Be Ridiculous
/So often, we play small in life because we are afraid to think big.
We think big when we are children. How many of you said you would be President or an MLB player or a famous actor? How many of us dreamed of a life that seemed totally plausible when we were young? What happened?
What happened, is multi-faceted:
We learn what it takes to become those things and realize we don’t have the innate skills.
We listen to the voices that are trying to keep us safe who encourage us to find “a real job.”
We grow in self-doubt as we have setbacks.
We age and realize time is finite.
We gain perspective in the cost and benefit of our choices.
We find out that there are other things more important to us that pursuing that original dream.
We change over time and our interests change.
Many things alter our course, but we have to be careful not to get in a habit of thinking small.
If you feel stuck, it can help to check in with your big dreams again. Go back and think big again. Consider something that is ridiculous.
What would be something totally ridiculous to do in your life right now?
Can you feel the energy that comes into your body when you think that thought?
It feels like a rush of excitement for a split second, then we usually start diluting it with reasons why that won’t ever be possible.
I invite you to stay in the ridiculous a bit longer. Don’t cancel it so quickly this time.
What if you could do that ridiculous thing?
What would it be like to live that life?
How would you feel about your life?
Can you stay there for a bit longer? Stay in the dream. Go back to being seven years old and thinking you could be anything. Hold that imaginative energy a bit longer.
We are conditioned to play it safe. The longer we live, the more safety we seek. Financial safety. Career safety. Relationship safety.
We try to make “good decisions” our whole lives which serve us well usually, but might quiet our zest for life.
Your brain might not be liking this as you read it. Your amygdala’s whole job is to keep you safe from harm. It is likely sending you messages right now saying, “playing it safe is better than having zest.” If that feels absolutely true to you, then seeking safety is a good path for you. But, if you want more zest or feel stuck and don’t like where you are, then try thinking on ridiculous levels and see what you notice.
We tend to use our imaginations for the bad stuff that could happen, but we forget to think big. We forget to imagine the ridiculous. There are great clues to your happiness in dreaming bigger. Explore the ridiculous this week and see how it feels to dream big again.
Try These
Reflect on those dreams you had as a child. Why did you dream of the things you did? How did it feel to be limitless?
Write down a few things that you’re struggling with. What would help you? Then, think bigger. Then, think about what ridiculous solution would help. Can you feel the possibilities return to your spirit?
Think of dreaming like stretching a muscle. We can go further each time we stretch a little more. Stretch your imagination. Play with this exercise in mind stretching:
Make three columns on a page of paper and title the columns: Idea | Bigger | Ridiculous
In the left-most column right an idea you have.
In the middle column stretch that idea into something bigger and write a description of that idea.
In the right-most column imagine a ridiculous version of that idea (if money, time, success, what people thought, etc. were not an issue) and capture it in a description.
Now review your three columns. Isn’t it amazing how the left column feels too small now?
Explore all the areas between small and ridiculous and you will find something with which you can move forward.