'A ship is safe in harbour, but that is not what ships are built for."
Greetings everyone! At the end of the first month of 2013, I bid you an abundance of blessings and well wishes for the remainder of the year. By this time, you should have been able to see the follies of some of your resolutions and made decisions to follow through...or not, since it only takes 21 days to form or break a habit.
With that said, I encourage y'all to invest in yourselves this year. Upon reflection, I've realized it's rather easy to get caught up with having high expectations of others with hopes and dreams to usher them into the realm of converting that "potential to be great" into actual "greatness" - be it your friend, family, child, spouse, etc. However, one must accept several things.
Firstly, not everyone comes upon their realization of self at the same time. Some people can remain the same until late age and suddenly have an epiphany and change their lives around. Secondly, some people are genuinely comfortable as they are. It's often said there are two types of people ultimately --- sheep and shepherds. Having the potential to lead doesn't necessarily mean one has to leave the comfort of being led. Some people can go through their lives just fine being average. Which brings me to my last point, sometimes, you just have to accept that because someone or something has "potential" does not mean it shall necessarily manifest itself as such.
So, love the people around you, but don't try to force them to live their lives a certain way. It might be difficult for those who want to evolve and become more to accept that others are quite comfortable as they are. But it's not enough to want better for someone, if they don't want it for themselves.
Accept that some people may end up on a different path because you outgrow them, or vice versa.
Accept that some people may remain the same way throughout their lives, that's just who they are.
And accept that, at the end of the day, you still owe it to them and most importantly, yourself, to be the best version of you regardless of your situation or the decisions of those around you.
The only person you can change is yourself... and as Sher would say...
"Be who you are, regardless of your company."
Because if you change constantly to suit you may simply find yourself going in circles, spiraling quickly in the direction of "nowhere."
Deuces!
