You wake up and you already feel exhausted, anxious and on-the-edge, even if you managed to sleep for 7 hours or more. You forgot the last time you were actually joyful and happy about something for more than 30 seconds. A lot of the time it seems like you must grind endlessly in order to achieve some goals that, at this point, you're not even sure are your own or have been "placed" in your head by something or someone else.
What do I mean by this? Well ... with the rise of social media, since two decades ago (thinking of hi5 for example, which launched in 2003 and became the 2-nd most popular social platform by 2007), our expectations and perceptions, about pretty much anything, started to change.
Social media shows you the lavish and fabulous lifestyle of the super rich and, somehow, this is becoming the "norm" for what must be achieved in order to be successful. Nobody wants to settle for anything less than absolute greatness.
I recall a post, on some social platform, showing a young 19 year old celebrating her new house and asking the audience "what are you up to?". Imagine there are other 19 year old people seeing this post and asking themselves ... "what the f*ck did I do wrong?! why can't I have a house?"
Nobody seems to pay attention to details! For some reason, we're only focusing on the end-result, without paying attention to other factors. I gave an example in a previous post of a dude who made multiple videos and posts, showing of his Lambo and his mansion. He was selling some course on how to invest in crypto, or something along these lines. And, if I recall correctly, the car and mansion were rented for a short time; but enough to make quite a lot of content to post online and get more people to buy his stuff.
When it comes to the "lovely" world of fitness, the standards have sky-rocketed. If you're a guy and if you're not benching X, squatting Y and deadlifting Z, bro ... what the hell are you even doing at the gym?! The six pack is mandatory, your body-fat level must be less or at most 9%, you must train for 3 hours a day, have 20 inch arms and the list goes on and on and on.
Just for reference, I've been training for the past 10 years, and, the measurement for my upper arm, biceps flexed, is 17.5 inches (44 centimeters).
Not everbody has great genetics when it comes to their arms, or any other muscle group for that matter. And that's completely FINE. Working out is not about reaching some impossible standards! I'll probably have to repeat this sh*t many, many times.
The same goes if you're a girl. The bust size should be this, waist should be that etc. etc. etc.
😕😕. Not all girls are top models. Not all girls have the "perfect" body type. And, by the way, what the hell is "perfect"?!?!
Let's look at something else ... Finance!
Oh yeah, buckle up ... thanks again to social media, it doesn't matter where you live, if you don't make at least $100k per year, you are a failure! Or, at least, that's how you are made to feel, when you see people your age with 10X, 100X or even 1000X your net worth.
If you're not spending your cash in place X or Y, you don't matter, cause everybody knows that if you're seen at X or Y, this is proof that you are indeed someone "worthy"!
It doesn't matter how you make money, point is to have loads and loads and loads of cash! Because, hey, that's what matters, right? Doesn't matter if you are selling drugs if you are into human trafficing or some other f*cked up sh*t. What matters is the $$$$!
The crazy part is that we have people who actually WORSHIP such as*holes!
Also, when thinking about finance, we are all encouraged to GRIND as hell. Didn't hit that 100k threshold? Get a second job! Get a third job as well! Hell, learn to live without sleep! Sleep is for loosers; top Gs don't sleep! Top Gs always HUSTLE! 😶😶
I can go on and on with this, but you get the point. Social media is putting A LOT of pressure on people all around the world. Instead of doing your thing and being concerned about your own life, we are programmed to always compare ourselves with other people! Not to mention the dopamine rush that sooo many people are addicted to; like, when somebody reacts positvely to something you posted. The need for validation, these days, is insane.
Jumping now to the corporate world .... damn! If you're not giving 130% each day, you are not a valuable team member and you can get put on a PIP - performance improvement plan. And the f*cked up part is that most corporations set insane standards because they know that regular folk will compete till blood starts pouring out of their ears and noses just so that they can have a higher annual raise!
In some cases, you can give everday 130%, bring a lot of value to the company through your work, and, at the end of the day, you won't receive that raise that you hoped for ... because, tough times my dude ... we can only give you a 2% raise; take it or quit; there are plenty of desperate people that are willing to do your job for less than what you currently make.
This, my friends, is what the modern day "rat race" looks like. You bust your tail to keep your job, give it all you have and then some in order to make ends meet and social media shows you some ultra rich dude's kid that started a business and is "shocking" everybody online with how successful they are; if I were the son of a big celebrity (famous actor, famous musician, famous sportsman, famous politician etc.) I'm pretty sure that any business that I would start would be a great success.
This is because, unfortunately, this world we live in is NOT a meritrocracy! We're lead to believe that it is, but, in reality, it is not. Let me clarify a bit. If you are nobody, just a regular guy or girl, studying and working hard will PROBABLY get you a better job than someone just like you who slacks around. However, good luck competing with someone who's daddy left them $5 million inheritenace, or a business "empire" that they only have to "manage" (in reality other people are paid to make smart decisions, but that's another story).
So, what's the point of everything I wrote above? HAVE REALISTIC EXPECTIONS!
This will do wonders for your mental health! Trust me, I know!
So, in my humble opinion, here's what you should be doing:
- Be mindful about you and your family!
- Celebrate your wins, no matter how small they may seem!
- Be grateful for every day that you and your loved ones are healthy!
- Accept that you CAN NOT compete with someone that started this f*cked up game we call life with a MAJOR ADVANTAGE. Imagine having to race someone - a 50 meter race; but this person you are racing starts at the 45 meter mark .... How the f*ck are you supposed to win?! You can't. Life IS NOT A FAIR GAME! The sooner you accept this truth, the sooner you will become free (instead of someone that lets life pass them by just because someone else "planted" an ideea into your head about what you must and must not do)!
- Remeber that LUCK is a thing that we can not control! Some people have a ton of it, while others have very little. Why am I bringing up luck? Well, because most of the people that are ultra rich had a ton of luck in their life. Sure, very few of them actually did something ground breaking and where ahead of the game in all ways, thus achieving massive success; however, luck still played a big part in their journey.
- Finally, do your best to keep POSITIVE MINDSET! It takes practice and a lot of patience, but it is very much worth it!
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