The Biggest Waste in Human Existence

Why do you throw it away?

We as people have a habit of throwing away what we have. To toss things to the side, to take the easy route instead of the road less travelled. The easy route does take less work, is less suffering and is more laid back, but it also leaves us with a lack of purpose, less fulfilment and emptiness. 

When was the last time you challenged yourself? Really stepped outside your comfort zone to see what you could do? Did you seize the moment or let it slip through both hands? 

It can be scary yes. Change is, but whoever said change wasn’t worth it? When you take a moment and think. All of life is change. Things are changing all the time. You weren’t here, now you’re here and sometime in the future, you won’t be. None of us will. So we might as well do our best while we’re still here. 

All the environmental activists talk about pollution and plastic waste in the ocean, all the ‘financial experts’ talk about how you’re wasting your money and should save your pennies. Yet not many of us are talking about the real waste. What we really should be focusing on that would make the difference. The thing that would change the world.

Your potential.

Is any one of us really living up to what we could accomplish with the lives we’ve been given? Over the thousands of years we’ve been on this Earth, we’ve wasted enormous human potential. Through addiction, laziness, comparison, ego, greed, doubt etc. Unfortunately, a lot of this comes down to poverty, restrictions, rights, the education system you are in (which is outdated) and a number of other variables. 

We need to start focusing on the common denominator, us, every single person has the ability to change the world for the better, no matter how small it all adds up. How long will you spend on the couch before it clicks in your brain that you are wasting your talent? How long will we spend scrolling on our phones in bed before we realise the importance and power of sleep? 

Hopefully not long. 

Don’t be afraid to fail. Your failure doesn’t define you, it makes you better. Sometimes it’s not our fault, sometimes it “is not just a lack of money; it is not having the capability to realise one’s full potential as a human being.” (Banerjee, 2011). Imagine how many genius kids in India live in poverty and go to school on the streets just to get an education. We have to make do with what we have been given. These kids do!

We need to come back to ourselves. Recognise our talent. See that we are capable of changing the world in big and small ways. It starts small, but it all adds to the big things. 

Don’t waste your potential. It would be a shame if you did.

Until next time,

Brody

P.S.

“I judge you unfortunate because you have never lived through misfortune. You have passed through life without an opponent—no one can ever know what you are capable of, not even you.” - Seneca