Drowning out the noise.

There was a while there where my life got really cluttered.  And I’m not talking about piles of mail and dirty laundry…I mean my mind.  So many thoughts were running through it…and even worse…so many distractions were pulling it from what it is meant to do.  What I’m meant to do.  Between Facebook and Instagram and blogs…I was watching the world happen around me and every day felt like I was climbing an avalanche.  Like the noise was deafening and I couldn’t focus on me and my life…because of all the other ones going on around me.  But every day I taught myself to turn down the volume.  Just a notch at a time until one day…it was quiet.  One day…I realized all those distractions and clutter and chaos around me were there because I let them be there.  Were part of my life because I allowed it.

And finally…when I pulled myself out of the endless well of everything that DOES NOT MATTER…I could hear myself again.  And I could see everything I had been doing wrong.  It was like all of the sudden my lens shifted and life became tack sharp.  I could separate the things that I was convincing myself mattered and the things that actually do.  The things that define a successful life.  A happy life.  And I felt free.

• I realized success isn’t getting more followers on Facebook…it’s putting in the hard work.  Every single day.  Without fail.
• It’s doing that things you don’t want to do…and doing them well.
• I realized that money matters.  But chasing an income will never get you anywhere.  But chasing your passion most definitely will.
• I realized that the hardest path is most definitely the one you are meant to walk down.  That when your mind says no…listen to your heart.  To your gut.
• I learned that success is not loud.  Success is not telling the world how much you have.  Or how awesome you are.  It’s silent.  It’s a feeling way down deep in the pit of your stomach that makes you put one foot in front of the other.  That pushes you forward.
• I realized that life is bigger than the limits we set for ourselves.  Or the limits we have let other people convince us exist.  With enough passion and old-fashioned hard work…you really can do anything.
• I realized that a life centered around yourself will never fulfill you.  But that doesn’t mean your happiness should ever stop being a priority.
• I learned that the scariest things are most likely the exact things you are meant to do.
• I realized that you learn a hell of lot more from listening than you do from talking.  And sometimes that noise that you can’t seem to drown out is your own voice.
• And I think more than anything…I realized that life isn’t inside a computer screen.  Life happens when you get up…and walk away from it.

“Climb the mountain so you can see the world…not so the world can see you.”  -David McCullough Jr.