Ordinary and extraordinary

                                        Ordinary and extraordinary 

So recently I started reading a book called “The 5am Club”, 

 

I’d like to think of it as a self development  book. 

While reading, I came across certain statements that were so bold and interesting, one echos even as I write this.. “you’re born into the opportunity and responsibility of being legendary!!” Great words right?. 

In this same moment I was also searching about materialism,gaining knowledge on it was so exciting until I found one man -Alain De Botton and he identifies as a modern day philosopher the main speaker at School of Life. 

But what this philosopher shared in one of his videos was unsettling with what the book was saying , He said some of us will have ordinary lives, what!! the book just told me I’m supposed to be extraordinary. I spent the whole day trying to make sense of the two till I realized this, First, here are some few points to note, many people are pursuing their dream life and are totally giving all they can just to have it.

Others are simply trying to get food on their table and are not bothered at all. And others have it all and are content, while others have it all yet still chasing and are never satisfied. 

So life goes round and round. I don’t want to bore you but here’s what I learnt. The biggest question here is what is Ordinary and what is extraordinary to you? 

So to these questions there are two answers.

 1. According to you and your personal abilities.

 2. According to the worlds standards and society’s stance. 

Here’s the point..to individuals ordinary and extraordinary varies but to the society it’s fixed it doesn’t change (it just fluctuates with time). And so you might come from an ordinary family of managing with basic needs and your extraordinary experience can be being able to afford certain luxuries and give a higher SOL to your family, with the right motives of only trying to better your family and yourself and not seeking approval.

 Then there’s the “worlds standard extraordinary” which might be your ordinary life,impossibility or goal. Mostly the pursuit of the world’s ‘extraordinary’ is to seek approval, acceptance or fit in a certain group of friends, to be a person of status in life or to make a name in society, the desire of being famous.

  With this type of extraordinary  comes many problems. And when I thought of it this way, I understood what Botton was saying. At the basis of you achievements and pursuits what really matters is your motive, sometimes we hide our true motives,but if we were to be honest with our selfs we’d be happier, living more intentionally and doing things that really make us happy.

 It’s true not everyone will make it to the worlds “extraordinary life” of getting on yachts every week and that’s okay because all that matters is you achieving your extraordinary life in your world, it might even be getting a yacht, but always let your motives to be right, and never to show off or gain approval from anyone, or you’ll waste your life chasing approval that doesn’t exist but your misery and debt will exist. 

You’re born into the experience of being extraordinary but that extraordinary is that which is within your reach and means and not to fit in with the worlds extraordinary. It all depends on how you to define extraordinary and legendary. I’m not telling you to be poor/suffer.

PS: SOL----standard of living.

GO OUT AND BE GREAT BUT  FIRST BE LOGICAL..THE PURSUIT OF YOUR EXTRAORDINARY SHOULD BRING JOY AND NOT DEPRESSION AND LOW SELF ESTEEM.

                                                                                                                                                                                                           By : Sibeso Kalaluka