My immediate response to them is, "You can do it, too!" This is met with a roll of the eyes and a very sarcastic, "Riiiight."
Our culture has become all about maintaining the comfort zone. We opt for ready-made, delivered pizza because it's an inconvenience to go to the grocery store. We avoid trying out for that marathon we have on our bucket list because the couch looks more inviting. We insist on tuning into The Real Housewives of Mars (or wherever it's set, now) because we've become accustomed to watching other people's lives instead of living our own.
We have become a culture dependent upon comfort. What results is boredom. And jealousy.
People do not get jealous of comfortable, safe lives. They are jealous of the uncomfortable stuff. The stuff that is scary to sign up for. The stuff that you can really fail at, but you try anyway.
I don't want to yammer on too much, because I think you guys have heard it all before. All I have left to say is:
- Buy that plane ticket!
- Sign up for the marathon!
- Submit applications to your dream job!
- Sail the seven seas!
- Go after a dream!
- And dammit, live life (uncomfortably)!
"We won't get far/ flying in circles inside a jar" -- Death Cab For Cutie
Yeah, I always get that too. I mean, there are some people whose circumstances really prevent them from doing things, but most people are just unadventurous and cowardly (I'm not as nice as you)!
ReplyDeletehahaha! I always love your answers :D
DeleteI'm most definitely jealous. Oh, I'll end up somewhere else eventually. My jealousy is more about 'I wish I had done this when I was younger' before it involved others. But then, where would I be without the others? Guess that's just lazy. Would you just let me be jealous, already? ;)
ReplyDeleteYou've got a good point. It's different when you have a family. That's part of the reason i am not procrastinating on this! :)
DeleteAmen!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteHa! great post and good plan. I've started to get way too comfortable in my current spot so I'm working on disrupting things for a bit and trying something new. Planning a bit of a sabbatical for a few months to study a language. People can do it, its scary and unnerving but its exciting as well to start to see your plan come together.
ReplyDeleteI agree live life! Life is too short and you really have to make the most of it! I also want to visit as many different countries as possible!!
ReplyDeleteAhhhh this sounds very very much like when I decided to move to Spain, without knowing a soul there, without knowing the language, without having a job or any plan that went further than one month. Still it sounded like the most wonderful thing I could think of, while many others told me I was mad, stupid, out of my mind etc.
ReplyDeleteI never thought about what you say that jealousy only occurs towards the uncomfortable things, where possibility of failure is more probable. Interesting!
You are on target with this post. I love your enthusiasm. I am on my way to being as brave as you.
ReplyDelete"People do not get jealous of comfortable, safe lives. They are jealous of the uncomfortable stuff." I love this quote! So much!! I will admit, you're big leap of faith has got me questioning a lot of stuff in my own life and started the process of testing out the waters of making a big leap myself.
ReplyDeletePREACH!!!
ReplyDeleteIs it weird that this post makes me so incredibly proud of you? So. Awesome.