Seeing the world through your own lens is an inherent necessity – it’s a must. That’s if you want any sense of lasting fulfilment in life. Your lens defines your thoughts, from these thoughts you generate a perspective and it’s from this perspective of yourself and others that you develop a metric for validation. Your metric for validation is essentially a tool that measures your progress – and progress must be personal to you – it must be observed through your lens.
The problem that comes when we view the world through the lens of others is that we’re constantly trying to meet particular standards that present the illusion of having value to us because we believe the validation we will gain from others will somehow be enough to keep us fulfilled. So, we push our limits and eventually we get there, we reach that standard, and it might seem pretty cool, and people might think we’re pretty cool for a while. And then it all wears off…we got the attention we craved so much and people may now identify us as someone who is good in that area or field. But, maybe you don’t want to be known as somebody who is good in that particular area, maybe it holds no meaning for you…maybe you might experience a kind of identity crisis. Why did I spend so much time pursuing something that I never saw value in apart from the attention and praise I received? It’s a tough pill to swallow.
In truth, we can find ourselves getting caught in these situations quite easily, so we need to remain focused and vigilant. We’re fooled into believing that we must meet the expectations of others in order to be a valued member of society. We’re fooled into believing that if we don’t aim to meet the standards set by others, that our standards are too low. NONE OF THIS IS TRUE!
We’re fooled into believing that if we don’t aim to meet the standards set by others, that our standards are too low.
When I think about defining what it means to view life through your own lens, a word that constantly keeps me directed is ‘trailblazer’. A trailblazer is someone who sets their own path creatively and infinitely – outside any bounds that currently exist. The ability to trail-blaze is within us all because we’re all born with the ability to think and we’re all unique in our thoughts. I truly believe that the closer we move towards our individuality and the less bounds we set on our opportunities, the more aligned we become with our true purpose. When we pull away all the expectations or standards that society sets for us, whether they be related to gender, race, age or natural talent, our personal metrics for validation all of a sudden become something that were non-existent before. We start moving into unchartered space – and maybe someone has pursued this goal before and maybe you have been inspired by someone – but you choose to approach it in a way that has never been done before. And even I can’t describe what that will be, but you’ll know, it will fill you with passion like you’ve never known, it will make you a more loving person to yourself and others around, and it will make you WANT to work hard, I promise you. You just need to remain focused.
A trailblazer is someone who sets their own path creatively and infinitely – outside any bounds that currently exist.
When you achieve something that is truly based on a metric you have personally designed because you undoubtedly believed that it would make you progress as a better person in the future – you immediately cut out the garbage that people try to fool you into believing. It doesn’t matter whether people think you’re cool or not – in fact this removal of neediness of validation brings you a kind focus that is 100% essential for the big dreamers, the trailblazers. And once something is achieved, you don’t lose that sparkle because you truly identify with what you achieved, you created it and you brought it into to existence. You didn’t merely imitate, you innovated.
Be the trailblazer that you know you’re capable of, see life through your own lens.
Always,
~ Adam, 2020
A trailblazer is someone who sets their own path creatively and infinitely – outside any bounds that currently exist. @themindconnectory
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Interesting Read – “The Road Less Traveled” by M. Scott Peck
The Mind Connectory 