When we are young and so full of vim and vigor and nothing seems impossible, we think we have all the time in the world, we are convinced we are the next great thing and we are going to change the world! Then the world doesn’t change, but we have time so we take a little time out while we’re waiting and we get married, buy a house, have kids, maybe change jobs once or even twice and yet still, nothing changes. Things have sped up in your time out and in order to meet the daily challenges and keep your head above water, you find a routine to your day, you learn habits to repeat that help you save your brain from making decisions so it can be fresh when it has to deal with the real problems of the world. We call this routine the comfort zone and everybody has one, so what’s the problem?
The problem is that young person who is still inside all of us, still wants to change the world and is not letting you forget it. You have a vague feeling of dissatisfaction, a worry that you should be happier but you’re not quite there yet. That’s the downside of the comfort zone, it’s almost like you settled in life, you stopped searching for new and better ways to do you and change the world, and you used that intelligence and creativity to create habits that helped you get through the day instead of being in charge of the day! You know that there is more to you than you are showing the world, but now you’ve forgotten how to tap into that part of you and if you ever do, you quickly get tired and feel overwhelmed. A lot of people would tell you that it happens to everyone and you need the habits because life is overwhelming and they help you get by. I wholeheartedly disagree.
Your brain is unique and remarkable but requires use on a regular basis as it works very much like a muscle in that use makes it stronger, more resilient, able to process more efficiently and able to solve problems on a higher level that can result in progress, not regression and growth, not decline. We have the ability to engage our logical, human brain on a daily basis but we don’t because for all too long we have been taught that problem solving is bad because it involves problems and that conflict resolution is bad because it involves conflict. Here’s the solution to that: CHANGE YOUR PERSPECTIVE!
Instead of treating all problems and conflict as though something negative is happening, start realizing that you have a chance to utilize, grow and sharpen the very best part of you. By doing that on a regular basis you will see your strengths and weaknesses more clearly, you will see that changing the world isn’t a huge undertaking that takes one enormous revelation. The world is changed in a thousand little ways on a daily basis, it’s changed when you’re kind to someone, when you’re honest with someone, when you hold people accountable, and when you honor your commitment to someone. You see, when we’re young, we think we have to change the whole world, when all we have to do is help the people in the world to keep growing and the world magically changes.
When you’re young, you see the world and it is huge and vast and mostly overwhelming, but with age and experience you see the world differently. You see it much more for what it is, people making a difference in other peoples lives. Things like kindness, honesty, patience, humility, respect, commitment, forgiveness and selfless are the tools of change that you can use to better your immediate world. They are the tools of growth that you utilize to grow yourself and as you grow yourself, the real magic happens, because the real secret to changing the world is revealed. To change the world, you must change yourself!
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