You Owe Yourself The Life You Want

One of my friends wanted to be a musician and wanted to learn how to play the piano, but he did not have the financial ability to enrol into a music school. For a while, he was just hoping and wishing. Then it dawned on him that time was passing. So he joined the choir in his local church. When he joined, he became committed to rehearsals. It was not long and the music director organised a 2-month free music and piano lesson. He indicated interest and he was part of it. This was what gave him the boost that he needed. He learnt the fundamentals, and he was also going to church earlier on service days to practise first before service. He took his future in his hands, and he gave it the required shoot. This shows that you owe yourself the life you want.

There will come to a point in your life when you stop waiting for the permission to act, and also stop waiting for the perfect moment, or the right support, or for someone else, but you will take hold of your life in your hands. The truth is that no one is absolutely responsible for the outcome of your life. If you want your life to count, then you have to make it count. Take steps, make a move, act. You cannot move forward by doing nothing. You cannot effect change without taking steps. You may not have been responsible for where you started, but it is your responsibility to determine the turn your life will take and how you will eventually end.

You will be surprised how a lot of people live below their potentials simply because they are busy trying to live up to the expectations that are not even their own in the first place. They follow the paths chosen by others, they settle for the available even if it is less, they silence their own dreams out of fear or doubt. But what they fail to understand is that they are actually more capable than they even know. They are not born to become subjected to other people's changes, but to create their own change. This is why I used to tell people that the responsibility to create the life you want is a personal responsibility; no one will do it for you.

Owing yourself the kind of life that you want means that you need to take the full responsibility for your growth. It actually starts by being honest about where you are at the moment, then being intentional about where you want to be. No one will do this work for you, it is your absolute responsibility. For example, no one will wake up early for you, no one will learn a skill for you, no one will confront and pull through challenges for you, and no one will take the required risk for you. Your life is your own personal assignment.

This does not automatically mean that the journey will be easy. As a matter of fact, choosing to pursue the kind of life that you want will definitely require sacrifices to be made. This can also mean that you will move out of your comfort zone. It also requires sacrifices, taking risks, having patience, and determination. At some points, you may even face some setbacks, disappointment, failure, challenges, and moments of doubt, but do not allow all these to stop you from taking the needed step. You have to always remind yourself that these challenges are part of the process, and they do not show that you should stop and that you should not make attempts.

While making attempts and taking steps, you should do away with fear. This includes fear of uncertainty, fear of what others will say, fear of failure, and even fear of the unknown. Fear can subtly make you to be stuck in a life that feels safe, but it will also prevent you from creating the kind of life you want. When you remember that you owe yourself the kind of life you want, you will begin to act differently. You will make bolder moves, take bigger risks, take more confident decisions, and embrace growth even when it does not feel comfortable.

Thanks for reading