Why It’s OK to Stop Worrying and Just Start Living

If you’ve found what you love, slow down and enjoy the process.

Photo by Marvin Meyer on Unsplash

I never understood this: People are doing something they might do for the rest of their lives. Yet, they rush to achieve success early.

Most posts that I write, I write for myself. And this one is no exception.

If you’re doing something you love, there is absolutely no point in rushing it. You don’t need to become successful tomorrow, and you don’t need to make a lot of money right now. Chances are, whatever you’re stressing about right now (e.g., not having enough likes, followers or cash), doesn’t matter that much.

You can stop worrying.

I am constantly worrying that I am not doing enough, being enough, making enough money, creating enough art, writing enough words, not being enough. But self-pressure is literally fatal, you know. It doesn’t do good for your body or your nervous system.

The lie we tell ourselves: suffer through life, exist now for an illusionary reward somewhere in the future.

Then we’ll live. Then we’ll be happy. Then we’ll have everything we want.

But if we can’t be happy now, what makes you think you’ll be able to be happy later? Now you worry that you don’t have money, then you’ll worry that you have too much of it, and be afraid to lose it all to a stupid decision.

You’ll never remember the 99% of things you worry about in 5 years’ time.

It’s worth remembering that.

The problem with worry is not in the object of worry, it’s in the worry itself. The worrier will always find something worrisome to worry about.

You can say ‘fuck it!’ to passion.

People talk about finding passion, but it only makes them worry more.

What if what I am doing is NOT my passion?

I propose we say one big, ‘Fuck You!’ to passion and relax for a second. Let’s forget about passion, and let’s just try to do what we are already doing the best we can. Let’s enjoy it more.

Zeus won’t come down to Earth once you find your passion. Nothing will change. In fact, chances are, you won’t even know you’ve found your passion once you stumbled upon it.

It’s not like every person has only one thing they’re good at — you actually have a number of things you might be good at. You’re good at a particular type of work, which makes the choice fairly broad.

Are you an introvert (like me)? Find a vocation that doesn’t require interaction. Are you obsessed with ideas (like me)? Read, write, contemplate, create content — do stuff that turns what society perceives as ‘weakness’ and ‘shyness’ into strength.

Introverts have a superpower too, you know. Who else can sit by themselves for hours, working on something, absorbed in the task?

You can slow down.

I have friends (in their twenties) who work themselves to the bone not because they love their jobs, but because they think they need to ‘make it’ by a certain age.

What bullshit!

Have you ever seen a rushing 50–60–70-year-old? That’s right, they’re wise.

Once you’ve found something you could potentially be good at, stop rushing. If you found something you could potentially do for the rest of your life, stop husting.

Does it matter if you achieve success now or in a year or in ten years? Would it matter in 5 years whether you made an extra buck today, or got an extra 100 followers tomorrow?

Slow down, right now. You have arrived. There is no point in running anymore because there is nobody to ‘beat’ and no one to compete with. If you’ve found what you love, slow down and enjoy the process.

You can just live.

I remember sitting down with a friend, talking about work, life, and money. (What else do you talk about in your early twenties, right?)

I told him I was tired of the rat race, and that I want to quit my business, move to another country and start doing something creative — like writing.

He looked at me like I was a complete loser.

We live in a world where ‘ordinary’ is a synonym to ‘mediocre’. If you’re not exceptional, you suck.

And it’s obvious why it’s this way: When all you see on Instagram is a disproportionally-sized butt or a yet another 19-year-old millionaire, you can’t help but think there’s something seriously wrong with you.

We need more stories of ordinary lives. Of people doing what they love, making as much money as they need, doing exactly what they want, and not trying to prove anything to anyone.

We need more stories of people who never pressured themselves to be extraordinary because they just wanted to live a good life. We need more people like Jack Pearson (from This Is Us).

And maybe that’s what your story can be. Maybe it’s OK if you just live.