modernitybylc

YOU ARE BORN and immediately you are placed in this imaginary box. As you grow, the box doesn’t disappear, it only gets bigger.  More people telling you what to do, where to go, and how to get there. And now, since you have been brainwashed into caring, you too find yourself contributing to the enlargement of this box. If it isn’t you Googling the most depressing things, it’s you strategically uploading a picture on Instagram to stay relevant, making sure people buy into your life. Fast-forward to being a 24-year-old law student and the box is still there. The thing is I have never seemed to fit in the box, which has made my life one hell of a rollercoaster.

Since I am a law student, school has literally consumed my life. Yet, I feel like I haven’t really accomplished much—at least not what I envisioned. What do you do when you don’t fit in? It’s not that you have some secret that is preventing you from fitting in, but it’s that you just feel like life gave you lemons and you are trying to make lemonade. It not to say that your life sucks—because it doesn’t—you are extremely blessed and highly favored, but it’s that your life isn’t as lavish and as newsworthy as you thought it would be. This is because you have cried a little more than you would have liked to. You have lost people whom you would never thought to. You have been hurt by people whom you never imagined would hurt you. And most importantly, comparatively, it took you longer than you thought it would: longer to find love, longer to graduate, longer to accomplish something.

But why? Why do you feel that you deserve more? Why do you feel the need to conform to this box? There are many reasons as you can imagine, some worthwhile, others just excuses. I think is because human beings have the potential to be extraordinary—think Steve Jobs, Oprah, and Michael Jackson. These people were extraordinary and they happen to be just like you; they cried, sweated, and laughed. Some finished school, others dropped out. Some were abused,  others came from a “happy” family. They had a vision and they manifested it. They were called to a higher purpose and they not only recognized their calling, but also actively contributed to it. They weren’t trying to be like everyone else, they weren’t limiting themselves by sticking to the status quo or placing themselves in the imaginary box.  In fact, they purposely sought to question and defy the status quo. They listen to their dreams and aspirations, not the dreams and aspirations of others.

So I challenge you to do the same. Listen. What are your thoughts telling you? What aspirations do you have? Why do you have these aspirations? Who are the naysayers in your life? Who are the believers ? Why are you giving into the fear of being different or the fear of potentially failing?

These are important questions you must ask yourself if you ever want to be extraordinary. And like I said previously, you have the capacity to be extraordinary. It is just a question of whether you believe in yourself enough to act on this capacity.

The box will always be there. But you have a choice: you can either stick with the status quo, hoping that life will magically work itself out or you can take life by the horns and say you gave it everything. It will not be easy. Thousands years of being placed in this imaginary box has programmed society to view any thing that is different as the opposition. It has programmed you to fear the unfamiliar. But if you are ever going to reach your potential, you must let go of all the things that are holding you back. You must take a leap of faith. You cannot hold on to what you should be doing—because that it just negativity. you must let it go, all of it. It’s really just your own perception of life that keeps you from having a life worth living.