Special Post: Calling it Quits

I woke up this morning more convinced than ever that it's time to call it quits.

Today is the day. This, right here, right now, is the day to draw a line in the sand and say, "No more. No further. It ends now."

I'm talking about you. I'm talking about the procrastination. The thinking without action. I'm talking about the daydreaming about all that could happen instead of finding out what will happen. The obsessing over worst case scenarios instead of best case scenarios. I'm talking about the endless days of making others satisfied and happy while you're slowing dying inside. The building and doing what others want you to build and do while the things inside of you that want to be built and done slowly lose their voice and go silent.

I’m talking about the ease with which you allow others to continually press you back into a small dark corner when you’re supposed to be standing atop a mountain, arms stretched wide, your lungs filled with the crisp, cool, and pure air of possibility. I’m talking about following the lead of the voices inside of you, the voices from your past, the voices from those around you, subtly implying that you’re not enough, that you don’t measure up to the breadth and depth of your dreams, that you should settle into the small space they’ve created for you and grow to love, and find safety, in the cold stone walls around you.

Yes, I’m looking at you.

It’s October 1st. Another year of your life has come, and in three months will be gone. Why did you simply repeat last year, again this year? Aren’t you tired of that? You’ve been doing it your whole life, and yet, here you are, doing it again, another year of stumbling, bumbling, fumbling and mumbling when you could be running, winning, succeeding, and shouting to the world, and to those dismayed that you leapt from your small space, “I’ve got this!”

It’s time to open your eyes. It’s time to take a deep breath and stand, if even on tired, weak, atrophied legs. It’s time to thank the walls for keeping you safe for a time, and then destroy them with the beautiful, righteous violence of a man or woman determined to be held captive no more. It’s time to remember who you are and call yourself by your right name. It’s time to rediscover why you were given the gift of life for such a time as this, reclaim that purpose, clothe yourself with it, and step back into the light.

Others will try to draw you back into the cave as they see you attempting to leave. They won’t understand as you try to explain to them what lies on the other side. They haven’t seen what you’ll see, and they may call you crazy, even dangerous. But there are those of us who’ve already escaped and we’re here, in the warmth of the sun, waiting to walk with you into the light of ten thousand tomorrows better than your last ten thousand yesterdays.

It’s time.