Maybe Your Life Is Too Easy

Yesterday I was watching this TED talk and I was truly impressed by her story.

What I realized after watching this was that the reason her story is amazing, it is because she had faced incredible challenges. It’s rare for anyone to tell a story like this who has been given everything. In fact, I can’t think of a single story like that.

Amy was more depressed than I can probably imagine but she turned things around and became a snowboarder. The guys at Airbnb were dead broke and they created cereal boxes in order to raise money to survive. Even looking back in my own life, one of my best programming accomplishments was because I was trying to live on dialup.

There are many many stories like this. And here you sit, dreaming about what things you’d like to accomplish. If only you had lots of money. If only you had this or that. If only.

You’ve probably always been living an “easy” life. Think about it. You’ve got all your limbs, good family and friends. Your parents bought you a car when you turned sixteen. Your parents paid for college. But yet, you’ve never been happy with your grades, your relationships, your job, or where you wanted to be at this point in life? Maybe it’s because things are too easy.

Maybe you need to try something completely different for a while. Risk it all, see what happens. The flinch of doing something different might be the reason you are holding back.

It’s easy to take things for granted. Soon enough you are making a steady paycheck living an easy life and then what? You become boring.

“Hey how have you been?” Oh just busy working/studying/whatever.

“That’s cool. I just got back from mountain climbing in the alps.” Wow! That’s awesome! I wish I could do things like that.

Well why the hell not? I even look at my friend Willis and am constantly impressed with his entrepreneurship. While he will be the first to tell you that he has no idea what he is doing, I’m still impressed none the less.

Sometimes you need to take a leap of faith and risk what you’ve got. After all, you’ve probably got more than lots of other people on this planet. Can you live without your television, fancy kitchen utensils, and heated blankets? Absolutely. Then make a bet on yourself. If you don’t do something you have always wanted to do in the next month, you’ll sell your TV. Have someone else hold you accountable. Push your boundaries.

I know I have gotten far too comfortable with my life. Sleeping late, off to work in the mornings, have a nice dinner, kick back and watch a movie, go to bed, rinse and repeat. But I feel terrible about it. I’m not progressing towards much. Things are too comfortable right now. I know that I’m stalled in my progression, but it’s time to move on. To get back in that groove. No more being comfortable. Things are too easy.

The last thing I want is to look back on my life and regret how I spent my time. I’m looking at you Skyrim:

So to start off, I’m making a list of things I want to accomplish in the next year and having my friend hold me to it. What are some life experiences you’ve had and wish more people tried?