Imagine you're standing at the bottom of this staircase...looking up.
You need to get to the top. You may not even know why...but feel something inside you telling you that you have to, that there's a reason why you are here right now and getting to the top is your mission in life.
It's a long, winding way up with an elusive end and the longer you stand there looking, the more daunting the task seems.
What would go through your mind as you take the first step?
Would you begin counting each step, one by one?
Or would you just avoid thinking about the steps at all, concentrated only on completing the objective before you?
As you take your first steps you feel good, you feel hopeful. You're doing it.
But just as quickly as this hope arises, as you continue your climb, a whisper begins to manifest itself inside your head.
"...give up..."
"...you'll never make it..."
"...you can't do this…"
We all have this voice inside us.
The longer you let it speak...the louder it gets.
Everyone has things they want to achieve, places they want to go and a sense of accomplishment they want to obtain.
We all want to feel as though we lived the best life we can live.
... And yet, most of us fail to do so. Why?
That little voice in our heads.
It's as though we place these large barriers in our own path, and tell ourselves that that's as far as we can go.
But why do some listen to this little voice while some of us can ignore it until it's a mere murmur in the wind? We ignore it so that we can override it.
Although most people have an intensely ingrained belief in their head that successful people have something that makes them different from the rest of us, that isn't entirely true.
"They didn't have special talents, they practised a skill until it was mastered. They didn't have easier lives, they simply didn't allow their problems to become excuses. They weren't just born with a success gene, they trained their mindset to not see failure as an option."
Everyone could have an excuse as to why they do not succeed (or even try in some cases).
The usual are they have a 9 to 5 job and don't have time, they have kids and don't have time or energy, they have bills to pay. Or it's just the wrong time in their lives and they are focused on something else and just can't have anything else going on right now. Or they are too young...or too old. They have a condition that no one understands (yes, I said it).
And this brings me back to my main point, we all have things that could (if we allow them) prevent us from becoming everything we dream of, or having everything we wish we had.
But there is one thing I have learned in life.
People are happy being wherever they are...because if they weren't, they wouldn't be there.
And the worst element of this tale is that society places so much pressure on showing people that you are doing, or will be doing, so much better than everyone else. But this may not even be close to the truth and deep inside, most people know this.
Everyone is different, and everyone wants different things out of life. I don't think there is anything wrong with being happy where you are, with being comfortable with your life.
Not everyone will be rich. Not everyone will be successful. Not everyone will be happy.
"That is a fact of life, as certain as it is that none of us will come out of this life alive."
In my opinion, the only negatives in this situation begin when people do not admit to themselves what it is that they truly want or even know themselves what it is.
Let's be real, most of the population wants success and money. Evidently, it is normal for human beings to want the things they know will facilitate their lives.
However, most people are not willing to put in the work that is required to be successful. Most people refuse to put in the investment that is required. And almost no one will even think of sacrificing a bit of their time spent watching TV to work on reaching their goals.
And that's ok.
But stop punishing yourself. Be honest with yourself.
Narcolepsy could be my excuse. I have one of the best and most understandable justifications for most things in life. But I can't allow an incurable, chronic illness to determine my life.
On the contrary, narcolepsy has helped me enter worlds and meet hundreds of individuals that I would have never known otherwise through my advocacy work.
I truly believe that when you stop living life for yourself and start living for others, it becomes so much easier and you stop being driven by your own fears and limitations.
I ask you all (those with and without narcolepsy)...ask yourselves what is the one thing that would make you race up those stairs, all the way to the top without thinking twice? And I mean a specific goal or dream you have, not something you wish to avoid.
Hi guys, thank you so much for reading and I know this post was slightly different but I felt that this was a necessary one right now. I hope no one takes offence to what I have written, I know that narcolepsy is different for everyone and I strive to not judge anyone's story if I can help it. This was simply my point of view from my life experience, which is all I will ever know, unfortunately.
Iris