3388: Big Dreams? What Are You Waiting For? By Kat Medina on Ambition & Personal Fulfillment

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[00:01:08] This is Optimal Living Daily. Big dreams? What are you waiting for? By Kat Medina of katmedina.com. And I'm Justin Malek, your personal narrator, reading to you every day, including holidays. Now let's get right to it and start optimizing your life.

[00:01:28] Big dreams? Big dreams? What are you waiting for? By Kat Medina of katmedina.com.

[00:01:35] For as long as I can remember, I wanted to live in the woods. Not in a creepy way. I wasn't longing to grow a beard in total isolation and talk to a deflated volleyball.

[00:01:45] Rather, I felt a calling to wake up amongst towering trees and raw nature that wasn't overly manicured and perfectly trimmed back to the point of unrecognizable oblivion.

[00:01:56] I wanted wild. And yet, the majority of my adult life, I resided by concrete landscapes.

[00:02:04] San Jose, California is not the most picturesque place in the world, but it was where my career thrived and my friend base had developed.

[00:02:12] It's a big pond with quick currents and tends to push people to either step up or be stepped over.

[00:02:17] Living in Silicon Valley is like being in a fast-paced, tech-focused bubble.

[00:02:23] It's highly competitive and outrageously expensive and attracts some very driven and intelligent people.

[00:02:29] It feels like you're living in fast forward.

[00:02:32] Innovation breeds here. People are racing to test the limits of how far they can go.

[00:02:37] And as a result, it's impossible not to be influenced and inspired to push harder, learn more, and grow.

[00:02:45] People feel stressed out, but as long as they're making headway on their pursuit of success, they feel alright.

[00:02:52] Because after all, progress equals happiness.

[00:02:55] They continue to hurl their body forward trying to win the marathon and beat out the fellow runners on their career track.

[00:03:02] They know if they stop, they'll fall behind.

[00:03:05] So they push their body beyond its limits at the expense of the occasional burnout.

[00:03:10] After so many years of living in San Jose, I started to notice something.

[00:03:15] When we only chase success, we risk looking back on our lives and realizing that we completely missed the point.

[00:03:22] Achieving success without fulfillment is the ultimate failure.

[00:03:27] If we're so focused on our future goals and the next career finish line, the next promotion, the next raise, etc.,

[00:03:33] we become blind to the joy and beauty in the journey.

[00:03:37] In competitive environments like the Bay Area, it's difficult not to compare how you're doing with other people.

[00:03:45] It's naturally something we do as human beings and many times it drives us to push further than we would have otherwise done.

[00:03:52] When we do this, we are under the destructive misconception that we're all participating in the same race.

[00:03:59] Life is not a marathon.

[00:04:00] It's a trail run and everybody's path is different.

[00:04:05] The key to accomplishing the elusive combination of fulfillment and success

[00:04:09] is to strive to compete with the best version of yourself

[00:04:12] and to be grateful for the growth along the way.

[00:04:16] A couple of months ago, my husband and I decided to veer off course.

[00:04:20] We're in our mid-30s and both work in tech.

[00:04:23] But for the 15 years we've been together, we've shared a dream to eventually end up in Lake Tahoe.

[00:04:29] A life event of losing a baby after years of trying to conceive shook us awake and made us question,

[00:04:35] why not now?

[00:04:36] What were we waiting for?

[00:04:38] You see, disappointment tends to either crush people or drive them.

[00:04:44] The pain and disappointment of miscarriage drove us to take action and carve our trail.

[00:04:49] We sold our home in San Jose and moved within two months.

[00:04:53] The wild within us, calling us forward on our journey.

[00:04:56] Some folks were worried, warning us of the career suicide we were about to embark on.

[00:05:01] Initially that was a concern, but we believed that living in an environment that inspired us

[00:05:06] would be reflected in our work and help us to shine.

[00:05:10] So far it's proven to do just that.

[00:05:13] I start each day with gratitude and I feel my heart thanking me for listening to it

[00:05:19] and giving it a chance to guide me.

[00:05:21] Over the years I've moved more than 30 times and for the first time in my entire life, I feel at home.

[00:05:28] So many of us place our dreams high on the shelf of someday.

[00:05:33] We set five or ten year plans and then the years pass by quickly with our hearts waiting patiently along the sidelines.

[00:05:40] We delay taking action out of fear that shows up in the form of excuses.

[00:05:45] If there's something you feel called to do in your heart, a dream so vivid it practically haunts you,

[00:05:52] I beg you to have an honest conversation with yourself and ask, why not now?

[00:05:58] And if not now, when?

[00:06:00] What would happen to you laced up and finally decided to step forward on the path that you and you alone were meant to take?

[00:06:12] You just listened to the post titled, Big Dreams?

[00:06:15] What are you waiting for?

[00:06:16] By Kat Medina of katmedina.com

[00:06:19] And I'll be right back with my commentary.

[00:06:22] Thank you to Kat.

[00:06:23] There's a great quote in there.

[00:06:29] I like how she didn't say a failure, but the ultimate failure.

[00:06:34] How true is that?

[00:06:36] It's really easy to get stuck on that hedonic treadmill where you work towards the next big thing,

[00:06:41] that promotion, that raise, the new car, the new house,

[00:06:45] only to get it and then want the next thing.

[00:06:49] Although I'll stop myself and say that I don't want this to get mixed up with

[00:06:53] laziness or just being satisfied with anything and everything.

[00:06:57] But if we're really making ourselves miserable working a certain job or doing certain things to reach

[00:07:04] some random milestone, which then only leads to basically the same pursuit all over again,

[00:07:11] that's a travesty.

[00:07:12] Like she said, this is another great quote from the article,

[00:07:16] the key to accomplishing that elusive combination of fulfillment and success

[00:07:20] is to strive to compete with the best version of yourself

[00:07:24] and to be grateful for the growth along the way.

[00:07:28] So taking a moment to pause, be grateful and see how far we've come

[00:07:32] is a really nice thing we can all do from time to time, if not every day.

[00:07:38] Kat made a massive change and maybe that's not right for you.

[00:07:41] So if that worries you or if it seems way out of reach,

[00:07:44] you can always try baby steps in that direction.

[00:07:48] A sabbatical, a short vacation,

[00:07:51] a trip, volunteering in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado at a meditation retreat center.

[00:07:56] That wasn't very specific because that's what I did

[00:07:58] and I would never take it back.

[00:08:00] With these little experiences and baby steps,

[00:08:03] you'll form memories, you'll grow, you'll learn,

[00:08:06] and hopefully appreciate the journey more than some random destination.

[00:08:10] So something to think about today.

[00:08:12] Have a great rest of your day.

[00:08:13] Thank you for listening and I'll see you tomorrow

[00:08:16] where your optimal life awaits.