You Owe It To Yourself To Stop Half-Assing Your Life

Alisa Anton

You know something that I have found I say way too often? “Wow, that wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be.” This happens in regards to almost everything and is usually rooted in fear. I fear failure, I fear rejection, I fear falling short of being enough (whatever “enough” even is). What I really should be fearing though is how much time I waste freaking myself out over things that end up turning out fine. This holds me back more often than I care to admit, and so I write this for myself as much as I write it for you.

Whatever it is that you’re doing, do it the best way you know how.

Work your ass off until you are proud of the job you’ve done. If you’re listening to a friend, be all there. Don’t try to spew solutions and fix their lives for them, just be there and listen to them vent. Be as gentle as possible, work as hard as possible, give as much love as you can and stop worrying about it being reciprocated. When I look at my life and the relationships I have, I find that the best ones come from that lack of fear that holds me back. I don’t worry about what they think of me or how they see me, I just exist as I am and let them exist as they are. I love them without hesitation and with enough confidence that I don’t ever question if they love me back. Screw breadcrumbing, give people the whole damn loaf. You have enough in you to give, trust me. This goes for work and self-improvement too. You deserve to exhaust yourself every day and rest hard knowing that you did the best you could. What good is anything if it’s not the best we could do?

Live in a way that people can call you whatever they want except for lazy or disinterested.

Be interested, it’s way cooler than being aloof.

I won’t say don’t be afraid of rejection because it’s always going to be scary, but be more afraid of not trying. It’s easy for us to look at the wealthy and laugh about how they spend their money wrong because they have so much of it, but we all do the exact same thing when it comes to our time. We all think we have so much time that we thoughtlessly spend it on useless stuff. We need to give our time and ourselves more value for the sake of living as best as we can.

We have enough time if we stop half-assing our lives right now. Live hard and love easy and come at the human experience full force because we only get one and we already know how it ends. Start now. Thought Catalog Logo Mark

Let go or be dragged.

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