The Difference pt.2

My dearest readers,

in this conclusion to the previous post I want to stress what Orrin Woodward once wrote: "You can't make a difference until you are to be different." Far too many have the desire to be outstanding, but only a handful are willing to accept that only being possible if you stand out and are different of some sort. "Why spend your life trying to fit in, when you are born to stand out?" (Ziad K. Abdelnour)

Difference often has a negative connotation, because it strongly opposes the mainstream, contemporary commonalities we either afflict upon ourselves or have society do that for us. Who wants to fall out of line and be approached as someone different, non-compliant with what culture dictates at a given time? It often resonates in how we present ourselves and how we are perceived, eventually coming down to a "somebody versus nobody" debate; but the matter specified therein is our standpoint.

Are you somebody, or willing to be nobody? Are you a nobody, because you stand out and don't quite match with the rest of the bunch, are incapable of meeting our society's demands, or are you a nobody, because you do fit right in and no one (yourself included) sees you as someone special, as someone different? Conversely, you could ask yourself whether you're somebody because you are just like your peers or somebody because you're not. Understanding that standpoint and interpreting these tenors is often only a matter of confidence, because "[c]onfidence is knowing who you are and not changing it a bit because […] someone's version of reality is not your reality" (Shannon L. Alder).

What is your reality? Are you the one with jeans and a tee, the one to mimic the "appropriate" attire policy, or are you the one to break the code of culture, suited up with people a week later still chit-chatting about your choice of tie and handkerchief (or dress)? There are certainly times when your choosing is to match with what is required, but likewise are there many opportunities when it is just not the right thing to do. Be strategic! It is on you to make that choice every day. "Strategy is [all] about making choices; it's about deliberately choosing to be different" (Michael Porter), but we're talking about the kind of "different" you can back up and wear with distinction.

"Be different so that people can see you clearly amongst the crowds" (Mehmet Murat İldan), but be different in a way that reflects who you truly are. Don't be different simply for the sake of being different, but be different because you never intended to be just one out of many. And even if it might be intimidating at first, all of us who have been different at some point know how much comfort actually comes with it, and, more importantly, how much confidence these situations can teach us. If you want to be the difference, the key player, the game-changer, you first, of all, need to be different, because there is only one way of being outstanding: by standing out! Know that "[b]eing different and thinking different [is what] makes a person unforgettable. History does not remember the forgettable" (Suzy Kassem), but it remembers you if you're original, special, and willing to stand out. #MomentumToGo

The Difference

My dearest readers,

with the year moving along I want to refresh your memory and touch on what it means to do things differently, and I mean not only differently from how we've handled situations previously but how we sort them out compared to the people around us. We are to decide whether us "being" makes a difference in the world, because that decision will be a determining factor of how we can review our lives at some point. Let me show you the difference…

Nelson Mandela once wrote: "What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead." I could end this post right here, because with those words all has been said. We can strive for so much renown or legacy, but is not what we seek this: knowing that what we do makes a difference? Is not our mission accomplished when we can honestly say that we have made a difference, that in the end it did matter we were there? We don't need to seize everything at all times, but it can't hurt to consider it and claim a thing or two.

When you wake up in the morning, do you tell yourself you want to go out there and make a difference? When you're struggling, don't you want to take on whatever needs fixing, find a solution, and be different and not give in, but do things differently this time, better, with more confidence, so you and nearby or distant observers see you were the difference in the end? I'm not saying we shall enslave ourselves for recognition, but if we make a difference, others will notice, because it comes with results and it's important to realize the effects to our causes.

Imagine a warehouse, untidy, filthy, an uncomfortable place that dust, rats, and mites have vanquished long ago. This warehouse has been in the same condition for a decade or two, business was "alright," and no one felt the urge to clean up. "It's always been like that," they said. When you'd walk in on your first day, would you float alongside your peers, or would you be moved and bold enough to roll up your sleeves, play in the dark, and turn a gloomy hellhole into a pleasant storage facility, a thing for a decade or two no one else would've dared to do?

How dare you!

Fortune favors the bold, they say, the ones who dare. The bold are the ones that want to make a difference, the bold want to be the difference and do what no one else would (want to) do. If you dare, you will definitely note how impressed your coworkers, even the management was that you had the compulsion to finally clean out that sordid store where custom and carelessness had taken over. They notice. No one might talk to you face to face and tell you about it, but they sure as hell talk about you.

There is no need to dare or save and change the world every day. Although, at times you should realize this: "I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do" (Edward Everett Hale). Do something. Dare! Do something worth doing, something that makes a difference and something you will be known for. Do something that still echoes long after you vanished, when a once small storage facility has ultimately become a global logistics enterprise, because "[t]he best the world has to offer comes from the best you have to give to others" (Matshona Dhliwayo). Take courage and be different; and if you haven't been different before, why don't you start with being different today, just this one time? #MomentumToGo ...to be continued!

Let It Be

My dearest readers,

following the last post on living large I must stress that doing an extra step is not entirely a subject grounded in our sense of motivation and inspiration. Sometimes we have to give it a bit of time and be patient, give it time to grow, needless to say that we cannot control it all at all times. Sometimes we just have to whisper words of wisdom to ourselves and let it be.

On our way to making dreams come true there is no one size fits all, there is only a need for action in due time. We have to wait for our shot, take and catch a breath, observe, prepare, and be ready for when our time has come. "The sun will rise and set regardless. What we choose to do with the light while it's here is up to us" (Alexandra Elle). Therefore we must, in fact, know when to stand up and when to stand down, know what is right that day, this very hour, what is right in the present moment, because we have to make decisions and are—personally—held accountable for whatever decision we make. We have agency, but what we must not or don't need to do is succumb to the urgency of inspiration, and we often tend to wonder whether we're doing enough.

We can pump inspiration and motivation into our lives with thousands of pounds per square inch every day, but we must be aware that there is a vortex of circumstance beyond our control. "You don't get to game the system of your life. You just don't. You don't get to control every outcome and aspect as a way to never give in to the uncertainty and unpredictability of something that's beyond what you understand. It's the basis of presence: to show up as you are in this moment and let that be enough" (Jamie Varon). Let it be, but don't let it slip.

A hunter doesn't go out into the woods for a minute or two and expects to bring home some game, he prepares, studies maps and terrain and more, veils himself in camouflage to sit out in the cold long before the sun comes up. He can do so much and be in the prone for hours, but there are days nothing shows and he goes home only to try it again another day.

We can think of all things up front, before going out and hunting dreams, but we must also be aware that we are not in control over when we get our shot and can throw our lucky punch. "Patience," David G. Allen writes, "is the calm acceptance that things can happen in a different order than the one you have in mind." The timing you have your mind set on is often not the right timing for your wishes and dreams to come through and true. But preparing for that one shot can give you the necessary confidence that when you have eyes on the target all you've got to do is pull the trigger. Be patient, but be prepared, because when you're prepared the question whether you're doing enough or not is redundant.

Lose yourself, in your dreams and in your heart, full-heartedly, with a clear focus through your scope of passion and faith, your finger sliding the trigger backwards with the tranquility of an ancient Stoic. And ask yourself: If you had one shot, one opportunity, would you capture, or just let it slip? Let it be, but when it is, let it be yours and snipe and make things happen and shoot...bang! #MomentumToGo

...on living large!

My dearest readers,

after recently hearing a lovely song about living large in a small world, being young and timeless, and flying, I was carried away by this stark collective proposition that dealt at large with previous posts on living in the moment as well as breaking free, consequently on living (life) in general. Therein I find it quite necessary to express again: “Don’t fear death, fear the un-lived life” (Natalie Babbitt)—this is on living large!

In spite of the daily rush in which we tend to drown out in the crowd too often, it is not always simple or given that we can rise in order to make moves. It becomes even more difficult, once we perceive the world around us being small; often we fail to belong or feel like not being strong enough to rise and make moves, accompanied by a little lack of life (and sense, or purpose) and far-reaching love we ought to have for and within our lives, but it is necessary for us “[t]o enjoy the beauty of love, [and to] be a big person in this small world” (Debasish Mridha).

It is not so much about the purpose we serve, or the business we pursue; it is more so the involvement and the devotion we bring along and ultimately to the table. The famous writer Walt Whitman once wrote: “Do anything, but let it produce joy.” And that is, in the end, a strong value that always helps us to rise and make moves, and even more so, to enjoy it, ourselves, and, eventually, have others enjoy it as well.

I’ve written about the extra mile quite thoroughly and what it means to be on it, for when we are given an opportunity we shall always do a little more than the small world around us would do. And we’re not exclusively talking about the extra mile, but about the extra step, because we move forward in life step by step, and then—after many and many more steps—we make miles. Step up! Know when to step up, and when to stand down, because the difference between the two is determined by the courage we all need in order to live large.

When you are given opportunity, or when you’ve earned yourself opportunity, make an extra step and do a little more than what you think is required, a little more than what you think is enough. “Do more than belong: participate. Do more than care: help. Do more than believe: practice. Do more than be fair: be kind. Do more than forgive: forget. Do more than dream: work” (William Arthur Ward). In a small world it is often these little things that count the most; and even more often the lack of doing a little more than needed.

We might live in a small world, a very small world, with too many small things making a difference of who we are and whom we are to become, but out of these minimalistic circumstances, drenched in succinctness of the aforementioned courage, it is neither magic nor a miracle to rise and make moves. It is a choice we are all given, some call it "agency," others call it "free will," some might call it "determination" or "dedication," but regardless of what anybody might call it, it is only a small step to escape a small world, and might only be another small step to rise, and perhaps another to make a move, and possibly not many more to live large! #MomentumToGo

Expand Yourself

My dearest readers,

I recently stumbled across an article on "The Importance of Breaking Free of…Yourself," which I found to be too vastly grounded in Chinese philosophy on the one hand, yet had it made valuable claims concerning the expansion of one’s horizon on the other. Since I’ve written about breaking free before and refrain from comfort zone discourse at large, I tried to find a way that is tangent to both, forged into a short proposition: Overcome yourself in order to expand yourself!

Recording artist Drake sings in one of his songs "I’m leaving, I’m leaving, you know I got my reasons." About a year ago, however, I wrote a post against that, about coming home once all of the work is done, little of which was and is true, because a year ago I couldn’t entirely grasp what all was awaiting me once I had come home. It seemed like there was always another departure hanging from the ceiling, watching, judging, and demanding. And with that overseeing the course of what was to follow, I soon came to notice that it was never—in itself—the premise of coming home once my tasks were in the books, it was and is by no means this pleasurable feeling to let lose a drive and motivation I (and figuratively we) formerly had no idea existed. What is more, it were the willingness and the amenability to make new moves out into the wide open that kept me going, and it is concisely this dynamic between departure and return that distinguishes the shrewd from the careless in general.

I do not (primarily) want to talk about leaving the comfort zone in order to make moves in life, but I want to bring to (your) attention that in order to expand ourselves we must continually thrust outside of what we’re comfortable and familiar with, or at least have the appetence to do that. There is a tremendous amount of potential within you, within all of us, so why compromise that with the lack of desire to exploit it? This being said, let us all be aware that leaving what we know, at times leaving everything behind, is generally a reasonable personal concern that often prevents us from trying new things, which eventually barricades up the extent of opportunity we either have or could have; and is trying to avoid that alone not a damn good reason to take your coat and your leave and bust into the wide open to not only see what is out there, but to see what is within you?

"Go hard or go home!" they say, and you shall know that you can always go home; but it is for the shrewd to go out there, and explore and exploit. In the end, everything we do is just everything we’ve done (cf. Corey Taylor), but be aware that we are also held accountable for the things we haven’t done. "Your perspective on life comes from the cage you were held captive in" (Shannon L. Alder). In that sense, it is all up to you whether you stay home or leave (and break free) in order to expand yourself, because that will determine the quality of your opportunities, and separate the ones you have and the ones you could have from the ones you could have had.

Expand yourself! Be present not only where you or others expect it. Be present elsewhere, in pain and predicaments; be unexpected, unpredictable—and do so every step of the way; for then you are to find your true potential, the self-affirming ego boost we so often strive for—and let that be thy personal #MomentumToGo!

...on heavy lifting!

My dearest readers,

a good friend recently told me about his new-found determination in life and career and how no one would stop him anymore, at least not himself. It delighted my to see such finesse, such awe-inspiring astuteness to defy former aggravating circumstances—and all of that coming from someone of whom I always spoke highly whenever I saw the audacity and passion he carried along for all of my grad and most of my undergrad time. Nothing is but what is not…but it must be lifted and carried!

I often wrote about the way we must walk, or the path we have to stay on; but what you cannot ignore is the weight you must carry all along. I wrote about the obstacles we have to overcome, but never wrote about the burden that is tied onto our backs. And neither did I write about the load we’ve piled up over the course of our lives, lives that bear nothing but onerous responsibilities. And in the midst of walking through our lives we are heavily laden with frustration, anger, rage, disappointment after disappointment, being shut down and out, being convinced or told one is not good enough—pick one or two or more, the ones you tend and are told to carry.

But with our entire burden we are given a chance to grow. The longer we carry that load, the longer we’re forced to lift it, the longer we feel the weight of the world, of our worlds, on our shoulders, the stronger we grow over time. Alexandra Bracken once wrote she were “coming to see the heavier your heart got, the stronger you had to be to keep carrying it around.” There might be people around you who are more privileged with a smaller torch to carry, but the gigantic torch you’ve carried all along, all that time, will at some point shine brighter than you can fathom, than anyone can fathom. Carry it with pride and sense of purpose, for then you get to light it and have it shine as beautiful as a sea of candles floating downstream on a river. Let your load be your inspiration, your weights on the bar when you’re all fired up to lift like there is no tomorrow.

It is a tremendous, unimaginable number of tons we’re dragging along, and there’s no end in sight, for “[w]e are all tied to the burdens of this existence, and it seems as if everyday renewal is occurring in our lives and those around us” (Kat Lahr). If you recall the very first post of #MomentumToGo, you may have felt that it all sags like a heavy load, or does it explode, that deferred dream, that once-highly-regarded motivation of an ambitious you, or that fading confidence of a private who first waded his or her way through basic training only to find out that it was just the beginning of more things they carried.

It is not only the way, the distance we have to travel that determines who we are and how we handle it, but it is also the number of checked bags that must get to the final destination. Can you be Atlas, the son of invincible spirit, when you board that plane and take your luggage with you all the way? Welcome aboard, but be aware that in life often nothing is, but what is not, because this load you’re carrying is life, your life, and your heavy load. Lift it, carry it, and don’t stop believing that your time will come, your time to light that Olympic torch of yours and make it shine for the whole world to see! #DoYouEvenLift

Rise Up

My dearest readers,

after recovering from a bad virus infection I am reaching out to you in the midst of this rare occasion of me being sick and, of course, under the shadows of the annual Easter festivities. With these two occasions crossing, what is more apparent than to write about rising, about how we can rise up out of the challenges and the at times given profound monotony in life?

Andra Day has put ‘rising up’ into a phenomenal song I’m sure we’re all familiar with. She sings not only about rising like the day, or rising unafraid, or rising up in spite of the ache, but she sings even more so about doing that a thousand times again. Now this implies not only that she has the capacity and the need to rise up, but her voice is also a testimony that she has done it before. How often do we get trapped in life, hoping to somehow rise up—not only in a conventional sense but in that of rising above ourselves? Often just that is needed, necessary, even mandatory in order for us to go further. And we must have confidence, knowing that it is our time to rise up; and we must be aware that we have the ability to not only do it once but again and again. When you know you can rise up, you know that you have done it before, and not just once, but quite a few times. You can do it, you can rise up, and you know so; you know that you can rise up and make a move and move mountains. But the question is: when your life calls you out, are you willing to rise?

In the center of the many city lights that surround us, in all corners of a speedy life, where we are nobody, one of the millions and masses in the flesh, right there and right then we tend to drown out in the crowd(s). We may wonder why we would matter, why what we do would matter. In times like these it is tough to rise up, because when that feeling of being nobody kicks in—and I’m certain it appears to all of us sooner or later—we feel like no more than a cog in a giant wheel that is beyond us, exceeding what we can grasp. But if we want to go further, it are times like these, exclusively, that demand our rising.

We might get intimidated, overwhelmed with what is at hand; but exactly in that time we shall remember that we can and must rise up, we should know that we have the ability to do it. And we should further have confidence that we are given an opportunity to do it, and do it again. After many knockdowns in life it can be tiresome to rise up again, but these many knockdowns shall be our source of confidence to just rise up again when our lives pull us down and under. I’m sure you’ve done it before, you have risen up. And “[h]ow can you rise, if you have not burned?” (Hiba Fatima Ahmad); and how can you rise up, if you haven’t fallen before?

Rising implies that we have fallen before. Imagine a plane that can only take off when it’s still on the ground. You might still be on the ground, but it is precisely that state that puts you in a position out of which you can rise up. Andra Day does not begin her song with rising in the first place. She begins her first verse with the words “[y]ou’re broken down and tired of living life in a merry-go-round.” And out of that she rises up, high like the waves, again and again.

Rise and shine, they say…and we shall note that “[t]he beauty of a morning glory, is that of its patient wait for the sun to bloom in the morning!” (Mary Kate). Your time will come, and when it comes all you have to do is rise, rise like the sun, morning after morning, every morning, and shine across the world every day.