Change Your Life With One Click
You Have Power
Welcome to a special free edition of YouTopian Journey, a Substack featured publication. Each week I will be sharing unique wisdom that can help you in the daily battles that we must all fight in the game of life. Today we discuss how you can not only change your life with a simple click, but the lives of those around you.
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BEFORE WE BEGIN
The year is coming to a close. Have you accomplished your goals? Or have you merely existed? YouTopian Journey has over 200,000 words of wisdom which can help you move forward on your own journey. Upgrade to become a paid subscriber and unlock not only the full experience, but your full potential.
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WE ARE ALL LOST
“Midway upon the journey of our life
I found myself within a forest dark,
For the straightforward pathway had been lost.”-Dante Alighieri, Inferno
We all suffer from it.
The dizzying experience of existence.
Bombarded by social media, assaulted on all sides by advice, we don’t know what to do, where to go, and who to listen to. We wake up in a world where everything is at our fingertips. Endless entertainment, endless distractions, and endless news.
We may have a way to navigate the day or the week.
But to navigate the months? The years? Life itself?
The sheer notion of it is uncomfortable. We may have a faint idea of what we want to accomplish, but we lack a clear path for execution. We may have goals, but we lack the courage to act on them. Where does this leave us?
Lost in the sea of existence.
But no one will admit this.
We will admit our misfortunes. We will admit our shortcomings. We will admit our lack of resources.
But the one thing we cannot and will not admit is the fact that we are lost.
Lost as an individual, lost as a society, lost as a people. Lost as the master of our own destiny.
The vast majority of us simply don’t know what we are doing.
The manager who clearly has no idea how to manage.
The leader who lacks all qualities of leadership.
The creator who lacks a clear style and only emulates others.
On and on, because no one wants to acknowledge this.
We cannot stomach the thought that we are the wrong person for the job. We refuse to acknowledge that the life choices we have made may have been incorrect. Ultimately, we won’t let anyone know the truth.
And what is the truth?
We have no idea what we are doing or where we are going in life.
“I am free that is why I am lost.”-Franz Kafka
But this ailment can be cured. The ship can be steered to its proper course. A change of life sometimes can be the result of a simple change of direction.
But it is up to you to do so.
It is up to you to take action. To buckle down. To avoid the distractions that plague you.
It is up to you to not only walk the path, but create the path.
This can be difficult.
Why?
Because this requires many of the values that we have talked about for almost two years in YouTopian Journey.
It requires action when every fiber of your being would rather remain still.
It requires taking risks when everyone around you is encouraging you to play it safe.
It requires courage in the face of overwhelming odds.
It requires the inner acknowledgement that something is very wrong and you are the only one who can fix it.
To admit you are lost is no easy task. To correct your own personal course is even more difficult.
But only you can do it.
And the best part? We live in an age where infinite knowledge is available to us with a click of a button. You can learn, experiment, try, fail, and try again, all with a simple click.
But only you can do it.
Only you can make that one click which will change everything. One simple click.
Will you do it?
Or will the pull of distractions, comfort, and ease keep you lost?
Understand that once you go down this path, once you make this click, life changes.
It can become uncomfortable as you will learn more, experience more, feel more. Know that not all of this will be good or pleasant.
But it will be useful.
You will become a better person, a smarter person, a more resilient person.
You will serve as an example to those around you, being a source of inspiration.
But it starts with you.
It starts with that one click.
Make the click!
“Life is an experimental journey undertaken involuntarily. It is a journey of the spirit through the material world and, since it is the spirit that travels, it is the spirit that is experienced. That is why there exist contemplative souls who have lived more intensely, more widely, more tumultuously than others who have lived their lives purely externally.”-Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet
COURSE CORRECT
“Courage consists, however, in agreeing to flee rather than live tranquilly and hypocritically in false refuges. Values, morals, homelands, religions.”-Gilles Deleuze
The time is now.
It isn’t too late to course correct. It isn’t too late to start your journey. This year may be coming to an end but your journey is just beginning.
This is not a journey to some far off land where you can earn some great Instagram clout.
This is not a journey to a weekend destination for fun.
This is not a journey to a retreat where you can relax.
On the contrary, this is a journey within.
This is mapping the unknown self.
The staring down into the great abyss.
The climbing of the stairs to infinity.
A journey of self discovery and self growth.
“The only journey is the one within.”-Rainer Maria Rilke
It requires no preparation. No provisions. And above all, no permission.
All that is required is you.
Take action. Stay committed to this action.
Undertake this journey and you will arrive at unknown destinations. Your life will begin to change. Small and hardly noticeable changes at first. Yet when you look back, you will see that these small changes were the essential building blocks of a future that you once couldn’t fathom.
Course correct now.
Don’t wait for the symbolic beginning of a new year.
You can start at this very moment.
One thought, one click, one action.
Make the choice.
Take the risk.
You can do this.
We need you.
Society needs you.
Change your course today, change your life, and make the journey!
Very little else matters.
“The whole idea is that you’ve got to bring out again that which you went to recover, the unrealized, unutilized potential in yourself. The whole point of this journey is the reintroduction of this potential into the world…It goes without saying, this is very difficult. Bringing the boon back can be even more difficult than going down into your own depths in the first place.”-Joseph Campbell, Pathways to Bliss.
SHARE THE JOURNEY, SAVE A JOURNEY
Always remember that the simple act of sharing a fact, a newsletter, a YouTube video, an interesting post can save someone’s life. It can change the course of their life, putting them on a new trajectory and unlocking the greatness within them. Suddenly, the harshness of the world is removed as their mind becomes focused on learning a new skill or the story behind some of the greatest theories or most successful companies.
You can be that catalyst for positive change. If you could click the below button and share YouTopian Journey, you can change someone’s life for the better.
Thank you and catch you next time.
Shaun