Too often, we see what someone else has or what they are doing and think, “must be nice.”
I hear this when someone who works a regular 9 to 5 job sees how much I travel.
We all know at least one person in our family or friend group that says things like this, and if you don't, it might be you.
But I want you to think about something:
No one was saying how nice it was when my bike shop was failing at 25.
I never once heard it while I was climbing towers in a refinery on Christmas eve, 200 feet up, and 16 degrees outside.
I don't think anyone was saying "must be nice" when I was doing outside sales and driving 75,000 miles a year.
But after a decade of fighting and taking chances, I'm here. My life is the way that it is now because of all of those things.
Looking at something someone else has, and comparing it to your life is a defeatist way of operating.
This way of thinking makes it seem as though happiness and success are limited commodities that we all have to share. They're not. There is enough success and happiness for all of us.
Here are two things to get out of that line of thinking:
Hell chances are if you're reading this, you like going to the gym. Well, what a fucking luxury that is. Any gym. The fact that we have an abundance of time in our day that we can spend part of it doing "fake work" to build muscles we don't need to survive is incredible.
You live in one of the only times in human history where we get to decide what specific stimulus and stress we want to adapt to. Want to be shredded? You can. Want to get better at cold water? You can. Want to grow muscles that your normal life won't provide you enough stimulus for? You can.
There is always something we can work on.
Use the opportunities you have in front of you to adapt and become the best you. Stop looking over the fence to see if the grass is greener.
Learn how to satisfy all those things through work and consistency. Once you do that, you'll find yourself in a place where the grass is always green, and you're excited for your neighbor's yard to be in whatever shape it is. Because you know they are fighting too.
Make a choice to be fucking awesome! Be the best you. Be optimistic, empathetic, strong, savage.
SPREAD HVIII, ALWAYS PARTY
Matthew Vincent