Few people do this. Few people make a deliberate quest out of finding their perfect city or neighborhood, of seeking out their truly like-minded. Most of us live seventy or eighty years defending what we’ve been given, because we think it’s who we are.
At any given time, the prospect of a major change will tend to seem out of the question. This is because you believe you are what you’ve been doing this whole time. From the other side of a major change, the thought of continuing the with way things were will seem absurd.
But identity is fluid. You’ve been becoming a different person this whole time, and after making a dramatic change, you might find you’re more yourself than you’ve ever been.
This article originally appeared on Raptitude and is republished here with permission. http://matadornetwork.com/life/lives-lived-default/
By David Cain
This is an excerpt from an article I recently read on Matador titled Most Lives Are Lived By Default. The title struck me because I have often thought the exact same thing, almost word for word. When I was still back in Canada working as a pharmacist, I couldn’t help but feel that I would have fallen perfectly into the article- you could replace the hypothetical case of “Jamie” with “Jasmine”. Along the journey that has brought me to where I am now, I have had numerous coffee dates and e-mail exchanges with people saying I’m living the dream followed by the much anticipated question of “how are you doing it?”. It makes me sad to think that someone living their dream is such a novelty these days, but it is. What makes it even more frustrating though is the second question because at risk of sounding like a motivational speaker or a Nike advertisement, I always want to say…you just do it. It’s a hard task for many of us because it requires venturing outside what we know and what we have come to find comfort in. I’m just not of the camp that believes life is meant to be comfortable. Comfortable describes my bed and my favorite pajamas, and wool socks, but not the life I want. I wanted my life to give me goosebumps and anxiety. What a wonderful feeling it is to feel your blood pumping after having navigated public transportation in a foreign city in a foreign language and landing up at your destination unscathed! That is what makes me feel alive. I also loved the closing paragraph about how our identities are fluid. It’s the truth. Usually we are so pre-occupied with labeling ourselves based on our work that we deny ourselves the opportunity to let other parts of our identity develop and flourish. In Canada, I was a pharmacist. It’s exhilarating to no longer have that identity to lean back on. In Italy, I’m just Jasmine, but a fuller version of myself simply because my profession gets to take the backburner and I’ve had the chance to embrace other passions. I was inspired to write this commentary as my first paid (gasp) article as a freelance writer goes live. I can therefore attest to the fact that we are innately capable of metamorphosis and that no one should set limits on who or what we can become. So dream big.
My first article entitled How To Dress in Italy can be found here on the travel website Travel Fashion Girl. See my first tip below, but you'll have to go to the full article to see the rest!
At any given time, the prospect of a major change will tend to seem out of the question. This is because you believe you are what you’ve been doing this whole time. From the other side of a major change, the thought of continuing the with way things were will seem absurd.
But identity is fluid. You’ve been becoming a different person this whole time, and after making a dramatic change, you might find you’re more yourself than you’ve ever been.
This article originally appeared on Raptitude and is republished here with permission. http://matadornetwork.com/life/lives-lived-default/
By David Cain
This is an excerpt from an article I recently read on Matador titled Most Lives Are Lived By Default. The title struck me because I have often thought the exact same thing, almost word for word. When I was still back in Canada working as a pharmacist, I couldn’t help but feel that I would have fallen perfectly into the article- you could replace the hypothetical case of “Jamie” with “Jasmine”. Along the journey that has brought me to where I am now, I have had numerous coffee dates and e-mail exchanges with people saying I’m living the dream followed by the much anticipated question of “how are you doing it?”. It makes me sad to think that someone living their dream is such a novelty these days, but it is. What makes it even more frustrating though is the second question because at risk of sounding like a motivational speaker or a Nike advertisement, I always want to say…you just do it. It’s a hard task for many of us because it requires venturing outside what we know and what we have come to find comfort in. I’m just not of the camp that believes life is meant to be comfortable. Comfortable describes my bed and my favorite pajamas, and wool socks, but not the life I want. I wanted my life to give me goosebumps and anxiety. What a wonderful feeling it is to feel your blood pumping after having navigated public transportation in a foreign city in a foreign language and landing up at your destination unscathed! That is what makes me feel alive. I also loved the closing paragraph about how our identities are fluid. It’s the truth. Usually we are so pre-occupied with labeling ourselves based on our work that we deny ourselves the opportunity to let other parts of our identity develop and flourish. In Canada, I was a pharmacist. It’s exhilarating to no longer have that identity to lean back on. In Italy, I’m just Jasmine, but a fuller version of myself simply because my profession gets to take the backburner and I’ve had the chance to embrace other passions. I was inspired to write this commentary as my first paid (gasp) article as a freelance writer goes live. I can therefore attest to the fact that we are innately capable of metamorphosis and that no one should set limits on who or what we can become. So dream big.
My first article entitled How To Dress in Italy can be found here on the travel website Travel Fashion Girl. See my first tip below, but you'll have to go to the full article to see the rest!
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