Why A Mediocre Life Isn’t as Bad as You Think
You don’t have to have big dreams.
I recently had a conversation that changed my view about life and dreams. I was at my job, talking with one of my friends when she threw me for a loop.
I asked her, “What do you want to do?” I figured this job was a stepping stone into something else. Biding time until you had enough money or figured out what that next step was.
Then she responded. “I just want a nice desk job somewhere.”
Today it seems like everyone has wild dreams of being an entrepreneur, waiting to build their side business into their full-time gig.
All the self-help books I’ve ever read talk about dreaming more for yourself. They tout grandiose dreams and living large and in charge. Often, they talk as if you have to have big goals or dreams, otherwise, your life will be mediocre.
According to them, living a mediocre life is one of the worst things you could do. Why would you want to live a mediocre life when you can have more for yourself?
It’s okay to want to live a mediocre life. By that, I simply mean in terms of goals and dreams. Every person should still be afforded basic living needs like housing, food, and water. Those should be standard.
You don’t need to have dreams to live a good life. You can find a job you tolerate and spend your free time on hobbies and be perfectly happy.
I think we’ve got it in our heads that you must have big dreams for your life, but why? Having big dreams doesn’t mean anything.
We are all going to have different goals and desires. That doesn’t make one person better than another. That doesn’t mean your choices are any less than others. You don’t have to want to travel the world or have a big house and fancy cars.
All it means is you want different things, and that’s okay.
You don’t have to dream big — your version may be totally different. Don’t let other people sell you on standards that don’t interest you, and don’t let them make you feel guilty about it.
Your version of dreaming big might be saving up for a Jacuzzi. That’s totally fine.
We’ve created this system where we look down on people who don’t dream big, thinking that living a mediocre life is a bad thing. We think that mediocre means we can’t be fulfilled, and that’s totally wrong.
I’d be lying if I said some days a mediocre life didn’t seem tempting. It’s exhausting trying to dream big. Not everyone is going to make it big.
Having dreams shouldn’t be a barometer of who is better or who is going to make it.
Let people live their lives how they want to. It costs you nothing to ignore them and live your own life however you want to, whether that’s average or not.
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