From Surviving to Thriving: How to Know If You're In Survival Mode
Life happens fast and if you're not tapped into all the different aspects of it, you can look up and be lost in the sauce. You ever look around at all your friends and family and notice that everybody's moved on, built these incredible lives, is making all these memories and you're just stuck at home with barely a phone call or a break from work?
Unfortunately, this is a reality for many of us. We wake up, get ready for work, work all day, run our errands, go home, and maybe watch tv or scroll the socials. A lifestyle that can be pretty hectic. I mean because we're all so busy and there's just too much that needs to be done!!
But screw all that shit!!
Life is meant to be appreciated, respected, and most importantly lived! Life is supposed to be full of an array of experiences, introductions, collaborations, lessons, excitement, risk, and blessings. Only when fear and limiting beliefs get in the way do we end up focusing on the three main areas that most of us do. Family, work, and finances! It's like the only three aspects of life that we actually give a damn about or something. Everything we do is about getting money, getting work done, or taking care of something for family. Now, don't get me wrong, we sprinkle in spirituality (or religion), health and wellness, and fun and leisure, but the top three for most are the former.
And you know what, that shit sucks!
When we give too much attention to only a few aspects of ourselves and hide, limit, or totally disregard others we always end up with big problems. We might drink or smoke a lot, we might get sad and depressed, we might want to have sex with every CJ, Mike, or Myesha or whatever just to overlook or fill up that empty void in our lives. And this my friends, is what survival mode looks like.
Survival mode happens when you're rushed to grow up before you're really ready. It's like that instinct that birdies get when their pushed out of the nest. Some of us were pushed out of the nest before we were ready to fly and we were even malnourished or even sickly. We were forced to take care of ourselves, our siblings, our parents, business that was never meant to be our business at least until we were ready. From that point we had no choice but to figure it out day by day.
Some things may have had the luxury to be planned or practiced, but there were a ton of things that you didn't know, had never done, or even gotten the chance to explore and try before being whisked away into the land of responsibility. Now you're in a place of over exhaustion, stress, and unfulfillment. And you HATE THAT SHIT!!
So what are you going to do about it?
Most people just complain about it. They complain about what their parents didn't do, what they didn't have, or how they never got the chance. They look at life like it's already over because they're trapped in a life that they hate based on the situations that fell on their laps. But the thing about life is that it will always change. Whether you're an active component of the change, or not.
See we are conscious creators, meaning we consciously bring creations to life just by existing. It's our one true purpose for being. We create tons of energy which can then be manipulated into all sorts of things. Some people make clothes, some build homes, some mine steel, some resolve conflict, and some sit at home and do nothing. We have the power to actively and intentionally create all sorts of realities for ourselves. Unfortunately, a lot of us don't realize that we all have this power. ALL OF US!
We may have never been told that we can do it, or never been shown that anything is possible. We may feel neglected and let down by others, or broken and afraid to step out on faith. Whatever the reason, our conscious tells us that we can do certain things but not others and our subconscious keeps bringing us stuff to make it true. If your conscious is the programer, your subconscious is the program. And the program is going to be followed no matter what. The trick is, changing the program.
We do that by changing what we consciously choose to believe. Surviving is all about taking on life as it comes, always being prepared, and moving through life moment by moment accepting whatever comes our way. Now, the difference between surviving and thriving is that in order to survive, we've got to shift to a conscious and intentional mindset of I CAN DO ANYTHING from a mindset of limitations. We have to kick those limiting beliefs that tell us that we can't, we're not good enough, it costs too much, it takes too long, or it could never be us. We have to start seeing ourselves as having, doing, and being the things before we are the things.
The faith the size of a mustard seed is all it takes. And those are pretty damn small. If we can have just a tiny spec of faith in ourselves and take that leap of faith, we will find that everything we ever wanted is right at our fingertips. Now, this doesn't just happen overnight. It takes practice, dedication, and discipline. It takes emptying out those thoughts that tell you it's not possible and replace it with thoughts that make it possible.
What do you need to do? What do you need to learn? Who do you need to become in order to start thriving in your life or career? What part of your life have you been neglecting? What types of things were said or done to you that have kept you playing it safe? What needs to change in order for you to blossom into a fully developed butterfly? These are questions that we have to ask ourselves to start peeling back the layers of who we REALLY are.
Most of the time we go through life just believing what we have always been told. It takes educating ourselves, affirming ourselves, and choosing what we want to believe for ourselves to start seeing change. It's not about what your parents did or didn't do. It's not about what traumas, hurt, or pains you've experienced. It's about what you choose to do as a response to your call to action rather than your reaction. Being stuck in survival mode can cause us to let life pass us by. Is that really how you want to live your life? Or do you want to do something to make your life extraordinary?