Is it too late for you?
Without human interference, Nature always reaches her fullest potential. Every plant, every animal, has a purpose, and they live to fulfill this with exquisite simplicity. But us? No way. People have their mis-directed self-beliefs that seem to endlessly get in the way. I’m sure that you know what I mean. Your youth is filled with dreams of the life you will lead. Then you manage to veer off that path a thousand times, until one day you wake up and find that you’re nearly fifty, sixty, or eighty, and you have not realised your fullest potential. You have not lived the life that your younger self hoped for. You have not effected the positive change in this world that you could have.
Losing your way may or may not be a direct result of your doing. But getting back up and striving forth, no matter your age, is a must. To reach the end of your life and realise you wasted your potential is an absolute tragedy. After all, you arrived into this world as a beautiful, unique individual, who happens to possess a quality and skill-set that no-one else can offer, because no-one else is YOU.
To reach your potential is to fulfil your dreams and reach your goals. It’s an absolute crisis not to. I get it, better than most, how difficult this journey can be. Sometimes we sabotage our path forward. Other times it is snatched from us by some person, event, or tragedy. Either way, I urge you not to give up. Look at me! I’m 59 and only now learning how to override my doubts and change my self-belief. I don’t want my final moments of life to be plagued with thoughts of what I could, and should have, done differently.
What is stopping you from reaching your potential? For some it might be a fear of failure. But failing is the biggest learning step there is. Failure means you tried, it didn’t work, so you try again but do it differently. That’s the beauty of this life — you can always try again and do it in a different way. But, don’t leave that “trying again” until your last breath. Try again now. Take time to look at your dreams, at what you want to achieve with this life of yours. Consider what you can offer this world to make it a safer and better place to be.
Yes, there are obstacles. There always have been, and always will be. You can’t avoid obstacles, so find a way to manoeuvre around them. At first, you will be super clumsy as you navigate this. At times, the obstacles might seem so daunting that you retreat. This is the defining moment for many. Retreat and stay where it’s comfortable, or overcome the discomfort and find a way around, over, or through the obstacles. These are the moments that lead you closer to realising your potential.
Of course, people can lose their potential in tragic circumstances. However, most of us make a conscious choice not to follow through and end up wasting our potential. Honestly, this brings me close to tears. I’ve been a waster of potential too many times in my life. Although I can’t change the past, I can keep my goals in firm sight, and work on my self-belief system to overcome the obstacles that fall around me. Avoiding obstacles, and retreating, hampers your personal growth.
I ask you for one thing: Don’t grieve who you could have been. You’re still here, still breathing, so make a conscious choice now to be who you are supposed to be. You came here to fulfill a purpose. Reach out for support if you need it, and reach like crazy to achieve your fullest potential, because you might be the one who adds something of immense value to this world. As the old saying goes “Don’t die with your music still inside you”.
Don't die with your music still inside youShare nowWith love
Silva x
Photo by Rahul Saraf on Unsplash