“Poverty is uncomfortable; but nine times out of ten, the best thing that can happen to a young man is to be tossed overboard and compelled to sink or swim.”
James A. Garfield, American President
Sink or swim. If you’re out in the middle of the ocean, those are your only two choices, right? Head for shore, or wait and drown.
Life isn’t much different.
If we see something in our horizon, and we want that something, then it’s not enough to simply wait. Providence is not often so kind. It’s up to us to pump our arms and swim for it. The chances of that special something bobbing beneath our nose before we’re snorting bubbles is, perhaps, only slightly better than the odds of winning the lottery.
I loved my last job. I loved the people I worked with, and enjoyed the surroundings of each of my days. I was good at what I did, and I liked the way that success made me feel.
So why did I leave?
Because I was treading water. Once I asked myself the hard questions, I couldn’t lie about the answers. When I realized I was doing the dog paddle, I knew it was time to get out of Dodge.
My new job is no different. I love the children I teach, and the families they go home to. But there’s a low ceiling above me, and four walls that I can only leave if I’m scurrying from point A to B and back again.
Life is too short for so much restriction.
It’s a new dawn we’re living. Anyone with a reasonable amount of intelligence and good time management can carve a life for themselves that doesn’t have to conform to the standards set by the last several hundred years of the ruling elite. And I’m not talking about those lucky souls endowed with some incredible skill.
I mean anyone who knows how to breathe.
Too many people are perfectly content to simply survive rather than live. Go to work, collect your check, buy the things you need (along with a mountain you don’t), refinance, buy some more, sweat when the economy buckles…
It’s not enough.
If your life isn’t working, then change your behavior. Go on a diet, it doesn’t have to be food. Do without, go hungry. Decide what you want out of life, and then figure out how to get it. I know what I want, and I’ve given myself a year. Every one of you can call me on it if I’m not living as I say by the time my shirt’s sticking to my back next Summer. Scratch that, I doubt I’ll be wearing a shirt much of next Summer.
Just think about it, whatever your situation. If you’re out in the middle of the ocean, and you haven’t started to swim… start.
I promise it’s not too late.
Writer Dad
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Check out the rewrite of this post, “Sink or Swim.“
