If you’ve ever found yourself driving behind a Land Rover, you’ve likely seen the bumper sticker that reads “One Life. Live it”. That message seems to be the mantra of Land Rover enthusiasts, but should it not simply be a mantra for how to approach life, period?
It certainly should be. But it so blatantly isn’t.
Instead of a lifelong adventure into our best self, too many of us settle for an existence as an interpretation of the person we truly are. It’s like running a marathon in trainers that are a size and a half too small: you can do it, but it damn well hurts.
As an interpretation of the real you, you try hard to live up to expectations, to fit in, to be the person you’ve been told you should be. But somehow, you always seem to come up short of the mark.
The success and the plaudits soothe, but they don’t satisfy. Laughter fades all too fast, while tears linger all too long.
All the potential that you once had has slipped into the shadows, and the dreams you once held onto so tightly have long since been locked away, out of sight, out of reach.
That shiny exterior you protect so valiantly masks a faded interior.
Yet, somehow, you just know that this—whatever this is—is not all there is. Surely, something’s missing. Something doesn’t feel quite right. Something just does not fit like it should.
All around you, you hear talk about how amazing life is when it simply ‘flows’ and leads you into ‘the zone’ where everything aligns. But, for you, that’s all ‘flow’ and ‘the zone’ are: hearsay and talk. For you, every day is like running that marathon in trainers that are a size and a half too small.
Where is the flow?
Where is that zone you hear so much about?
Well, my friend, you know that the flow and the zone are there. Deep down, you know they are waiting for you; their voice gently beckoning the real you to take centre stage and embrace that epic adventure. You’ve simply forgotten what those voices sound like.
But, you must learn to pick out those voices once more. Because the epic adventure into which they beckon you is quite literally a choice between living and existing. And you know that you were not designed to merely exist: you were designed to live a glorious life.
As that epic adventure unfolds, so your best self reveals itself. So your potential steps out of the shadows. So those dreams you locked away make their presence felt once more. So the real you steps forward and takes centre stage.
And, as the real you takes centre stage, so you step into a life that fits. A life that lines up with who you really are—with your values, your strengths, your passions, and your purpose. A life that flows, and draws you deeper into the zone.
This is not about becoming a new person, a new version of you. This is about casting aside the lies that shaped the distortions that consumed you, and convinced you that you were someone you were never meant to be.
This is about allowing the person you have always been to shine through.
This is not about becoming someone else. This is about becoming you.
And you have what it takes to become the person you truly are. It is within you to set yourself free and rediscover who you were before the world and its expectations took hold of you—and commit to the lifelong adventure to become that person.
As Marianne Williamson wrote in ‘Our Deepest Fear’, you are powerful beyond measure.
