Is it really possible?
At four in the morning the average person is sound asleep in a comfortable bed usually under a warm blanket and if we are lucky enough, cuddled up next to someone we love. But not me. As we speak it is 4am and I am wide awake staring into the darkness of my master suite wondering, is it possible?
Having mistakenly awakened my baby, causing him to have a fit and thus disturbing my husband’s sweet slumber, I fumbled in the dark, boobs leaking from sloppy attempts to quiet my baby with breastfeeding, and to get my husband to go back to sleep. After the destruction, there was calm. But I couldn’t find a way to make myself go back to sleep. Just repeat this question in my head, is it possible? Is it even possible?
What exactly is the possibility I am pondering you ask?
The rich life. Being wealthy. Personal freedom. Can I have it for me? Is that possible?
I’ve obsessively studied the work of finance and entrepreneurship for years and yet you would have never known because I am not rich nor do I have a successful hustle bringing insane amounts of money to my checking account daily. In this moment, I like many others, commute one hour everyday to work from 9a to 6p at a safe, steady, yet wonderfully unsatisfying job.To say I love my job would be a lie. To say I want to leave would be a lie as well. At the end of everyday as I commute one hour back home with the mass of other 9 to 5ers. I drown myself in music, the company of my family, and deep conversations about other people’s problems that make me forget everything that is bothering me. I then find myself awake at 4am again staring into the darkness with the same question. Wonder why I am not living the Kanye West version of the good life where I am throwing my hands to the sky in delirious exuberance.
It’s quite simple why people like me dream instead of do. We love comfort. We love safety. And you better believe we love predictability. We love knowing what the future holds. As a matter of fact I take great satisfaction in knowing that at the end of the month my bills are paid. That I can walk into a restaurant and devour a delicious meal and order the dessert. That I have the privilege to go shopping for wardrobe upgrades on a whim.
Personal freedom has always been the dream. And to an extent, we 9 to 5’ers already have it. This is the lifestyle that we want entrepreneurship to bring. But at what cost? Is it worth becoming a slave to the paycheck? Existing like a zombie for 10 hours a day? Being up at 4a staring into the darkness and possibly startling your husband and baby with your leaky boobs? And is it possible to overcome the stress? The hurdles? The everything remotely miserable that comes as a price of getting to the good life? Is it possible?
Before April 1984, the belief was that man was not capable of running a mile in less than 4 minutes. But what happen was that roger banister came along and he broke the 4 minute barrier. Since then over 20K people have been able to do it.
So the question is what changed? Bear with me here, there is a purpose to this story. Those 20K people got on the track knowing one simple fact and that was this……it’s possible.
Motivational speaker Les Brown has an amazing speech that goes something like this: Say this to yourself. It’s possible. Embrace that. Know that you can reinvent your life. Bounce back from adversity. Make things happen to you.
Things will happen to your in life that you can never anticipate. Maybe you get fired from your job. Maybe have a kid earlier than you anticipated. Maybe you find yourself still living with your parents at 30 years old. And many times when those things happen, you will want to give up. But when you believe it’s possible. You will continue to keep going and going believing that it is going to happen for you.
When you don’t have enough encouragement or aren’t enlightened enough, life will happen to you. You have to do what you can with what you have where you are.
Even when things look like they are going completely against you, all your have to do is believe it’s possible. It’s possible. It’s possible.
When you’re working on your dream, things are going to happen to you that catch you on the blindside. You’re going to make some mistakes if you want to do something out there. You’re going to fall flat on your face. You’re going to feel awkward and stupid and dumb, it comes with the territory. You will fail as something. Accept it. You will lose. You will embarrass yourself, you will suck at something. There’s no doubt about it. Keep telling yourself it’s possible. Because the fact is that it is possible. It’s has been done. People have proven time and time again that it is possible. Millionaires who have gone bankrupt only to make millions again. People who have had divorces who have found love again. Poor people who were starving who can now eat again. It’s possible. It’s possible.
