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- Never settle (ultimate inspiration)
to settle — verb; to abandon [a dream, a thing, a value, a part of who you are]; a diminished spark.
Never settle.
“Settling” has a pretty negative connotation to it — you hear it, right? It means to abandon something or some idea in some way.
But what about “to settle down”. Not so much.
This idea is in our social psyche as not being something negative, but instead something that’s just inevitable. As if all the dreaming and fantastic scheming from when we were younger clashes with the script we call reality.
Ah yes, I can hear them saying “listen up, those ideas were cute and fun when you were young, but it’s time to grow up now and join us; this is the real world.”
Why is settling accepted as bad, but settling down is simply something to be accepted and expected? Is settling down just a clever way to mask giving up on something else?
When nothing is working and the clock keeps ticking, is the only solution really to just settle (down)?
Listen, I get it. There’s pressure and nuance and life does happen. It’s hard to stay the dreamer course, when we’re watching our peers “grow up” as we keep floating up to the clouds — and somehow still feeling stuck.
Stuck watching the edges and creases in our birth certificates fade and weaken. They start to look more like that old newspaper found in your grandparent’s storage space that was beneath their old wooden stairs, gathering dust and musty smells. This old paper, surely it can’t be mine? Fck, how long have I been here?
As if hitting some biological age requires you to abandon dreaming, rogue optimism and childlike wonder. Wouldn’t be better if everyone kept that — forever?
So the trick — the skill — is not in being optimistic, but in staying that way.
The world needs more bright eyes and bushy tails. It’s not unrealistic or detaching from reality either. “Reality” should be more fantastic. Actually — at the quantum level — it is.
We just can’t see this truth. We can only perceive 0.00001% of it — damn these eyes and senses. I know there’s more, existing just beyond.
So the trick is to stay steadfast and hopeful — unwavering in your quest for something no one else can see. Because it is there. So believe. Especially in the face of struggle. Especially when all evidence is pointing to the contrary.
It’s a lonely road. People will judge and throw stones; be confused…some will worry.
“You are in your 30s sir. You cannot honestly still believe that you can do music and art and start a creative business all while traveling the world and having fun? How dare you! You must settle down now, it’s time to grow up.”
I say never. And this is not some Peter Pan syndrome. This is how reality should be — how it truly is.
We’re in a game, a play — a great movie. And we’re the director, the cast, the writers and the viewers all at once.
So keep playing. Keep dreaming and failing and laugh it all off. From your 20s until your 70s and beyond.
Keep confusing everyone. Hah!
Start a fashion line at 40 — just like Vera Wang.
Start acting in your 30s — just like Harrison Ford.
Become famous online well past your society’s “prime” — just like the countless influencers doing it right now.
RØRY is a musician and an ADHD influencer, who “started” recently — closing in on 40.
Martha Stewart — found here groove after 40.
Samuel L Jackson didn’t receive major roles until he too was in his 40s.
Jared Leto continues to crush it in music, acting, art and business into his 50s.
I could keep going. But I think I painted this picture enough. Onto the next canvas.
With social media and digital life, there are no gatekeepers. There are no age limits or restrictions. It just takes hard work and a certain mindset with resilience. There are no caveats and it’s never too late.
You just need to stay optimistic. And never settle. Delete settling down from your vernacular — and push past everything you think is the edge. It’s an illusion.
I’d rather show up at the end of this play with scrapes on my face, full of failures, rather than wrapped up in a safe 401K blanket — anxious with unanswered questions, like “what if…?”
Failure is trying. Trying is success.
Be delusional with your optimism and cautious with the safe road. Never outsource your power to any person, thing, idea or institution.
Never settle.
✌️
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