I used to feel so much pressure to discover my passion and my purpose in life. My one true calling.
I believed that there was only one possible ‘best life’ for me. So I had to choose the ‘right life’ because if I didn’t, I was doomed to misery.
So I stood at the starting line looking up at all the different ladders wondering which one I should step onto.
And what if I choose wrong?
Well that would mean I would have to climb all the way back down and start again. That thought really scared me.
The idea that I choose wrong and would have to start all over again, while my friends were further ahead of me. In my eyes that would mean failure.
I know so many people share these beliefs with me.
To a point that even when they know they are on the wrong ladder, they just keep climbing. That belief that if we change it means we have failed in someway keeps us trapped in a life we don’t even enjoy.
But these beliefs are wrong. Life is not rigid. Life is not meant to be planned, it’s meant to be lived.
There is nothing that says you can’t jump from one ladder to the next.
There is nothing that says you have to start from the beginning again.
When you realise you chose wrong that’s not a failure. It’s just a lesson. It means you’re one step closer to knowing what you do want and maybe you want to go and play a whole other game on a different board.
Who says you only get to live one life, with one passion and one interest?
What makes life amazingly fun and fulfilling is growth and experience; and there is nothing that will grow you more than trying new things.
I’m 38 years old and I already consider myself to be in the 3rd phase of my life and in my 5th career.
I thought I would always act, but over the years I have acted, been a scuba diving instructor, actors agent, recruitment manager and now I run my own business.
Apart from the acting career, I was successful in all my careers. I didn’t leave because I failed, I left because I wanted to try something new. I wanted to enjoy all my interests and not be bound to one thing for ever.
Yet if you would have asked me years ago if it would be possible to experience all these different things in my life, I would have said no.
Because I was tied to the idea that once I made my decision I had to commit to it and keep climbing.
Life is not linear, it’s not meant to be planned out.
You can’t know what you want tomorrow until you have lived today. Because living today makes you the person you will be tomorrow.
Don’t let the beliefs of others restrict your choices. You are free to reinvent yourself as many times as you like.
Life is not the plan, it is the process.
