Most of us just follow the path others have paved before us: parents, teachers, advertisers, politicians, priests.
We often attempt to go the way of least resistance.
Yet sooner or later we will encounter obstacles on our path anyway.
You grow physically and mentally with the obstacles you overcome. You become stronger and more resilient. The more you improve the more unique your path while training and in real life will be.
Most of us have been raised to be like someone else, our parents or role models from society.
Success is measured by the money you spend on things and experiences others approve of. Yet you can have the
- most expensive car
- biggest villa
- sexiest partner
and still be unhappy. Even happiness itself is not always a worthwhile goal. The more you chase it the less happy you are.
Who Defines Success?
In order to achieve the kind of success our family, friends, teachers expect we need to focus on education and a career.
While trying to succeed in school we’re forced to sit all day interrupted by occasional team activities with rigid rules like
- soccer in Europe
- American Football in the US
- cricket in India
We are expected to finish school with good grades and go on to college where we graduate just to become another corporate drone working 9 to 5 or nowadays more like 24/7 to repay our college debt. We give up our life and become
- anxious
- depressed
- chronically ill
Many of us are so busy following the path others have paved for us that we forget who we are and why we’re here.
Many of us do not even have the opportunity to discover their true strengths, their passions or their talents.
Are You Happy?
Even if we know what we love, be it
- playing the guitar
- writing poems
- climbing mountains
we are told that it’s just a hobby.
We have to focus on making a living instead of living a fulfilled life.
While pursuing happiness we forget to be happy altogether.
It doesn’t make sense. Even by society’s standards the whole set-up is crumbling. Jobs are getting scarce due to automation and exploitation of overseas workforces.
Accumulation of wealth and power only leads to clutter and neuroses.
The richer people become the more fearful they get. Their car could get stolen. They could lose their well paid job or some terrorists could strike unexpectedly. Affluent families are moving to gated communities to protect themselves from the poor.
We’re even scared of the weakest and most despondent: refugees. They scare us shitless because they look a bit different than us, speak another language or have traditions we don’t understand.
What’s Your Path?
Is this the path you are on? Do your really like it? Maybe you’re even worse off.
Maybe you’re part of the working poor. Maybe you do not even have work or rather money to spend on your most basic needs.
Do you really want to live a life someone else has created for you so that you serve other people’s interests? No, of course not.
You can find your own path when you stop being a sheep and following the herd blindly.
It’s not even a life you live when you give up on yourself and your uniqueness.
You die in a prolonged agony every single day. You die literally. Every day you sit and stare into a screen you die a little as your body, mind and spirit degenerate step by step.
With every day you shy away from life you become
- weaker
- more fearful
- depressed.
You desperately cling to the illusion that somehow possessions will make you happy. You buy more and consume more but happiness remains a wish.
Good News
I have good news for you. There is a way to feel alive again and make life an adventure every single day.
It’s not easy at first and requires effort and dedication but everybody can do it and it doesn’t cost anything. You can practice it everywhere at any time.
There are no limits, just obstacles and every obstacle can be overcome*
It’s called parkour. In other words it’s just the art of movement, natural movement to be more exact.
Parkour is about dealing with obstacles of all kinds both physically, mentally and even spiritually.
Are You Insane?
You probably have seen videos on YouTube showing “insane” parkour or freerunning “stunts” and thought that these people are probably suicidal while still admiring them.
I have watched those “insane” videos in awe as well but do you know what? I didn’t stop there.
I started training myself and do it almost daily so that a somewhat miraculous transformation happened.
This is a story for another article but let it be said that parkour training showed me how to live a meaningful life. I’m more alive and sane than ever.
*David Belle