Unshakeable Resolve

There’s this beautiful balance in life.

At times, it can come on as quite uncomfortable if you are scared of it. Suddenly, feelings wash over you like water to the shore, and if you try to fight them eventually the undercurrent gets the best of you. Sometimes, you just have to float out into the water and see where it takes you.

For me, I have always been one to get very excited about things and when new opportunities arise my blood has electricity run through it. I think the hardest part for most of us is staying consistent and grinding through the repetition of what you are attempting to do.

It’s hard.

It’s hard to bring it to the table day in and day out especially when the only person telling you to do this is yourself.

Recently, I read a quote that stuck with me. Hugh MacLeod said…

The pain of making the necessary sacrifices always hurts more than you think it’s going to. I know. It sucks. That being said, doing something seriously creative is one of the most amazing experiences one can have, in this or any other lifetime. If you can pull it off, it’s worth it. Even if you don’t end up pulling it off, you’ll learn many incredible, magical, valuable things. It’s not doing it—when you know full well you had the opportunity—that hurts far more than any failure.

He then went on to say later

Nobody can tell you if what you’re doing is good, meaningful, or worthwhile. The more compelling the path, the more lonely it is.

It’s a strange feeling going for something that you have wanted for the longest time. Things get very quiet. It’s not like leaving to start a life over in a different place where you don’t know anyone. That type of feeling I know very well. No the feeling is much more different. It’s like, the quiet times…get quieter.

As I write this, the image to actually describe this phenomenon just came to me.

IF the world is one big forest, and you are headed off in a direction that most people are not going, then you are…in time…going to hear less and less of the crowd off in the distance. Maybe that is a sign that things are going right?

I just have to say it was a little bit unexpected.

The interesting thing is that you are only left with the people who believe in you and what you are doing. Everyone else kind of falls off the face on the planet. They don’t want to go down that road with you because they aren’t really true true believers in the cause. I used to take offense to this, but over time I have started to see things for what they really are.

To travel into the unknown and to come back with stories is one of my favorite things to do.

Every time I go fishing I try to see just how far I can go up river. A year or so ago I went far far beyond where my dad and I had ever been and discovered what is now called “The Pool.” The perfect place to fish…with huge fish just waiting for you. The Pool is now where we hike to from the start, about a mile or two past where we would always stop. I would never have found that place if I wasn’t curious enough to see what was out there.

I am 5 days away from being halfway through this journey. If I were hiking that path to The Pool I would be almost halfway there. My faith in the process and what I am set out to do are not weakening…but growing stronger as the days go on. It is unshakeable resolve that has brought me to this place. I will continue to hike no matter how long it takes.

In taking a drastic turn, I want to say this.

I deeply respect those who are working on their dreams day in and day out…and who are making the sacrifices they know they have to make in order to accomplish their dreams. In my mid twenties now, I still see a lot of people my age going out and celebrating, drinking their life away, and partying like they used to in college. Everyone of course is free to make their own decisions, but in knowing a lot about these people, and knowing that they aren’t even close to where they want to be, I sometimes wonder what they are celebrating for?

I used to be caught up in the same thing as well.

I think it comes down to the fact that it’s really easy to actually go out and celebrate and party…just because. It’s incredibly hard to stay in on a Friday night putting in hours at the gym or editing or getting ahead on the clothing brand or whatever it is that you are doing. I tip my cap to those people out there who are making the sacrifices.

I never used to make them.

I would do things because I thought they were beneficial, not because I had fallen in love with them.

Now, I devote my time to what I have fallen in love with, because it gives so much back to me. I have bowed down to the process and am thankful for being given the strength in my mind to go through that process every single day and be able to see the results of my actions.

You have to save your own life.

If you aren’t where you want to be…if you aren’t the type of person that you wish to become, then you have changes to make. Those changes are difficult at times, but like anything, you get used to it. Like anything, you will be a beginner and if you pound away at it enough, you will begin to master it.

Have faith in the process and in yourself.

Put out good vibes today…it matters.

- Evan Sanders

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