Life Isn't Linear
We expect a simple progression. From A to B to C. It's never like this!
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I’m in the mountains at a dilapidated cabin they’re now calling a ‘coffee shop.’ I’m standing in line for 3 espressos (separate, not a triple, all for me, to drink with my eyes closed standing in the parking lot humming ancient American protection melodies.) There’s a couple in front of me, old schoolers, products of many generations above complete with white hair, aged overalls, wrinkles painted by time and I’m watching them. More or less in a ‘creepy’ way. Their cheeks have that quintessential Jolly look. The kind where you can’t tell if they’re extremely inflamed or just the true and rightful heirs to the North Pole. All of this, their physical, their entire presence, it adds up to a story and one that’s led them right beside of me, today!
How did they get here? What ups and downs have they experienced?
Look at this image of the Golden Ratio. It will help understand the point!
It’s my assumption that we all have goals and if this doesn’t apply to you, then why even leave the bed in the morning? Unsubscribe mi amor we aren’t for each other. I howl while you yawn! YES! All of us, safe to assume, have visions and plans for the future.
The best among the people are consciously working day in and day out to reach that ideal. The most passionate are working late into the night after a full time job, working out, cooking, running errands. They are exhausting themselves to reach a goal - finish line - a place they expect to be satisfied.
This is good. This is the optimal state of human: To be shooting for something, to have a personal purpose that you know you can reach with the right amount of dedication, wit, and dare I say, yes, I’ll dare say it…. luck.
Catch up on the last 3 Souled Idea writings:
19 Days excerpt:
18 Days excerpt:
17 Days excerpt:
Now we are BACK!
So yes, return, these people, (us) are all working towards something. Maybe it’s toned body, maybe it’s building business, maybe it’s becoming world class chef traveling to cook. It’s your own personal goal and not up to me to decide! But with these plans, we like to imagine a linear path that gets us there. Using the chef:
For three years I’ll go to culinary school.
For five years after I’ll shadow _ _ _ _ _ _ _ and the infamous New York spot _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ .
Then I’ll open my own restaurant by the age of 30 and then and then etc.
In our heads this is rational. It makes sense. But looking back, how often do things work out the exact way you laid them out? Look once more at this image:
This is how real progress looks. It’s not like climbing a mountain where one step forward gets you closer to that prized view. Life is fluid, it’s more liquid and must be treated as such.
Imagine yourself in the center point because that’s where you began your dream. It then spins downwards. These are the obstacles, the things you have to overcome at the beginning. This comes in all shapes and sizes but it’s something that essentially ‘reality checks’ your ambitions. Good example is our want-to-be-chef not knowing how to turn on the oven.
Okay scene painted! Now he’s hit with a choice: to continue or roll over? But after learning how to crank the stove, and how to boil water, and how to sharpen his knives he has MOMENTUM.
This is where the bottom of the spiral begins to twist back upwards. This is where the obstacle has been overcome and our chef is starting to feel like he really can reach his goal. This is similar to being in The Zone. He’s got energy, vision, and he’s learning skills he’ll need.
Then we get to the top of the spiral, the crest before it pours back to the bottom. More obstacles, this time the set backs are larger, harder to overcome. (And this is important to note, at each level/realm the risks and rewards get bigger.)
This cycle will be experienced over and over again.
It’s the true path to reaching any goal you have. There will be moments of idealistic hope, as if nothing can stop you from grabbing that vision, holding it until it becomes reality. These are moments when momentum is ignited. When you have the hand of God behind you - it’s crucial, almost live or die, to take that momentum and use it to push yourself through the lows. Let the optimistic energy propel you into the barriers so that you hit them with enough force, enough power to break right through them and push yourself further back up the spiral.
Life is not rational and to expect it to be linear is a fools game. There are ups and downs waiting behind every corner but how you respond determines where on the golden spiral you’ll find yourself tomorrow.
Excerpt from my book. I may have cried writing this chapter. I can’t say. It’s all a blur and at once I threw up but the lesbian barista kicked me out of the coffee shop and I got in my car real teary eyed maybe I wrecked going home.
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