I remember being a young kid, fresh out of high school - even as far as into my first year of college knowing I wasn't cut out for what I was enrolled in. It's not that the interest wasn't there, nor was it the work that was needed to succeed and move forward, but the most important part was missing and that was the passion. You need this for whatever it is that you're going to pursue in life, and I think the more I tried to stabilize myself within an environment that wasn't suited for me, the worse things became. That's not to say the effort that was put forward wasn't worth noting or learning from but vision I had for myself didn't align with what was being pursued. I know for a fact I'm not the only person who's been in this position and I know I'm not the only person who's been afraid to step out of line to change that. There's a lot of things that will get in your way when you try to venture into a path less known for yourself. Temptations are one of them and happen to be the biggest obstacle I've personally found. The turbulence created from giving into these temptations is often uncomfortable and can mislead you entirely. However, if you're able to get through or even confront those situations and missteps, you'll find growth. That's where your sense of gratitude should inherently come from. I'll do my best to explain why in hopes it helps you in one way or another.
Pressing on the subject of age early on here, I've said it before and will say it again, although it's easier to influence someone with notably less life experience being in that young adult age category in comparison to someone who's matured and adequately been tested throughout their adulthood, for example someone into their late twenties to late thirties, your age means little to nothing in this context. We're all human and at any given time can be influenced by our thoughts, emotions and external circumstances to do things that do or do not align with our selected purpose. I say, "selected purpose", because you couldn't possibly know what you could excel at if you never try and to reinforce that notion a little further, you are almost always worth more than you've allowed yourself to believe, especially if you take the time to invest into yourself. Seeking knowledge isn't a trait, it's a measurable action that can be taken repeatedly with no expiration date to boot, from the moment you're born, until the moment you die.
Temptations are tricky to say the least. There is definitely a range or scale you can attribute to what you're being tempted by and whether you're giving in or resisting - that measurement stays intact. However, it's a purely individual scale with some universally noted and accepted exceptions in today's society. Say, you're dieting, and you really want a donut. This would be on a smaller scale for most people, but if you're a competitor of some kind, say a bodybuilder or a bodyweight restricted athlete, well that's on a bigger scale in relation to the turbulence that may occur if your willpower broke, and you end up eating that donut. On a more universally accepted scale, you could say stealing from someone is always bad and that temptation as a whole should be avoided entirely. These are more common temptations that come to mind when moving into a path you're more passionate about for the first time, or let's just say for conversation’s sake, you're trying something new and you're starting from scratch. What I've found is that the subtle temptations are what cause true turbulence.
Have you ever been told that "the little things matter" or that "the little things add up"? I'm sure you have and I'm bringing that to your attention here because it's true. If you've managed to make enough small mistakes over an elongated period of time, that would almost result in a big problem at some point that could have accumulated without your knowledge or intervention, if you knew about it and chose not to do something about it. That is huge and it's not because you should be perfect, it's because you're allowing yourself to make correctable mistakes without ever correcting them. You're giving into the temptation that it's fine in this circumstance. When in reality, it's not at all. You could be running a bookkeeping/finance business and each day you misplace some money for someone, and this goes on for about a year. I can promise you that will result in a big problem come tax time and you're probably going to lose that client. Now that I've touched base on what perspective to approach this topic with, let's ditch the practicality - let's make this personal.
You're in line for a coffee and the line-up is just getting bigger as time rolls on. You're late for work and it's becoming quite clear that a lot of other people in line are falling behind in their daily schedules as well - it's not the end of the world, but it's problematic. The person at the front of the line is having a hard time choosing what they want, and they're flip flopping back and forth between numerous options. That's okay, that's why there are so many options to begin with - you can have what you want. You realize shortly after a little while that the person at the front has an intellectual disability and they're doing their best. You're not the only one who's noticed at this point in time... so has the person directly behind them. There's a businessman with tailored clothes on and a briefcase glued to his side, ear bud's in, taking a phone call but getting noticeably louder and more agitated with his call. He switches his focus from the phone call and waiting in line to berating the person ahead of him. Caught completely off-guard the poor individual in front breaks down to tears, stutters and starts to shake and moves off to the side so the businessman can make his order and get on with his super important(sarcasm) phone call. With the situation at hand here, you could say this:
1) The businessman gave into the temptation to lose his cool in the most obnoxious of ways. This created turbulence for poor individual in front of him and to be quite fair, everyone else in that environment. Everyone else - how? Well, there's an angry, entitled man screaming in a condensed coffee shop.
2) People have places to be but that shouldn't rule out the premise that being a good human comes first. The individual at the front was doing the best that they could with the abilities that they had. The businessman could have offered him a hand instead.
3) What do you do?
You're seeing firsthand an individual who is in need of help more than ever. Do you give in to the temptation to sit idly by and not rock the boat further? Or perhaps, get out of line and lose your spot to confront not only the man now ordering the coffee and console that individual for no other reason than because it's the right thing to do and you f*cking know it. Yes, it can be scary. Yes, you'll lose your spot. Yes, you're going to be running late, but the growth you will experience from doing this along with the ripple effect it will create for everyone else in the vicinity, will make that much of a difference.
You're now being challenged to step up and move into a territory you've never been before and it's not even for your benefit but you're making a difference in someone's life that is clearly under duress. To even have the ability to do that, the opportunity to do that in a time of utter turbulence alone is something you should have gratitude for. That's where real growth comes from. It's the things that you don't know if you should do, don't want to do but know damn well that you should. After all, that's the beauty of being a human, isn't it? We're faced with these complex emotions and thoughts, then on top of that we must take all of those into the real world with us and navigate accordingly to make an attempt - you don't even have to succeed, but make an honest attempt, in leaving this place better than we found it when our timecard is ready to be punched.
Whatever it is that you envision for yourself or for society, if that's something you're striving for, you need to see things through from commencement to completion. There are no if's, and's or but's that will allow you to deter away from this. If there is, then your vision, isn't for you and that's okay. There is still one for you but it's not what you think it is, and I believe that wholeheartedly. All these temptations that push and pull you in other directions are there and they will be diligent in ensuring you are pressed with the options you can take in relation to them and the turbulence that will occur, but it's entirely up to you how you choose to navigate them. Whether it excels you in the right or wrong direction is one thing, but it's premise that you even have the ability to make a choice and decide, that is the big thing. Be grateful for that because it's there that real growth begins and will continue to come from
You can apply this in many different scales, and I promise it will hold true to some extent. What I find is overlooked so often is the idea that, it's not selective - what I mean is, everyone gets the opportunity, but not everyone takes the chance and that is the problem. But you now have some knowledge in which I simply hope can better help you find the answer(s).
Sincerely,
Al
P.S. - If you take this knowledge and perspective into a dangerous setting/scenario/situation, please use your brain. Be smart, be aware and be diligent in staying safe. Don't fight someone with a gun or knife, that never ends well. This entire article was a perspective and elaboration inspired by several personal experiences to help you see life differently - not a "how to" by any means.