A voice startles you just as you began to slide into sleep. Go, dream, seize this moment, it says.
Your mind stirs and answers sleepily, “Why? We already know what’s out there isn’t worth it. We have everything we need right here.”
Your mind is suddenly filled with a thousand possibilities. Excitement, concern and a feeling of looming uncertainty wells within you like a slowly draining battery.
“How much longer can I live like this?” you think despairingly to yourself.
Tick, tock. Tick, tock. You hear the sound of your antique alarm clock that you bought on your trip to Sweden years ago. You can’t seem to remember how long it’s been. It seems more like a dream — someone else’s life, not your own.
The quiet metronome of the clock reminds you of the creeping complacency that’s slowly shrouded your life, like a cancer gone undetected until it’s too late.
“I wasn’t always like this. What happened?”
Your thoughts wander to childhood dreams and fantasies of being the world’s greatest pianist. Then there was the time you wanted to be the star running back for the Dallas Cowboys. And of course, the greatest martial artist of all time after you had first seen Rocky. You’d play Eye of the Tiger repeatedly as you ran back and forth, up and down the stairs training for your great underdog victory.
You can still have all of that, the voice soothes you. It’s not too late.
“Things were different back then,” you snap. “I’m not a kid anymore. I have responsibilities. I have to make a living.”
And how’s that working out for you?, your heart asks.
Visions of your boss, counting down the minutes ’til five o’clock, and Monday mornings fall through your mind. You think about all of the opportunities you’ve passed by, all of the dreams you’ve given up on for this elusive search for security. Still broke. Still chasing, eight years later.
Security seems further away than ever. Like a hat in a satirical Charlie Chaplin scene, always one step away…
Suddenly, a hot sensation of anger fills you.
“I can’t keep doing this,” you practically cry out.
And then your heart whispers, Finally… he’s listening.
But this isn’t the first time you’ve felt like this. You’ve been here before. Like deja vu in reverse you remember all the times you’ve become nostalgic for a life that could have been. A life of boldness and adventure and deliberately acting on what’s most sacred in the deepest part of your heart.
You’ve made promises before that things will be different, that you’ll start following your heart.
But promises aren’t enough. You need a push. You need a catalyst that draws a line so firm that you can never turn back. You need to make a leap and burn the bridges to the life of template following you’ve left behind.
You need to rise up and find your direction magnetically.
Suddenly, you rise out of bed, your heart beating with the rhythm of a thousand drums. You hear yourself murmuring, “Enough is enough” as you go to your desk and open a new Word document on your computer.
Your fingers begin to type furiously, passionately. And as you labor away in the dark, you can faintly hear the sound of the clock on your bedside table ticking away. Tick, tock…
Moments later, you are signing your name on the letter you have just written, the pen scratching the paper lightly as you quickly write your signature. You then fold the letter carefully and slip it inside an envelope. After it’s been sealed, you flip the envelope over and reread the front, holding your breath.
Addressed to your employer and written with bold letters are these words: Resignation, October 1st, 2013.
You walk back to your bedroom, the key to your freedom — your resignation letter — pressed gently against your heart. You steal a glance at the ticking clock at your bedside: 1:37am. You have to wake up in less than five hours, but you don’t care. For the first day in a long time you go to sleep with peace in your heart. You know starting now, your life will never be the same.
You know it’s time for you to reclaim your freedom, to finally answer the call of your heart and the call to adventure.
Do you need a catalyst to help you answer the call to adventure? Join us for a free live event on following the path currently burning a hole in your heart, You won’t regret it.
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