Once upon a time, I was feeling stuck.

If my suspicions are correct, many of you reading this might feel the same way right now.

You can’t get motivated.

You aren’t excited about anything.

You’re tired all of the time.

Lifeless. Indifferent. Apathetic.

You’ve stopped caring—about yourself, about your goals, about the things you used to.

You weren’t always this way; at one time, you were optimistic, driven, determined, confident and generally happy with the direction your life was going.

And then it happened.

Make Peace or Fight?

One minute you’re doing pirouettes all over life’s dance floor; the next, you’re plopped on the sidelines, watching with bitter remorse as you witness others have the spotlight.

You know that all you have to do is hoist yourself up off of the wooden floor, strap on your ballet shoes and force yourself back onto the floor.

But you can’t.

You don’t know why, but you feel weighed down by something.

It’s as if there’s a secret ball and chain attached to your tailbone, and every time you try to get up, the force of gravity is too much for you to bear.

And so you sit on the floor.

Wondering if you’ll ever get back up. Wondering if you’ll ever dance like you used to. And thinking that maybe, just maybe, if someone were to give you a helping hand, you might be able to at least stand.

But no one comes to your rescue, which disheartens you even more.

You realize that it’s all up to you.

You just don’t know if you’re up for the fight.

So you sit on the floor some more.

And maybe you cry. And maybe you get mad. And maybe you try to forget about it altogether, and just make peace with a life sitting on the floor.

Not everybody dances, you tell yourself.  As a matter of fact, most people don’t dance—most people sit on the floor.

This comforts you. You decide that if everyone’s sitting out, then sitting out can’t be that bad.  It is easier, after all.  You expend so much less energy.  And—look on the bright side—now you’ll never have blisters again, you muse.

There’s just one eensy, weensy problem with sitting out the rest of your life:

You want to dance.

Don’t Be Nonchalant When It Comes to the Quality of Your Life

Many of us fall into this trap. We start off strong, chasing our dreams with the wind in our hair and not a care in the world.   But the moment we fall—the moment we realize that maybe it’s not as easy as it seems—we second guess the framework of our entire life, contemplating less scary alternatives and trying to convince ourselves that it’s okay to settle.

In the midst of our lapse, we look to others to see what they’re doing.  That’s when we realize that most others, generally speaking, are nonchalantly complacent about the quality of their lives.  And when we see them acting complacently, it gives us permission to be complacent as well.

Complacency is easier.  There’s no guesswork involved.   There’s no risk of failure.   There’s no chance of falling—because no one is dancing; everyone’s on the ground already.

There’s just one eensy, weensy problem with being complacent:

You actually want to DO something with your life.

And no matter how hard to try to forget that fact, there will always be that small, burning desire inside of you that you can’t deny.

As a result, life becomes even more difficult, because now you’ve got an even bigger problem:

You will forever experience the mental fatigue involved with knowing that you aren’t living up to your highest potential.

And that, friends, is why action—despite emotions, despite doubts, despite the ball and chain—is so important.

Remember:  The pain and suffering of NOT doing something will always, always be greater than the pain and suffering of doing.

If you’re able to keep that in mind—even when the going gets tough—I think you’ll find that putting in the effort to move the ball and chain to get off the floor will be far less than the effort you’ll spend for the rest of your life, wishing that you did.

And, of course, the reward far greater as well.

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If you liked that jazz. . .check out some of these:

• Fear, Exposed – Featuring Monica O’Brien
• Argentina + An 11 Year Old Boy + Greatest Business Asset of All
• Trust, Humanity & A Dutch Pilot. Otherwise Known As The Important Things In Life.
• Resolutions Are For Chumps. I Choose Revolution.
• Fear, Exposed – Featuring Illana Burk