Living In Your World

   I wanted to share something with my readers today. It’s something we all know but make no effort to actually do. Live within your world. What does that actually mean? Some think it means to be happy with what you have - to be content. I completely disagree with that belief, but I do think there is something to be said for not daydreaming about what is, and always will be, out of your reach. Let me explain a little.

   As human beings, we always strive for more. We want a better car, a better house, a better relationship, and better friends. That’s all wonderful, but what happens when your dreams drift outside of reality? What happens when we want respect that we haven’t earned, a relationship to be great when we’ve done nothing to make it that way, and friendships to fall into our lap? What happens when we want it all and we don’t want to do anything to get it? That’s the state most of us are in. We want something. We can see it in our mind’s eye, but we can’t have it. I know I do at times. I want a million dollars, the perfect woman, better friends, and even deep respect from certain people. Here’s the thing, though, I write. A million dollars might come one day, but it’s not very likely. The perfect woman will never exist. What I need to be looking for is the perfect person for me, not someone I’ve cooked up in my head. Who knows? Maybe they’ve always been right in front of me, but my head has been too far up in the clouds to see what’s there. I need better and closer friendships, but I haven’t done a thing to find those friendships. I do the lazy thing and explore the same old options. I want respect, but I don’t bother demanding it. Don’t you see? I want it all, but I only seem to want it on my terms. I want it in some other space where it all comes so much easier. That’s not the space I live in, though. I live in a space where things are hard. To get to where I want to be, I have to write more, gain skills, search for what I need instead of what I want, be social despite my instinct not to be, and maybe most importantly, demand the respect that I know I deserve. It’s not easy. God knows that I’ve earned everything I have so far, and everything I ever get will be hard, but it is what I want. There’s something that a wise person once told me. You can only live within your own space. Look three feet in front of you. That’s what you can change. You can’t change other people, and you can’t immediately change your location or situation. You just have to take a metaphorical hold of whatever is three foot in front of you and start climbing to where you want to go. It’s that simple. I write books for a living, so it’s my job to dream up fictional situations, but it’s something that I need to stop doing in my everyday life. I can’t keep dreaming of what could be somewhere else or with someone else. I find myself doing this often, and it’s unhealthy. I’m not saying I shouldn’t dream or expect more. What I’m saying is that I should dream of a better reality and find ways to make it so within my three foot radius. I should write better, demand respect of those within my space, and find people to put within that space who are worth being around. There is something to find, and I’m sure that it’s close by. I won’t find it in my dreams, though. I’ll find it by slowly but surely climbing up to it one day at a time. That’s what I wish for all of you. Stop dreaming of things beyond your control and stop wishing that those within your space were someone else entirely. Instead, focus on what is right in front of you and who could be the perfect people to stand beside you in that space.