We love to operate our lives in one of two modes; run and stop.

When we are inspired and motivated, we get an unbelievable high and always overestimate how quickly and how easily we will get to where we want to go. Often, on the down slope, when the excitement and energy has long gone, we convince ourselves that we made another mistake, or worse that we are not good enough, or we resign ourselves that we don’t deserve it, and so we quit.

We try to force change or or we take our ball and we go home.

Our way or no way.

What successful people have discovered and implemented for years is the idea that you cannot force things to happen, nor can you push life around and dictate how things are going to happen. This doesn’t mean that you live your life haphazardly, or that you don’t pay attention to what is going on inside of you and what is going on in the world at large. Letting life happen means doing everything you are already doing, except it involves never running and stopping, but walking, jogging, and persisting.

The journey of a million steps begins with a single step, but it also doesn’t matter that after taking 1,341, you take 231 back, and then move forward 567. The journey of a million steps requires for you to make steps. It requires you to keep going, slowly, fast, in the rain, in the heat of summer, and the cold of winter. It want you to keep going when you want to and when you do not, but what it really demands of you is that you don’t sit down and give up.

Thankfully, life is so wonderful, that you really can’t quit either. You cannot undo or unlearn what you have done or learned, so even though you’ve quit a thousand times, like I have, there is nothing preventing you from starting again. But there is a lot of momentum and effort require to restart all over again. If you want meaning, happiness, and success in your life, you need to take those steps. You need to keep up the effort, and you cannot force change.

Do not in your arrogance tell life what you deserve and what she owes you. Everything you are and have already is a great gift. Anything you want doesn’t diminish the blessings of the life you’ve received.

Don’t force your will upon life. You will lose. It is a fight that will drain you of energy, and your energy will be better spent doing things and being open to directions you are stubborn to see.

I won’t tell you that you’re a horse and that I can’t force you to drink, but I just did, so, you’re a horse, and I can’t force you to drink. You need to let go of what you expect out of people, what you expect out of life, how soon you expect it things to happen, and by what means you expect life to deliver your dreams.

You have to stop forcing things and begin to look for ways to move forward.

They are not always obvious and not without fear or trepidation, but they will bring you closer to who you want to be, than stomping your feet, throwing tantrums, and willing life to change.

 

Cover photo generously provided by photographer Mikito Tateisi via unsplash.com