There are only two options in life -- and they are quite simple. Either be a pedestrian or don't be a pedestrian. The choice is ultimately yours, and that is the beauty of it. We don't have to tell you that life is short because Drake already delivered that memo.
The choice of being a pedestrian is alluring in that it's easy and it's a path you can fall into without even knowing. But I'm here to tell you it's a trap.
What you want to be living is a life you actually enjoy, not being miserable and claustrophobic in the four walls of your cubicle.
We as a society have a terrible habit of contentedness. We're always searching for the easy way out, looking for short cuts. We fear failure and accept that things can be too hard or too difficult. What you need to understand is that nothing worth it comes easy. That is the beauty of life.
There has not been an individual in the history of mankind who lived a pedestrian lifestyle who is worth remembering. I recently had a conversation with one of the most inspiring figures to me in my life and he told me that a project he has worked day and night for two years to complete has just come to fruition and he stressed that this is what hard work does for you. He told me that never in the history of mankind has an easy life led to a great life.
Life is a symptom of physics. Every action has a reaction, and the pedestrian lifestyle lacks the catalyzing force. The easy path is the stagnant one, unmoving – it's the flat line, like a plateaued stock. Nothing lost, but nothing gained. That's why depression is a seeming epidemic, the average person is miserable in his pedestrian confines.
A happy life is one built on progression, one that moves towards an overwhelming sense of fulfillment. A happy life finds the action to ignite the reaction. Because when you work toward something and tug at these pedestrian boundaries, you cause friction. You cause struggle, trial, tribulation and error. But you create.
If you want to be a pedestrian, keep doing what you are doing and settle for what is coming your way each and every time. Keep whoring your life out to the easy ass that is coming your way.
It's in struggle that you experience growth. It's in conquering obstacles that you experience life. And that is what life is all about, and that is exactly what the pedestrian lifestyle shields you from.
Why You Don't Want To Be A Pedestrian...
I remember when I was younger and in college in New York City, everyday I would get stuck walking through the rat race to get to class: a huge sum of people dressed all exactly the same, wearing the same miserable looks on their faces, rushing to get to their cubicles by 9:01 a.m.; I would see these people everyday and I realized that that is not living, that is actually dying. All of those people doing things they hate every single day are just living to die.
The pedestrian mindset hinders your growth as a human being. It makes you just like everyone else: nothing different, nothing special and nothing unique. Essentially a pedestrian is exactly like the pedestrian they are standing next to in the rat race. Thinking they are on the right track, something they chose, but instead following the same broken map to normality because they were taught it was correct.
Life is about developing and when you are stuck in a bubble, you can't develop. You have to create your own journey, make your own rules and live on your own terms, not anyone else's. You need to constantly be achieving and looking forward to achieving more and more -- whatever it may be that you have interest in.
Being A Pedestrian Is Actually Wrong
Society often relies on the moralistic tropes of wrong and right. Anyone who does something that seems to be out of the box is seen as wrong and anyone who is doing exactly what they're told to is seen as right. But who in their right mind gave society the power to dictate what is right from wrong? Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “To be great is to be misunderstood.” If you analyze the history of human advancement, it is comprised of people who decided not to be pedestrians, and stepped away from the crowd to make the impossible, possible. Even when they were called crazy.
They saw the stagnant life of a caveman as wrong. If everyone were content with the status quo, it is safe to say we would all still be cavemen. Laziness is contagious and that is what has spread throughout our world. And just because everyone is lazy and taking the easy way out it seems as if it is correct. Ease has created nothing of great value to this planet nor has it forced us to excel in any way, shape or form.
If you are waking up miserable everyday of your life and unsure where your life is going, then know that you've turned into a pedestrian. Now it is ultimately up to you to figure out how to dig yourself out and create a sense of urgency and motivation in your life.
You have most likely heard the saying before: the day you are born is the day you start dying. But what if it didn't have to be that way? What if the day you are born you is actually the first day of the journey to find why you were born? The point of this is not to tell you to go be the next Steve Jobs, but to be the person that future generation will aspire to be. Don't settle on what seems right by society's eyes.
I have hung out with many artists and people who have devoted their lives to nothing more than simple creativity, who have strived to create something out of nothing. They weren't driven by money or big auction sales; they were driven because that is what made them wake up every morning feeling happy about life.
How Not To Be A Pedestrian
A life of a non-pedestrian is a successful life because it is a life that is truly lived. It's a life with a story that will be retold long after you are gone: a life that you can be proud of when you look back on it in your final throes. A life with highs and lows, a life with hardship and success and a life with struggle and victory.
What you need to do is start thinking outside of the box. Stop confining yourself with limits that are set by bogus rights and wrongs. Life is a dying flame. Each day gone, the fire gets dimmer and dimmer. Our true value in the fire is not the time gone, but rather the things we do that keep our flame burning.
Instead of looking forward to a future of ease, embrace your present hardships, and look to add more strain to your life. This is how you grow. This is how you evolve. This is how you live.
