Wanting Without Action

July 26, 2015

Mental, motivation, perspective, planning

It’s become very apparent that there is a lack of ‘want’ in our younger generation. I don’t dare say they’re not dreamers, but is seems they are content to live in a world of dreams while their reality is steeped in dreary routine.

There are simply too many accessible escapes to actually leave.

photo credit: cnn.com

Independence is something they actually fear, because it signifies isolation. There is an anxiety epidemic. The potential to fail far outweighs any belief of success. Perhaps it’s the creation and comfort of the virtual world that leaves them idle. It’s a constant they can fall back on.

Folks like myself who grew up in the eighties didn’t have this alternative universe. We are grounded in practicality and purpose. There was a reason and a strategy to get elsewhere. We DID things without talking much about them. The work was the research.

Now there is google and the internet and information is the research. Seeking equates to doing, even though it justifies the habit of inactivity. The result is paralysis by analysis. We demand to know everything before doing anything. And so we sit, and stay the same, because we’re hell bent on doing the impossible, never mind the possible.

Getting dictates there’s some doing.

Otherwise it’s just receiving.

Maybe that’s the trouble. There’s not enough merit in how we get stuff, just as long as we get it.

Pride and empowerment come from getting things done, and a loss in that is a loss of self.

The action is everything. It’s the process that truly takes you away from here, even if for just a moment. Because when you go and you do you learn that you can. Even if things don’t work out as planned, you’re never worse off than where you started.

While they are hated by most young people, timeframes and deadlines force you to act. It’s an external pressure with a negative consequence should your inactivity remain. Whether you realize it or not, you use them to your advantage. I know a lot of high schoolers and college students that get amazing amounts of work done overnight. Put to use on a regular basis, that ethic could move mountains (or at least give purpose for the day). Without external pressure turning internal at some point, adults are left searching and stuck, waiting for that perfect moment to act.