“It’s easier to ask for forgiveness than it is to get permission.”
— Grace Hopper
Are you waiting for permission?
Are you waiting for permission to leave your job? Are you waiting for permission to start that business? Are you waiting for permission to talk to that cute girl at the bar, or to start a new adventure sport that intimidates you?
Are you waiting for permission to live your life?
Well, guess what?
Nobody can actually give you permission. No one else can give you permission to live and lead the life that you want. Permission isn’t anybody else’s to give — it’s yours to take! Permission is an internal process — you can only permit yourself.
In fact, if you are waiting on permission from others to lead the life that you desire…you better get used to waiting! When you’re 87 years old in your adult depends diapers wondering where your life went, you’ll regret the things you were too intimidated to do more than the things that you did do.
We live in a dumbed down, sissy society these days. We live vicariously through television, movies, and novels — fantasies where the characters actually have fortitude and lead exciting lives by going on adventures; these stories provide a temporary escape from “real life”, which typically consists of a mind-numbing office job and one “safe” two week vacation per year. For the most part, people don’t know how to take charge and lead their own lives — men these days are wimps.
911 used to be the colt revolver on the side of our hip; now, any time there is a scare, we are supposed to “CALL 911 NOW!” and run with our tail between our legs. We’re taught not to confront problems and bullies head on, to take the submissive route rather than the confrontational route. Don’t stand up for yourself, just “walk away” — whether it’s the bully picking on you at school, or the tense corporate issue at the office.
Long gone are the days where people took charge of their own lives without even thinking about asking for permission. You think Genghis Khan, Napoleon, Rosa Parks, or our own presidential ruff rider Teddy Roosevelt would sit around waiting for permission to act? Absolutely not! That’s why people like these are in the history books. They wanted to accomplish an objective, and they seized life and wrangled it by the horns — without waiting for permission.
Carpe diem! We can all take a lesson from history’s go-getters, the life seizers, those who don’t wait around for permission but take bold action. We only have one chance at this “life” thing, so why not live it to the max?
Unleash your true self — start living authentically now, and stop waiting for permission!
