You Get To Pick Your Poison

Daily Blog #289

What I am about to say might leave a sour taste in your mouth. For that, I apologize. But at the same time, I feel that it is something that you need to hear because it will help you to move forward.

What I want to tell you is that you are not perfect, your life is not perfect, and it will never be perfect. In fact, nobody’s life is perfect, so there is no need to try and make it that way.

Despite never being able to be perfect though, you can pick your poison, and you can live life however you choose to live it. You can either envision your fears and live the same life that you have always lived, or you can envision greatness and live the life that you have always dreamed of living. Because let’s face it, fear is the only thing that is preventing us from truly excelling in life.

Why is it that you are not doing the things that you want to be doing in life? Because your fears are holding you back. Why are you not quitting your job to finally start that business that you have always wanted to start? Because your fears are holding you back. Why are you not willing to risk all that you have for the opportunity to receive all that you want? Because your fears are holding you back.

And trust me, I am calling out my own bs fears as well with this. I am not perfect, but I also don’t expect to be. So while I am pushing you to live the life of your dreams, I am also doing it as a way to push myself to live my best life, and to break out of my own comfort zone as well.

Here’s the thing about life, no matter what way you look at it, it’s never going to be easy. There are going to be things that you aren’t wanting to do, but like I said earlier, you have the opportunity to pick your poison. When you fear something, you can envision your fears, allow those fears to hold you back, and settle for living a mediocre life. Or, you can envision all of the amazing things that you are capable of achieving, and make the most out of every opportunity that is in front of you.

I get it, neither option is easy. If you envision your fears, you’re settling. You think it’s easy settling for living the same mediocre, boring, unpleasurable, or whatever life you’re living while knowing that there is a better life that you could be living? Think again. And if you envision greatness, you are challenging your fears. You are going against every feeling that has stopped you up to this point, and you are fighting every part of your mind that is telling you no.

See, both suck. But with that said, only one of these options will allow you to live the life that you dream of living. And in case you aren’t sure which one it is, I will give you a hint – it’s the latter example.

So what do you do? What can you do that will help you to envision yourself living the greatest life imaginable? You think about living your dreams. You think about what your life will look like having achieved each and every one of your dreams. You think about all of the challenges that you have already overcome throughout the course of your life. And you think of any fear as a stepping stone towards living the best life that you have ever lived.

In the scenario where your fears scare the absolute shit out of you, acknowledge that feeling both as excitement and opportunity. Acknowledge your fear as a tool that is pushing you to be better. Acknowledge your fear as an opportunity to test your belief in yourself. And acknowledge your fear as an opportunity to overcome challenges that arise in your life.

Once you get into the habit of combating the negative feeling towards your fears with feeling that are a little more uplifting and pleasurable to think about, those negative feeling slowly, but surely start to disappear. While it is not always easy to face your fears, it’s also not easy to settle while knowing that there is much more out there that you could have. But only one of these poisons will lead you to living a life that you are proud to live.

This is the point where I tell you to go all in. What do you have to lose? Rejection? Failure? Embarrassment? So what! If you don’t go all in, you are losing something much greater. You are losing precious time that you will never, ever get back in the already short life that you are living. That is a far greater loss than any emotion.

Michael Bonnell

2/13/2019

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