As I am writing this, I am en route to the easternmost province of Indonesia and it’s going to be quite a long flight somewhere around 9 to 10 hours. But just the other day, I was simply having my coffee as usual with my friends, discussing the what if’s of life and for me, flexing my Hivefest10 stories and stickers to them.
No longer kept down and now focused on things that really matter. Glad to see it :) - @namiks
When I read that the other day, that’s true. I felt like I am no longer stuck in my own hell that I created for myself. But let me tell you a bit of a story that this morning I got this AHA moment.
The illusion of comfort
As someone growing up comfortably, provided for and around the same bubble where nobody has to struggle a day, the idea of working hard wasn’t really instilled to me. It wasn’t really something people talked about or valued much. These people were content as long as there was food on the table and could rely on their properties when things went wrong.
But one day, I realized something eye-opening, I was never truly part of that bubble. I was just lucky to have been brought into a family that gave me a privileged and luxurious childhood compared to most of my friends.
Growing up among those people shaped me into someone who assumed that, when I grew up, my parents would always provide for me. That my future would be as secure as theirs, or at least match the standard of those around me where their parents bought them properties, paid their luxurious wedding bills and even financed their future grandkids too.
Then life happened.
Now, another character in my life's story appears. My actual family, who value hard work. For someone who always has things conveniently handed to me, provided for,working hard was not in my equation, not yet at least.
Up until recently, I resent them so much that they made me work long hours almost 8 years ago. It was simple work and I got paid quite a good amount for 15 hours of work. But at the time, coming from resentment, I hated every minute of it. I thought it was some enslavement camp but now, after some years out there, that wasn’t even enslavement, it was luxury for being paid quite well to do some simple stuff.
In this economy, having a job is already a gratitude on its own.
It took me what now? 8 years after numerous hardships I’ve endured away from where I grew up and such, to finally realize that if we want to get things done, we’ll just have to do it.
It's like fixing a road with pot holes.
When I see my life, it’s like I am on two roads well obviously both with its set of pot holes.
On one of the roads, nobody does a thing to fix them. The people there conveniently wait for someone to help them fix it. We all got stuck in just one place and couldn’t continue the journey. Everyone just waits around until someone actually fixes it. Everyone is frustrated but they feel helpless, learned helplessness. So they just wait around and wait. You can probably tell that nothing ever gets done around there.
The other road is also full of pot holes but they work hand in hand to fix it. They try to work around it, finding ways to eventually move forward in life. They understand that life waits for nobody. So, they just do it, take a leap and one pot hole, to another, they manage to fix it.
It took me some years living on the first road.
I was stuck, feeling like I couldn’t move anywhere, suffocated but whenever I am trying to make a move,they are like, “ let’s just wait, somebody might help us”. So years passed and nothing really happened in my life. I was still stuck in the illusion of comfort, waiting around for things to change.
Up until I woke up from a long slumber and this illusion, I finally realized all along, I should just do it myself.
But it was hard when you're back in the same road as them. You stuck in the same learned helplessness.
At least, this time around,I was so tired of it all and everyday, all I've seen was just darkness, a life without hope, and so awful that I would not want to experience it anymore.
Once I decided to let go of all of my life’s expectations, my learned helplessness and the illusion of comfort, it was that time when I finally liberated myself. Nobody is going to hand me down something and working hard isn’t something that we should hate. When you have pot holes in life, you fix it not by standing still but by trying to find something to do about it and work your way around it.
I am the one responsible for choosing and changing my path which only happens when we work hard.
I had this realization when I started talking to other people outside the common bubble I had. Everyone is struggling in their own way out there. Some are more challenging than the others. God has been blessing me with many things in life that I forget about all these until HE showed me around which made me realize how privileged I was.
Now that I am back into my family’s business that I ran away for so long, I realized that they’re not building it overnight to what I know today. They worked really hard for it to the point that they had things I really wanted in life. They did it all by not embracing comfort but doing the hard thing for it. So, this time I am embracing that part of mine, willing to do the hard work to fix my “pot holes” and maybe going extra miles for it. So, I don’t know where my life leads me after this but I am very excited for November.
That being said, see you guys in my future adventure and beyond!
By the way, this was one of the most meaningful projects I’ve worked on this year regarding to Hive awareness in Indonesian (Sept–Feb 2024–2025). You can learn how I managed it here :
 | 𝘊𝘦𝘮𝘺 (𝘰𝘳 𝘔𝘢𝘤) 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝖼𝗋𝖾𝖺𝗍𝗂𝗏𝖾 𝗀𝖾𝗇𝖾𝗋𝖺𝗅𝗂𝗌𝗍 & 𝘤𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘶𝘳, 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘬. 𝘏𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘵, 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘵𝘩. 𝘠𝘰𝘶’𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺, 𝘱𝘰𝘱 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘺; 𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘦’𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘶𝘱𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘦. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘸𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘤𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘴. 𝘍𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘯 𝘏𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘣 𝘢 𝘤𝘶𝘱 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘴. |
I grew up in a simple and poor family, so my life was very different from yours. I didn’t have an easy life, but because of that, I learned to value even small things. Sometimes we think life is hard for no reason, but it’s teaching us to work hard and not just wait for help. When we’re young, people take care of us, but when we grow up, we need to stand on our own and keep going. I also admire you because through all that you went through, you changed a lot and learned so many things from those hard times.
You're so lucky to understand the value of hard work and valuing small things in life early on. I had to learn this in the most unpleasant ways.
I learned a lot to value what I have right now and extremely grateful for it. I never knew gratitude until I actually talked to people as I grew up pretty disconnected. Now, I've had some life experiences under my belt and learned to constantly thank God and everyone around me who has helped me this far.
Your words really touched me. Thank you for sharing this reflection. God bless you always and stay safe.
I totally can get you on this. And I am frustrated as I do not have the resources neither do I know how to pitch funding to fix it since there are too many "what's in for me" type.
That being said, please message us when you are there safely and keep us here posted whenever you get a chance. This is going to be a very interesting journey for you, and you may find what is your ultimate purpose God has placed unto your hands.
Start small, that was my approach and from there, I started to actually fix them one by one. Some of the things I needed in life doesn't have to need some money.
It's definitely going to be an interesting journey & I am pretty excited where it leads.
Gains gotten from hardships are what builds the privilege lifestyle you can enjoy😂😂
Glad you realized this earlier, yet still I can't help but lust at the idea of a privileged lifestyle 😭😭😂
It's best when you actually earn it than having it being handed down to you. You never know the actual hardship gaining it and rarely being appreciative of it too.
Hardships are the price to be paid for the luxury you earn 😊
Yep pretty much it
I like your reflection in life. What stunned me the most was your line, "I am the one responsible for choosing and changing my path which only happens when we work hard." It is true that everything in our life lies on the choices we make. So, as someone who has gifted with a freewill, we should use it wisely and with wisdom so that every choices we make, will lead to something great!
We all have a freewill. Sometimes we forget to exercise them. When you understand how it works, you no longer want to be bound by the 'invisible' shackles.