The Best Quote I've Ever Written
Today I'm going on a rant. But I trust that this will be a powerful one for you. About a year and a half ago, I penned a quote that seems to resonate deeply with people. It goes like this: "Your constant need to make things happen isn't productivity. It is compulsion and illness in action. Many of us are living out a well-orchestrated panic attack and calling it a life."
This quote strikes a chord because it speaks to the truth that much of our activity is born out of a desire to run away from our fears. Whether those fears are known or unknown, they drive us to keep moving, to keep doing things, often without realizing the deeper motivations behind our actions. It's like we're being pursued by an insatiable fear monster that only grows stronger the more we run.
Reflecting on our lives, if we could go back five years and tell our younger selves where we would be today, we might have thought we had it all figured out. We get caught up in the idea of a magical solution, a magic business, or a certain amount of money that will make all our problems disappear. But as I can attest, and many of you can too, it's not true.
When will we stop running from our fears and turn to face them? If I were to ask 10 people at random what they know they should be doing but aren't, what they are called to do but are ignoring, each would have an answer. We all have that thing we want to achieve, that calling that won't quit calling. And behind it is a fear that keeps us from fully pursuing it.
There's a saying that the treasure you seek is in the cave that you fear. So, what is the fear that keeps us in constant motion, living in a well-orchestrated panic attack? Ryan Holiday, one of my favorite authors, beautifully articulates this in his book "Courage is Calling." He describes fear as something looming large but distant, sitting in our stomach, twisting and churning without clear definition.
Our fears are often abstract, shadows and illusions that we haven't fully examined or defined. And it's time to change that. As Ryan Holiday says, "What we fear, we do not know, not exactly anyway." It's time to look into it, to define what worries us, and to face it head-on.
I want this to serve as a catalyst for you to reflect on why you feel the constant need to make things happen. What is the compulsion that keeps you moving endlessly? What fear are you running from, and how can you start facing it today?
This has been a rant, but I hope it was a helpful one. You can find everything I've mentioned, from the quote to the book, linked below. Don't wait; take a moment now to reflect on your actions and fears. Let's figure out how you can start walking a different path—moving towards what you want instead of constantly away from what you don't know. Thank you.
