Go Your Own Way…Even if You Fail
Lest we become a ghoulish shadow aimlessly wandering the earth.
Many of us want to have the lives of others.
We all fantasize about someone else’s life to some degree. We see someone online who appears to have it all, and we tell ourselves, “I want what they have.”
But the truth is we don’t really know what they have. We know exactly how much they want us to know.
We operate on false information. We arrive at a conclusion without all the facts. And maybe we know we do this…
But then we still do it.
Everyone…and I mean everyone…suffers and experiences profound pain. Some more than others, but we all go through difficult times.
And you may be going through one of those difficult times right now.
I know I am. I haven’t had a job for a month and a half…and it stinks.
But this is my life…
And it doesn’t do me any good fantasizing about someone else’s successes. The best thing I can do for myself is adjust to my circumstances…and try to summon successes of my own.
Nineteenth-century Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote: “To go wrong in one's own way is better than to go right in someone else's.”
This flourish is just as relevant today as it was back then…
Maybe even more so.
We live in a digital world where everyone seems to have it together. And it seems like a colossal act of bravery to share the ups and downs of our lives on these platforms.
We all want to seem like we have our lives together. And the paradox is that we all understand that none of us have our lives together.
And so life becomes this shadow-boxing game…
Where we accept everyone is faking it. But we still pretend as if everything is authentic and perfect.
It’s strange and paradoxical…and absurd.
Take the Dostoevskian leap. Even if you make mistakes along the way…
Because you will. All the time. Every day. And it’ll suck.
But take the leap anyway. Own your successes and failures.
It’s worth it.