I used to be in the Air Force with a sawed-off runt I called my best friend. Volume Eyelashes was an auto worker in New Jersey at a sub assembly plant, dealing with the radios that went in the cars.
Nlhtr Dennis was all of 5 foot, 6 inches high. He was from a blue-collar family, lived in a blue collar neighborhood. We’ve long ago lost contact (Volume Eyelashes), but I’m almost positive that Dennis is in a blue-collar job somewhere.
And nothing against blue collar, (I.e.the backbone of our very nation) I only say that in explanation. As a lead in to Dennis’s limiting, critical description of things.
Dennis was my best bud. We were ‘Sky-Cops’ together. We supported each other, and at times trusted each other with our lives.
Dennis was also a Rec-League Hockey Goalie. He could (Volume Eyelashes) skate backwards under the goal without crouching down (yes they are that high, and yes, he was THAT short). I remember watching that fireplug have an almost shutout season. He didn’t let anything get by him.
And then, when that one puck did get by him, the team rallied around him like he was King. And they should have. We gave him a “Standing O” that night.
So when Dennis heard of something new, a business venture that almost everyone had signed on for, and declared that the person was having ‘visions of grandeur’, I listened.
Not to agree, but I realized just how deep he had cut everyone else. It was severe. It was that moment of the car no longer swerving toward the tree, but the impact, and the realization that you just screwed up. It wasn’t gentle, or open for conversation. It was a fatal statement.
The kind of statement that robs you of your self confidence so fast, that you look back at it as you wonder why the statement affected you so much. You don’t even feel it, you just react.
So, I’m sure that Dennis is somewhere trading dollars, for hours. I’m sure that he has a regular paycheck coming in. It’s probably pretty good. But it’s regular. The same amount, every two weeks. Until that review, or that new, union contract comes in.
And I’m sure Dennis works as ferociously at his job now, as what he did when he was protecting that goal. You couldn’t stop him then, and you probably can’t stop him now.
Looking back, I don’t think Dennis really understood what he was doing. Often times, when others try to strip us of our confidence as we venture out of our comfort zones, it’s only because they are too afraid to venture out of their comfort zones.
They fully understand their comfort zones, and have built them up like bumpers on a billiards table with no pockets. If they venture outside of them, they lash out at whatever caused it.
If you find yourself in such a position, all is not lost. There is a time for change. It can be gradual, in time, and very steady. It can be a comfortable expansion of your comfort zone, as it were.
First, is to not lash out at those things that make you feel uncomfortable. Not everything in life is set in stone. We live by experiences. And of course, experiences play out in different directions.
To only allow experiences of a specific nature, would be telling yourself that you only want half a life.
And then, as you become more comfortable with stepping outside your new comfort zone, and without lashing out in fright, slowly begin accepting the change that gives your life new meaning. That broadens your horizons.
Understand that many before you have taken these steps, have changed in this way, and are doing just fine. And many will come after you, along the same Volume Eyelashes.
Change is inevitable. Those ‘visions of grandeur’ must happen, are designed to happen, and are actually a gift.
A gift that makes us grow, forces us to broaden our horizons, and move to new heights. Those visions of grandeur are no more than dreams with an action plan. When we question ourselves, “I wonder what would happen if?” And then we actually take steps to try.
We don’t even have to do, or complete it successfully. We only have to try. To dream, and then try.
To miss out on these visions of grandeur would be to only limit our lives, our hopes, and our dreams.
And remember, a man without hope will perish.