day. If you’re a parent of a newborn, it’s directive number one. Farmers need to keep their crops alive through nourishment and protection. CEOs and other employees are charged with keeping their company alive. CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) is a last heroic effort to save someone who is dying. It’s not a long term plan. It’s a last ditch effort! Because it’s coming from the outside! However the mechanism that is in place within your chest keeps your heart beating for a lifetime because it is designed to do so. Our dreams can work very similarly. They are easier to keep alive from within rather than from outside.
Despite the simplicity of this statement, most of us still want CPR on our dreams. We want other people, “the world” or circumstances to align in order to keep our dreams alive. The problem is that just like regular CPR, it is only a short term answer. We need to keep our dreams alive through a Continuous Passion Reinvestment. Passion is an emotional state that can breed life into almost any project but it cannot be an occasional thing! The passion for that dream needs to come as Continuously as possible. The last piece is a Reinvestment. Small successes along the way are not particularly times over-celebrate, the energy needs to be reinvested back into the project. It’s not over! Most dreams are lifelong pursuits. So never think that the heart can stop beating. It needs to be healthy and thriving.
No matter the acronym that you want to use, you need keep your dreams alive and thriving. No one else will care enough to do it for you! It needs to be like a heartbeat. Otherwise it’s just a lot of chest-pounding that may or may not do anything. The inside is where it starts!
When I played soccer in college during my freshman year, there was a player on the team from the Gambia named Ousman (pronounced “ooze mahn”). He was relatively quiet but an absolutely amazing player who had a rocket of a shot. Being in a new country for the first time, he did not always socialize with the team outside of practices and games. The one time that I do remember him hanging around someone asked about whether we were getting the pronunciation of his name right. The question “What do you say when people ask what your name is?” His response “I usually say ‘Call me Mike'”. His rationale to us was that it was easier for people to say. Even now, I’m not sure if he was joking or not because he only played that one year. However that incident came back to me this morning.
The strategy that Ousman used, is one that we all use from time to time. Change who you are in order to make others feel more comfortable. I’ll admit fully that I am guilty of it regularly. Now some of this cannot be escaped in the civilized world. We should not be our 100% authentic selves. Many of us would be walking around with wet pants etc. if we just reacted to our every impulse in the moment. More of what I’m talking about here is the tendency to be a “watered down” version of ourselves. Those little things that we do in order to fit in but that undermine who we are. The comfort that is gained usually doesn’t serve either person. Again, there’s a balance to be struck in all things but I am reminded of the passage by Marianne Williamson “Our greatest fear” (below). We do not serve others by playing small.
There is nothing wrong with being “Mike” if that’s who you truly are. However, if you’re Ousman, Fred, Ignacious, Isabel, Fahruz or anyone else, then don’t pretend to be Mike for the sake of others. Your individuality carries with it the power to inspire others and unhinge the doors that separate us. Perhaps the true incarnation of yourself will be too much for some people and that’s ok also. Our job in this life is not to fit in as well as possible. All of the people that you admire are held in that esteem because they do not fit in. They stand out! Embrace who you are because until you do, no one else has the opportunity to do so.
My name is Pete!
Our Greatest Fear —Marianne Williamson
it is our light not our darkness that most frightens us
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small does not serve the world.
There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other
people won’t feel insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear, Our presence automatically liberates others.
Huryk Unlimited 