Question: Which would you prefer?
To live a quiet, safe life and be forgotten by history, or, to live a life full of challenges and pain and be known forever more throughout history?
That was a question asked in a fun quiz I took on Facebook entitled: Which Mythical Creature Are You? Turns out I’m a mermaid by the way.
But when I got to this question in the quiz, I froze. My heart started to pound in my chest and knew, in that moment, I was being asked a question that could alter my life.
My argumentative side lashed out immediately in defense. Why did this have to be an all or nothing sort of thing? Why couldn’t there be a middle ground option like, to live a quiet and safe life and do amazing things that folks would remember, maybe not forever more, but for at least a little while?
I actually stopped for 5 minutes to ponder this question until I got a hold of myself and finished, what was suppose to be a light entertaining quiz.
And the conclusion I made was this. What the quiz maker was really asking was, how much conviction do you have?
Conviction
A fixed or firm belief.
If you want to follow a dream and see it succeed, you need strong conviction. Absolute faith that you can make your dream come true no matter what challenge you come up against. No matter who criticizes your dream or blasts you personally for attempting such a grand, or even crazy scheme in the first place.
Humanity loves nothing better than to call people out for taking a chance and try something different. I call this the Dumbo effect. Remember the Disney movie about the elephant who was teased and bully because he had over sized ears that made him different than the norm? It was only when he realized he could fly that everyone came around and celebrated him for his amazing skill.
If you have a dream, one that won’t let you rest until you see it through then at some point you will have to stand up and declare your intentions.
I guarantee there will be people who will say it can’t be done or that you don’t have what it takes. I know for sure you will incur criticism, there will be pain, even if it’s only where no one can see, deep in your soul. There will be challenges, you may even fail a time or three but if you have conviction, unwavering confidence in your goal, you can achieve that kind of history making notoriety that the quiz question was alluding too.
Now there is nothing wrong with playing it safe and having a quiet life. For millions of people, that is their dream. For societies to run smoothly we need these folks to ensure that our day to day systems operate on a continuous basis. I give gratitude to the farmers who toil endlessly to bring me healthy food. I solute the workers who provide the unglamorous services that we rely on. Your dedication and sacrifice allows us all the opportunity to dream our impossible dreams.
Lack of Conviction:
People who lack conviction take the middle of the road; and guess what happens in the middle of the road?
You get run over.
Ghandi
But if you, like me, felt your heart pound just a little bit faster when you read the quiz question and if you sensed your panic rising because you were being forced to choose, and that there was no middle ground choice that you could sit your undecided self firmly on and make no commitment one way or other, asked yourself this question. What do you have absolute conviction about?
If you reacted to the question as I did, then there has to be something, some secret dream that you are harbouring deep inside you that your soul is yearning to manifest. Your task is to decide if your convictions are congruent with your dream’s chances of becoming a reality or if your beliefs are more inline with them never seeing the light of day.
When you can answer that question, you can answer the quiz’s question honestly, with no middle ground fence sitting options needed. Then you can get on with living a quiet safe life, or maybe make some history.
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