Stop Settling

I want you to stop settling

You may not even realize you’re doing it. 

Because your life right now might be great. It might be everything you thought you wanted. It might be perfect on paper. 

But settling is when we go with the flow because we don’t believe that we can have anything better than what we have now. 

It’s defined by the things you DON’T do. It is inaction. It is not usually done consciously. 

Settling is stagnation. 

Settling is comfortable. 

So, why do we do it?

We settle because we justify that the life we have is perfectly fine the way it is. We constrain ourselves because it's "realistic". We argue that we should be happy because objectively speaking, everything we have is something to be grateful for. We convince ourselves that it’s selfish to want more because compared to others, we already have so much. 

But you can be grateful...and still want something different. 

Just because something objectively “makes sense” doesn’t mean that it’s the right fit. 

And deep down, we know this.

So we fill our brain with inspiration. We read self-development books. We listen to podcasts. We have moments of hope imagining the life we will create someday when we feel confident enough to do so.

But confidence to make changes doesn't hit us like a bolt of lightening. We have to make decisions to make changes. And decisions can feel hard.

And "comfort" is alluring, and keeps us on the path of least resistance.

It lets inspiration flow in one ear and out the other so that we never take action.

It keeps us indulging in confusion and saying "I don't know" because it's simply what we know and what our brain is used to doing.

But when we say yes to comfort, we say no to a lot of other things. We say no to growth. We say no to new adventures. We say no to evolution. 

I spun in confusion for years. I felt confused and overwhelmed.

I was scared of making a decision because I didn't want to make a "wrong" choice. I wanted to avoid feelings of anxiety and regret and I thought making the "right" decision would be the key to that.

But here was the irony: I already felt anxious and regret over my circumstances.

So what I finally learned is I couldn't let feeling afraid keep me from making decisions. I had to learn that I could see fear, but not act on it. 

So where are you settling in your life? How are you letting the allure of comfort win out over what you really want? How are you indulging in confusion by saying "I don't know" instead of letting yourself answer, even though you are afraid?

Your life can be so much better than comfortable.

The question is if you're willing to live with the discomfort to discover what it is.