A Long Road to Freedom

I sat by the bay window, gazing down at the street below. A white Mercedes and a man walking his dogs entered and left my field of view, in the most mundane, yet poetic sequence of events. Such small details in the grand scheme of living, seem like nothing important on the surface, however on a deeper level, you begin to discover each of us are apart of a complicated ever expansive web of humanity. As I continued my trance like gaze, I began to observe how the tree in my front yard softly sway in the wind, seemingly performing an interpretive dance to the beat of nature. In my abstraction, I hadn’t noticed how the blue sky faded into dusk, draping darkness over my neighborhood. The street lights turned on, causing people to scurry to their homes, to do what people did on Sunday nights. I glanced at my watch and my mind began to free fall. “Tomorrow is another Monday and I’m still not where I want to be,” I sighed to myself. It’s in some of our most obscurely blissful moments, we seem to introspectively sabotage ourselves, spoiling the moment.

I stepped away from the window thinking about my life’s path. The choice between quitting and trudging forward confronts many of us— often. Some days you can see light at the end of the tunnel and then there are days the road aimlessly winds before you with seemingly no end in sight. If you’ve found yourself questioning whether you have the energy to keep pursuing your dreams, then this essay is for you. This essay is for those who’ve toiled for years, with hardly any traction. If you’re tired of feeling like you’re stuck between a rock and hard place, I wrote this to tell you, this isn’t the time to quit or give up on yourself. This road of becoming the best version of yourself, can feel like a lonely road. While everyone else is settling, you want more. While others are making excuses for their mediocre lives, you’re craving to be better. I know you’re tired of feeling like your best efforts are getting you know where. Trust me, I know the feeling, all too well. I’ve come to tell you today, keep building, learning, and continually developing yourself. There will come a day, when your focused effort, discipline and faith will have you standing proudly atop the mountain of extraordinary success.

You may be an entrepreneur with the dream of financial freedom. You could be a student studying to earn your undergrad, Masters or PHD or perhaps you’re someone who’s devoted the past few months to kicking a bad habit. You might be a single parent raising kids on your own with dreams of building a better life for your family. Though these goals and dreams may be differ on the surface, they each require our best effort on a continual basis. Day by day, things happen and situations arise that apply pressure. Anxiety, fear and discouragement try lay root in your mind. The negative thoughts pile up and pile in, causing you to question yourself. The people and all the chatter from outside influences appear, attempting to devour what little motivation you had left. You then begin to see social media post after post, filled with people who appear to have it all together, living their best lives day after day, leaving you to wonder if you’ve missed the boat. The mental levy breaks and you’re standing face to face with the option to give up. Stop. Hold it right there and think about how far you’ve come despite life’s challenges. 

In a world full of faux excellence and unrealistic standards, you must never forget who you are and what you’re capable of. Here’s what I’ve learned so far in my 33 years of living. The journey is just as, if not more important, than solely arriving at the destination. Ultimately, it’s who you become that prepares you for your seat at the table of success. I encourage you today, to look at your road ahead with confidence, knowing and believing you have what it takes to get all that you desire in life. You too, can have a successful business, find wealth, live in total happiness and truly achieve all that you wish to achieve. Make no mistake about it, it takes guts to battle sneers and jokes from those who have given up on themselves. It takes strength to battle the voices in your mind that tell you that you’re fooling yourself for thinking you can be somebody. More than anything you must believe in yourself. In closing, may you become closely aquatinted with the freedom of charting your own course. This life is yours. You get to decide who you are to become. Though this journey is long one, or at least it feels that way, it’s worth it— you’re worth it.