How David Defeated Goliath…

“Most people die in their late-twenties but aren’t buried until their mid to late-eighties…”

“The average person will spend more than five years of their lives on social media[1].”

Truly, anyone that has lived past the age of 30 knows the pain of consciously and yet repeatedly relapsing into self-defeating habits; it’s like we’re stuck in the movie Ground Hogs Day, being fiercely devoted to the familiar, repeating the same cycles every single day, even if it’s what we know is killing us – except it’s not a movie and the clock is still ruthlessly ticking.

Point being: It’s now or, it’s never.

It’s the inanity of willfully believing a lie that we very well know is untrue (e.g. dating the same type of person every time; ignoring red flags at the beginning of a relationship; saying to yourself, “I’ll only have one drink…”; or, passively thinking, “I’m glad I’m not an addict” as you read this on an electronic device, drinking your third cup of coffee today…).

“Americans have never been the happiest bunch, Gerzema says. In the nine-year history of the happiness poll, the highest happiness index was 35% in 2008 and 2009[2].”

You either forgive or, you don’t; you either stay angry or, you move forward; you either ask that person out or, you stop fantasizing about “what if”; you either write that book, quit your job, say whatever it is you’ve been holding in… or, you don’t. Life goes on, regardless.

It’s so simple yet, simultaneously the hardest thing ever; that is, breaking these cycles a vast majority of us seem to get forever stuck in. It’s terrifying for me, in this moment, to think that, “What if these cycles are the definition of my life?”

Oof…

It sounds more intense than we allow ourselves to feel, though… right?

Usually, nothing dramatic happens you just blink and you’re older. None of us have enough time to be upset for too long about anything. And, so we just stop feeling overall. And, what happens when we begin to ignore pain is that we begin to deform.

Pain is the bodies way of telling us to move or make a change necessary so that you’re no longer feeling that pain. Again, to re-emphasize (mostly for myself): when you stop feeling you forfeit your ability to feel pain and can miss signals telling you to move.

Ignoring discomfort is like ignoring someone telling you to remove your hand from a stovetop they just turned on; you stay in that spot too long, irreparable damage will ensue.

— andy gill (@itsandygill) July 2, 2018

The ability to control one’s own thoughts and actions is the sole definition of true freedom. It’s as if we’ve willfully surrendered our ability to choose and decide for ourselves and, therefore, we’ve lost the opportunity to live in accordance with our virtues and values.

You cannot defeat Goliath if you choose to never face your giants…