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Sunday, December 21, 2014

Thinking Out Loud |

Ambition: the fuel that drives us to conquer the world.

I think that one of our generation’s biggest problems is the lack of ambition. I think that people settle. Maybe not intentionally, but nevertheless they find themselves in a state of perpetual complacency.
Why is it that the vast majority of our population has one specific goal: To graduate from college and attain a 9-5 job that will provide them with enough income to sustain their future family, with some left over for a vacation to Disney etc. Why is it that we settle for the norm, the mundane, the ordinary? Why is it that most people find themselves a supporter of someone else’s dream while ignoring their own? Why is it that we have become content with just existing? Why is it that we settle instead of becoming great and achieving greatness?

This post was partially inspired by conversations that I have had as of late. What I have found lately is that I really have developed my own ideas about life since I started college, and what I’ve realized is that I don’t want to settle. I never want to wake up at forty and think, “What in the world did I do with the first half of my life”. That thought frightens me. The other day someone asked me, “What is your biggest fear?” I responded by saying that my biggest fear was to die without ever having left an impact on the world. It absolutely scares me. I understand that there are a slew of things that I won’t be remembered for, but I never want making an impact to be one of them.

I read everyone’s current literature craze, “The Fault in Our Stars”, last spring and there’s an underlying theme that has always kind of stuck with me. Hazel, the main character, has cancer, as does her boyfriend, Augustus Waters. Near the end of the book Augustus is distraught about the fact that he really hasn’t made a massive impact on the world, and tells Hazel about it. Hazel then tells him that it shouldn’t matter because he still made an impact on one person. She then says that it is more important to make an impact on just one person’s life. While I understand Hazel’s opinion, I can’t help but wonder why it is that she settles to impact the life of just a single soul. I understand that she desires to make a massive impact on the life of one person, instead of a small impact on many people, but what if there’s more. What if we are capable of greatly impacting and influencing the lives of every person we encounter and interact with? What if there’s more to life than working a 9-5 job. I am a firm believer in higher education and in getting a degree. I think it is essential to success in the job world, however, we cannot live our lives solely in pursuit of a degree. Our life goal should not consist of financial stability. We are capable of so much more. I think we have to get to a place in our lives where we realize that there is so much more that we could do to better our lives and more importantly the kingdom. I think that we settle because we are afraid to scratch the surface of our potential. Maybe this is just me spilling my current thoughts into words, per the usual, or maybe I find myself writing this because my dad is constantly pushing me to do more and be more. Honestly, I’m not sure.

But ask yourself this, what do you really want to do in your lifetime?

Honestly. I want to inspire people. I want to change the world. I want to reach as many people as I can with the gospel. There isn’t any part of me that wants to be ordinary. I think that in order to be extraordinary, we must continually fight against the average, against the norm. I can promise you that people who are great are not consumed with what others are doing, but instead pave their own path to greatness. Maybe it’s time to stop setting.
 Maybe it’s time to start truly living.


XOXO

1 comment:

  1. God is truly using you. Your words matter. Thank you.

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