Change the World
Several years ago, I awoke on my birthday with a sense of melancholy. You see, I had been troubled by a particular birthday milestone that was coming up soon, and this birthday put me on the eve of it, or so I thought.
When I awoke and started my usual morning routine of checking my phone, my Facebook memories alerted me to something. I had been dreading my forty-ninth birthday, mainly because it would put me on the cusp of the dreaded fiftieth birthday. I wasn’t ready to be that old. I wasn’t ready to acknowledge that my youth was behind me. But as I perused my phone, I noticed something remarkable. I saw my Facebook memories from the previous year and noticed that I celebrated being forty-seven that year. My mind reeled. Could I have lost track of how old I was? How could this have happened? I had dreaded this day for months, but when I added it up, I saw I was mistaken. I was only forty-eight. Needless to say, I spent the rest of the day celebrating because, in my mind, I had gained an extra year. Now, of course, even I know that’s silly. I didn’t gain an extra year. My vitality wasn’t somehow saved. But in the moment, I felt like I had a new lease on life. Old age hadn’t quite come for me yet.
The truth is, there isn’t that much of a difference whether you are forty-eight, forty-nine, or even fifty. Age is just a number. All of our bodies age differently and at different rates. But my mindset then was that once I reached fifty, it was all downhill. By postponing it, even for a year, I felt massive relief. But what was the difference? The day before, I had seen the world in shades of gray with an intense melancholy hanging over me. The next day, once I figured out my error, the sun shone, my mood was great, and I was full of life. The difference couldn’t have been more stark. But the only thing that had changed was my mindset.
I’ve long lived by the concept that perception is nine-tenths of reality. That is to say, how you perceive the world dictates your worldview. If you perceive the world as being against you with no chance of ever getting ahead, you will, in all likelihood, never get ahead. It’s sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy. But, if you can change your perception, it opens up all sorts of possibilities. For instance, several months ago, my business struggled through one of the slowest quarters we’ve ever had. On top of that, I struggled to get my new book written, and the existential dread from current affairs made it a struggle to get out of bed every day. I was acutely aware of the mindset that was developing during this time. What was the point of any of it? I was frustrated and depressed, and every day just felt like a never-ending slog. However, I knew stopping wasn’t an option, so I focused on changing my processes within the business and my writing business. I also acknowledged that I couldn’t do anything about the existential dread, so I ignored it as best I could while continuing to improve the things within my control. Several months later, my business recovered, the new book awaits release on August 12, and book sales picked up. As far as the existential stuff beyond my control, it is also righting itself. And while I can’t claim any control over that part, it certainly helps.
My point is that bad times happen. We all have peaks and valleys, especially creatives. You’ll go through bad times, but you can’t let that define you. Keep a good mindset and mental discipline, especially during the bad times, and you’ll eventually rise above them. As Gandhi once said, “If you want to change the world, start with yourself.”
– Ryan
