You're running a marathon, it is not a sprint

For many years I viewed life as a sprint. The successful ones work harder, faster and simply much more than average. Although some aspects of this are true, there is something that happened to me in this pursuit that changed my point of view.

I burned out.

I started thinking thoughts that I was never going to make it. It was getting harder and harder to stay mentally focused. I stopped enjoying this pursuit and started dreading each day with a dark cloud over the future.

What had happened?

The answer lies in this phrase that I just used. "I felt like I was never going to make it"

Where was I trying to make it to? I didn't even know where I wanted to go, but somehow in my mind I just wanted to get there as fast as possible.

What was in this dream place that I was really looking for? I was hoping to turn my sacrifices, struggles, low feelings of self worth to magically transform as soon as I would reach this 'place'.

Like 80% of the North American population, I too got tangled up in the web of entrepreneurship to feed my need for social acceptance and a hint of superiority by having my own well established start-up.

In this train of thought, the smallest of downfalls made the goal seem to drift further beyond reach. I started clinging on to things and to people for support. I was lost and I needed help.

Through these experiences I have learned that life is not a sprint, it is a marathon. It is not like you are trying to climb a mountain to reach a plateau. This way of thinking helped me realize to stop holding my breath and pushing against a wall hoping for it to fall down one day before I ran out of breath. I now feel like each day goes by smoother, I feel that I can breathe and most importantly I am not looking for that dream land where life is beautiful. This dream land is already inside me, my overactive mind never gave me a chance to see it before.

Western Poverty

Having lived in a developed nation for the last 8 years, I remember comparing numerous times how things are so organized here, the streets are clean, people drive expensive cars, live in big houses or waterfront condos. Yes, you do cross some homeless people on the street in the downtown areas, but no where in comparison to the poverty you see in developing nations.

But there is an invisible wave of poverty in these developed countries. You see well dressed people on the streets walking with their head down low, you see the most successful people high on drugs, you see long wait times at mental health clinics, you see ever rising unhappiness and a bubble of always wanting more that people live in. These nations struggle with poverty, but of a different kind, it is the lack of feeling loved.

When people are ready to pay money for hugs or a cuddle partner, it is quite evident that there is lack of love in people's hearts. Although this lack of love is felt by everyone, some people who are already low on self esteem internalize this, feeling like there is something wrong with them which is why society doesn't love them.

So many charity donations are made to help people in Africa, thinking that they are far behind in their development. But as the world becomes more developed, would love be a thing we read about in history books?

We need help, teach us how to love again, not just to our close family and friends, but to every soul we cross on the street. Teach us how to love ourselves. It is such a beautiful feeling, please don't take it away from us.