“I always wanted to go to Italy,” says Maverick, “But I will only go to Italy for a business trip which has some return on investment. I won’t do it just because I want to go to Italy.”
Honestly, I understand why Maverick thinks like that. However, life is short, so certain international trips for business may or may not happen. Therefore, it’s important to do things just because we really want to do them.
- Motivations behind actions:
In reality, different people have very different motivations behind their actions. Some people do certain things just to impress their friends. Some people do things in order to please their parents. Some people do stuff simply to look good.
For example, George bought a very expensive watch just to show off his wealth because he grew up in a poor family & he was bullied at school due to his poor background. Indeed, probably we all want what we didn’t have in childhood, and when I asked George why he bought an expensive watch, he literally told me the truth. I sincerely appreciate his honesty. What I’m explaining here is that motivation might not be the healthiest motivation, although it’s understandable.
We are only on this planet for a little while, so we should do more things just because we enjoy them – just for ourselves. For instance, nowadays instead of buying luxury clothes, I prefer having a weekly facial and massage. My friends can’t see I have a facial and a massage every week, but I clearly feel the difference.
- The truth about commitment in different chapters of life:
These days I’m able to have international trips while still writing articles for various blogs. My current lifestyle is the result of an important decision that I made a few years ago.
When I was young, I always wanted to be a university educator. Because of my hard work, I became a university lecturer when I was 21 years old. I worked in the higher education industry for 17 years until the COVID-19 pandemic started in 2020. At that time, the entire department of the university that I was working for was shut down because we didn’t have enough students. As a result, all staff members of that department were made redundant. Most of my colleagues at that time were waiting for the end of the pandemic so that they could return back to the higher education industry. Nevertheless, I made a major decision: My side hustle should become my main gig – I started a side hustle (freelance writing) in 2016 because that’s my hobby – in fact, I was teaching creative writing and academic writing at university for many years & I’m very lucky because I have always done things that I enjoy doing. Since the pandemic ended my main job, I think I should focus on my freelance writing career.
In other words, it’s okay for a dream to be done – we should give ourselves this permission bravely. I lived my dream as a university educator for 17 years, and now it’s okay for me to put it down & say this to myself, “OK, I did that. What’s next?” I don’t have to commit to things for the rest of my life for them to be meaningful or for them to matter. I can move on from a dream & I don’t have to feel stuck doing it forever.
If you are in a career, a neighborhood or a relationship that doesn’t work for you anymore, it’s okay for you to move on to the next thing. Don’t worry about things like, “I’ve invested so much money/time in this” & “What would other people think of my decision?” Frankly, I changed careers, moved houses and ended relationships before – each chapter in my life has been much appreciated because it served its purpose. Yes, it’s actually fine when a beautiful chapter ends, as that’s when a new chapter starts.
“Instead of holding my dream so tightly that I couldn’t see other possibilities, I chose the abundant mindset by holding my dream loosely. Therefore, I created a side hustle while having my dream job. When the dream job ended naturally, I was able to focus on the side hustle and make it my full-time job which allows me to have international trips while working on my laptop.”
