I LOST MY WAY, and I’m not sure what to do to get back on the right path or even figure out what that path is.
Recently I had an article come out about how I was living a fantasy; a life that I was imagining was mine but in reality wasn’t the life I was living. You can read that article here and see what all I figured out and a great lesson I learned in growing up.
Unfortunately though, learning that lesson is half the battle.
When you finally start being honest with yourself, you can start to build the life you want to have and live on your own terms. But sometimes the hardest thing to come to terms with is the truth about the person you are. Then once you learn that, you figure out what you want to do and build yourself up from there.
Of course, I only figured it out when I hit rock bottom, which made me feel even better about myself (not really), but just remember that you are your own worse critique. Be a little easy on yourself if you have to go through this. I will admit that I am now fully transparent, I feel like it’s the best policy really, and there really is no point for me not to be. Most people who write like I do, I find reflects what is going on in their life, so to my readers, I hope you can learn from this and grow, as I intend to.
So what kind of person did I realize I am?
To be honest, not the person I thought I was, and not the person I know I could be.
I could have been a better business owner, worked harder, been a better son, grandson, brother and mason, countless things that I know I could’ve been better at or done better with. I’m glad I realized that, because I truly believe that a person should be judged by his or her character and integrity, of which, mine were sub par to my own standards. Now I can fix that.
So what did I have to go through to figure this out? I had to lose a full ride scholarship, get kicked out of the military, lose most of my “friends”, lose almost all of my assets, have to move back in with my family, see the disappointed look in my grandfather’s eyes, and if all of that wasn’t enough of a kick in the face, I had to forgo my own company and get a very real, very boring, and very back-breaking job working graveyard shift.
Now this is no secret to those of you who have read some of my previous articles, but like I said before, transparency, and I wouldn’t want some of my readers to think that they are not getting the truth or even not take merit in anything I write, say or do.
So what’s that mean for me?
Now that I have this job, there’s no social life, no writing, no working on my personal life or business, no time for friends and family; I only have time to sleep, eat and go to work…and that made me realize that I am starting to get trapped in the proverbial rat race.
I’ve discerned that this is how people end up in a job they don’t want to be in, not being able to follow their dreams or live the life they want to live. It is extremely easy to put those thoughts aside and “take care of what you need to so that you can concentrate more on it later.” This my friends, is death….the death of your spirit and life. As I sit here, I am forcing myself to write for the first time in a few months, simply because I know that if I don’t write, I won’t be able to figure things out, and I won’t be able to accomplish what I want. Unfortunately, I just want to relax before I have to go back to work, which will inevitably trap me, if I don’t do something about it now.
The biggest problem I have though, is I no longer know what it is I want to do.
Do I just take off and work my way from place to place around the world like I’ve always wanted to do? Or do I do what I know my family will be happy with me doing, and go to college, join the ROTC again and try to get back into the Air Force? And even though I debate it over and over in my head, I already know what I’m going to do, and I don’t think that it will make my family happy, but all I can think about right now is sipping on Macua in Nicaragua, eating Poutine in Quebec, and sleeping on a hammock somewhere in the South Pacific.
Maybe an adventure like this is what a person needs to figure out what his true passion is and what his purpose might be, like the aboriginal walkabout or the Native American’s Spirit Journey. Only time will tell, the only thing I know for certain is that I need to Be Adventurous, and Live Life.
Brandon Jolicoeur is a young business professional from the New Orleans area. You can follow him on Twitter @bpjoli. As a native of New Orleans, he prides himself on being a food connoisseur and a travel and adrenaline junkie always staying true to his family’s motto, “Be Adventurous, Live Life!”
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