What Do You Want To Be When You “Grow Up?” — Be Encourageous.

What Do You Want To Be When You “Grow Up?”

Personally, I’ve always struggled to put into words what I want to be when I grow up, mostly because I don’t really identify that well with “the machine” or its methods as a whole. I’m no longer a big consumer or into material things to the degree I was in the past. Now I’m more interested in the personal growth and knowledge that comes with traveling and experiencing new people, places, and cultures around the world.

I don’t want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don’t want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed.

― Lloyd Dobler, “Say Anything”

Of course, my lack of solid footing might seem a little odd since I’m already about halfway through the years I’ll spend upright on this big blue ball. But maybe it’s not that odd, since I’m a firm believer that if we’re doing it right, we never really “figure it out” or stop desiring to grow and learn.

The more we learn, the more enlightened we become to the fact that there’s so much more to learn.

The more we try to be a “better person” (whatever that means to each of us…), we tend to realize just how fallible…and ignorant…we really are to the intricacies of life. Once again making it painfully obvious just how important it is to continue to try harder and continue to be open and to learning.

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Interim Life Goal: Be A Little Better Today Than We Were Yesterday…

I’ve said in the past that I think a good goal for us want-to-change-the-world types is to just try to be at least a little bit better today than we were yesterday and to strive to be better tomorrow than we are today. Progress over perfection, but always progress.

Try to avoid those days…or months…or years…of frustration and stagnation, or simply getting too comfortable, so that we can keep taking more steps forward than backward.

Truth be told, I’ve never put the following words out there, until recently, because I feel like they come off a bit slanted: 

I just want to inspire and be inspired.

See, those words are the truth. I think it’s the truth for a lot of us. But somehow they seem to feel a bit holier-than-thou or quasi-arrogant when put out into the aether. Of course, in reality, I think it’s quite the opposite. The only way we tend to have the capacity to inspire is to first have been inspired by someone or something. Cause and effect, but not always in that order.

When we get inspired, I think it plants a seed inside of us that makes us want to pass that along and do what we can to facilitate that feeling to another human being.

But there’s another facet to this line of thinking that’s important. Having the strength, courage, lack of inhibition, or whatever you want to call it, to bare your soul to the world is a terrifyingly difficult feat for a lot of us.

Putting ourselves out there because we somehow feel that our personal story…or strengths…or weaknesses…might somehow help another find their next step seems to straddle this weird space between selflessness and selfishness.

Who am I to believe that what I’m going through or what I say is relevant?

What gives me the right to believe that what I write or say is worth someone’s time?

That’s textbook self-sabotage, but let’s be honest, that internal dialogue is real and can be crippling. And it doesn’t seem to go away—at least not for me. Maybe it will with practice, but I’m still working on getting my 10,000 hours in, so I guess I’ll have to wait and see. But my gut says those feelings never go away altogether.

So as I was hiking yesterday—my happy place, where I can sometimes get the thoughts to line up and be borderline cohesive— I stumbled upon what might be a better way for us to look at things.

To sit more comfortably with the overwhelm of putting into words what we want to be “when we grow up”…or just when we wake up tomorrow, and without that underlying angst or the potential of feeling like a total fraud…

Be Encourageous.

To Be Encourageous Is To Find A Unique Marriage Of Passion And Purpose

A symbiosis between cause and effect and their true inability to be independent of each other. For me it’s a reality check that, for the moment, seems to ease that “searching for the words” soundtrack in my head. Two words and five syllables that reverberate the core of what I want to be more often than not. What I hope everyone can be more often than not.

Be Encourageous.

Find the strength and courage to use your gifts to encourage others to be brave and courageous enough to use their gifts.

End Of The Line Goal: Be Encourageous!

Once or twice a year I do an exercise where I envision myself at the end of my life. I write down all of the things I want to have accomplished, the feelings I might have along the way, or the most important decisions I might be able to look back on.

How my relationships impacted my life or how my life might have impacted my relationships, and so on.

It always ends up being a lot more about experiences and moments than money or material.

But honestly, it’s usually a lot of lofty words and bullet points. And while somewhat clarifying, it also often ends up a bit ambiguous as to how to chart the course forward and achieve those things. I’m sure you’ve done exercises like this, and I wonder if you feel a similar combination of clarification and convolution when you’re finished.

So for now, let’s stop overthinking it. (OK. That last line is really for me…)

Above all, every day, just try with all of your heart to be encourageous.

Knowing that if you do it right, it will create impacts that create more impacts. At the end of our days…or our lives…I think the world would be a better place if we could simply look back with the confidence that we were indeed encourageous.

Please leave some comments if this article lights your fire!

Cheers friend.

—Jason

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