Free ‘Yo Self
Have you ever been at a point in your life where you were striving for something? I don’t mean the type of striving where you set it out as a goal to reach in a healthy way. I mean the striving where you will unhealthily stop at nothing to attain what you want. If you have breath in your lungs and a heartbeat in your chest chances are pretty stellar that you have something of this nature in your life. That thing we strive for is different for all of us. It can be money, power, fame, significance, sex, material possessions, certainty, perfect kids, that perfect marriage, the right job, the fastest car, the biggest house, a number on a scale, a number in a bank account, a boat on that lake, that fancy life. If I go on long enough surely I will touch on that thing you want more than anything. Most of us have one… If I can be really honest, most of us have a few.
The thing about this thing, however we define it, is that oftentimes it puts us in a position of tension and unsettledness. When we spend so much time focusing on that thing we don’t have or that thing we are striving for, we miss out on what is right before us. We become chained and entangled in our pursuit to satisfy this thing that we want. When we focus on the restriction of what we don’t have, we lose the gift of what we do have. This struggle isn’t our fault, but at least we can do something about it so we aren’t chained and held captive by it.
Like any good basketball player knows, freedom comes with a strong pivot. A defender is in your way, pivot past and get the open lane to the hoop… so it is on the court- so it is in life.
We can free ourselves by pivoting our focus. What you focus on you find- if you are focusing on what you don’t have- that coveted thing – all you are going to find is what you don’t have. I close my eyes and I think about what I strive for. Man, it is enticing and I could keep clawing for it, working for it, focusing on it. But I realize something important- I am missing everything I currently have that sits unchained before me. Please don’t misunderstand me. I am not saying don’t strive for things in life. Lord, I am not at all saying that. What I am saying though is stop letting it chain you. Stop letting it run you. Stop letting it define your happiness.
In a world that lives chained to the treat ‘yo self mindset, I think it’s time to live in the realm of free ‘yo self. Pivot your focus, take some massive action and get after that one relentlessly beautiful life that you have.
