One morning last week, my alarm went off and I did NOT want to get up to do my morning routine. I laid there on the bed/fence for a minute or two, not yet committed either way.
Then I had this thought: "Be a Pro. Get up."
So I got my butt out of bed and began the work of preparing my body and mind for my day. It worked, and I got there.
Abandon all hope. See, if I went back to sleep I would've hoped to have a good day. I would've hoped everything would work out. I would've hoped my mind and body would be awake enough to deal with whatever arose.
When we're being a Pro, hope doesn't factor in. We show up, do our absolute best, and accept the results.
The "Abandon all hope" gate into hell is an instruction: hope isn't how you make it through hell. You make it through hell with commitment and discipline.
The right kind of commitment and discipline, however, aren't ends in themselves - they support us in living an empowered life.
Commitment and discipline are our access to well-being. They're our access to insight. They're our access to integrity. They're our access to living an empowered, created life.
Now, there are different kinds of hope.
One kind of hope is that it’s a vision of what's possible, a lighthouse guiding us to a better future. This version of hope is creative and empowering, it’s inspiring.
Another kind of hope is a desire for something to happen to us, something we feel powerless over, like a gift from chance. This kind of hope is reactive and reinforces insecure perspectives on ourselves.
And when it comes to anything, if hope authentically empowers you and supports you, keep using it! But if it's something that keeps you small or allows you to half-ass it, then be aware of its limitations and let it go.
It’s fine being an amateur in this arena or that arena. Living our best life, though - that’s probably someplace we all would like to be a Pro.
(Thank you to Steven Pressfield for his powerful book, The War of Art, and to Martha Beck for her powerful book, The Way of Integrity, both of which inspired this post.)
Thank you so much for reading. ❤️
P.S. If you're interested in exploring how I can help you live an empowered life in service of your biggest commitments and deepest desires, schedule an exploration conversation with me. 💌
