Ok, so if you're like me, you're someone in your mid twenties to early thirties who realizes that your dreams may not fit that standard mold of success. You don't want to be a doctor or lawyer, but you still want your life's meaning to help change the world.
It's getting started that's the tricky part.
Or perhaps you've already started but you feel stuck in an endless cycle of projects that don't seem to be taking you as close to your goals as you may want.
And then there are your circle of friends, whose successes leave you feeling proud and envious at the same time. Meanwhile you can count your accomplishments on one hand.
Or perhaps one finger.
So you're discouraged. Your friends have all taken a different path and many of them has found success and you don't feel you can talk to them about the road you chose to go down because, how could they possibly understand? You desire a role model, a successful face that has been where you are before but has somehow made themselves into something much greater. You desire some clear cut instruction manual telling you that feelings of uncertainty and panic when chasing your dreams are normal. You desire some kind of validation. Because right now, at this particular moment, you don't know if continuing on is worth it.
But the world is ominously silent.
I think this is the part where people tend to give up; when they're casting their fears to the universe, pleading for a sign but getting only silence in return. The hopelessness, the loneliness can be overwhelming. But you're reading the signs wrong.
"I shall assume that your silence gives consent" is what the famous philosopher Plato once said. He couldn't be more right. Sometimes silence is the world acknowledging that you're doing it right. You don't need fireworks and marching bands to tell you that your path is a worthy one. You only need to feel the surety in your heart to know that this is what you were meant to do. This is what you were meant to be.
Now here's the hard part. Being consistent. Waking up every morning still living in your parent's house or that tiny little apartment on crappy avenue and motivating yourself to take that one step today that will bring you closer to your life's dream. Juggling work and school or stresses from your home and personal life to sit down at 2am in the morning to work on your passion. Brushing aside the worried proclamations of friends and family who wish you had chosen a more...lucrative/safe path to continue to follow your dream. It will not be easy. But whenever you feel like giving up and your prayers are going unanswered remember Plato's quote. Close your eyes and ask the question inwardly, "is this worth it?" And be amazed at how your heart responds. There lies the truth.
