Waiting For Things To Happen
There are many temporally challenged people in the world. People who sit back and wait for help to show up in the form of money, strangers, friends, family, God, love or politics. People who’ve made themselves overly dependent on others, and people just like you and me who wait and wait – then wait some more – hoping that others might solve their problems!
Unfortunately, in using this approach, life can pass you by and leave you wondering what in the world happened to a big chunk of your time. The problem of course is that self advancement doesn’t come in the form of a package, a pill or a person – it is a process initiated by oneself, carried out by oneself and fulfilled by oneself.
In my experience, genuine movement forward often emerges out of tragedy, desperation and finally, an understanding that only the self can help the self. We are ultimately alone in the world as no one can walk in the shoes that we already occupy. Those of us who learn this, usually get ahead, and those who don’t usually fall by the wayside.
Like many others, my greatest error in judgement (as a young man) was waiting for external help that never arrived. Needless to say, I was shocked when no one approached me and offered to address the issues that had buried me in a temporal ditch. Neither friends nor family tried to alleviate the problems that had developed – and why should they? The ditch I was in was my own and all those close to me had their own issues. To be given absolution without being able to systematically deconstruct, identify and address each aspect of a burden, does not lead to growth and personal evolution – it leads to a stunted existence. You have to remove as many obstacles obstructing your path, as is possible, before life can progress again.
In my case, once the core burdens had been removed, the things that did came to fruition, happened because I made them happen. This is a difficult truth to swallow, especially for someone who grew up thinking he could depend on others. I wish I could offer examples of how life might function differently, but I can’t, and unless you lead a particularly charmed existence, you will always have to do things for yourself. Either that, or you’ll have to accept that most things you’d like to accomplish, just won’t happen.
So – as the lads I grew up with used to say – “Get over yourself and get on with it!” You might just find, trying rather than hoping, accomplishes more than you could’ve ever imagined!
Dedication (For my whinging Gen Y brothers and sisters.)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2010