As I write this post I’m sitting in a taxi on the way to the JW Marriott hotel in Kuala Lumpur.
It’s 34 degrees and rain is threatening (it was a very bumpy ride in on the plane).
I’ve done this journey so often now that coming here on my own for a couple of days to renew my Thai visa is as comfortable as slipping into an old (and well loved) pair of shoes.
I know the airport, the taxi route, the city, my favourite place to eat (Johnny Rockers because they sing and dance!), where to get a good pedicure and massage and I wouldn’t hesitate to head down to Petaling Street after dark and do a bit of bargain hunting.
And yet, when I sat gawping at the larger than life Petronas Towers in the film Entrapment back in 1999, as Catherine Zeta Jones looked up at them in awe, Kuala Lumpur seemed like a far away, exotic, distant land and almost unachievable dream.
In fact when I was at school, I had a friend who’s Mum was English and Dad was Malaysian and back then I didn’t even really know what or where Malaysia was. It sounded like it was in another galaxy!
That was my reality back then. The town I lived in, its surrounding areas and the people I mixed with were my world and as far as I could see.
The opportunities I pursued, the goals and dreams I had were all limited by the reality I created for myself.
It’s a state we all live in for so much of our life. What we can see, feel and are comfortable with us what life is. It’s our reality.
Adele has just been named the richest female celebrity in the UK. Do you think that was her reality 10 years ago?
Nick Vujicic (no arms, no legs, no problem) is married with kids. Do you think that was his reality when he was young and looking at all the so called ‘normal’ people.
I’m posting this article on a website which will reach people around the world in seconds. Whose reality was that 30 years ago? Certainly wasn’t mine!
My point is, what we see, feel or are comfortable with is the reality we have created for ourselves. We have to look beyond ourselves to realise there’s a great big world of unending opportunity out there that’s ours for the taking if we want it badly enough.
My reality has continued to grow and change over the years through the people I’ve met, the stories I’ve read, the risks I’ve taken, the uncomfortable moments I’ve put myself through and the constant and never ending desire to find a purpose bigger than myself.
My question to you is, What’s Your Reality? What self imposed limitations have you got stopping you from living your dreams? Who do you need to meet and mix with to expand your view of life and make your own rules?
If someone else has done something you want to do it means it can be done. So what’s stopping you?
Don’t settle. Life’s too short.
Make a commitment today to create your own reality.
