Life Doesn’t Wait For You To Get In The Mood: Why You Shouldn’t Either
As a 22-year-old, I don’t profess to know everything, but what I do know is that life is about getting started. It is a series of first steps — which require a great deal of effort — that one must take.
Perhaps your fear of other peoples’ opinions or the doubts you have in yourself hold you back, but often, it boils down to a lack of motivation. When you finally muster the drive to take a step, you will see that the only thing more challenging than that initial step is to keep going, even when doing so can sometimes feel like starting all over again.
This isn't easy by any means, especially when living your passion or being on the path to realizing your goals may not engage a surge of adrenaline. There are times when the thought of acting is far from riveting or, if I dare say, even boring.
This is a test of your dedication because if you truly set your mind to something, you cannot let your passions and goals take a backseat to your emotional volatilities. You must refrain from indulging in your bouts of disinclination because the key to success is to persist; perseverance is about doing, even when you don’t feel like it.
Good things don’t come to those who wait; in fact, they don’t come to anyone. You have to actively pursue things that are good for you and conducive to your happiness because life doesn't owe you anything.
Nothing worth having is easy to attain. So, work, create, compose or do whatever you must to bring you closer to your aspirations and one of these days, you will catch yourself in the mood to do just that.
The only person who stands between what you can gain and lose from your actions (or the lack thereof) is yourself. So, if you think you are worthy of the things you want to achieve, then prove it — now. Waiting will only reinforce doubts, magnify fears of failure and perpetuate the inactivity that causes laziness.
If there’s a project you have in the back of your mind that you've never had the motivation or the knowhow to do, start it anyway. Nothing motivates more than progress and results, and both require you to put in effort.
If you've always wanted flat abs and you don’t see them tomorrow, in a month, or even in a year, continue to exercise anyway. Recognize how far you've come and continue on your path.
If you've always wanted to quit smoking and are waiting for a life-changing moment to make you feel like quitting, then stop waiting and quit immediately because if that feeling will come to you at all, you must meet it halfway, at least.
The first step is, indeed, always the hardest and you should be sure that the first is also not the last. But, even if life doesn't owe you anything, you owe it to yourself to try. If at first you don’t succeed, dust yourself off and try again.
Make it your duty to take that stride when you’re not as stimulated as you’d like to be. The more you do this, the more likely you’ll be able to transform perseverance from a chore into an attitude — one that will make you deserving of the inspiration for which you may have once idly waited.
So, be bigger than your moods. Stop waiting and get going.
