Why It's Ok To Be 'Average'
After listening to episode 102 of The Lively Show with blogger Jessica Flannigan I've never felt so inspired to sit down and write a post surrounding the topic of being average. In the blogging world, we're all about motivating each other and doing crazy big things in our career, but what if you don't want those things right now and you just want to be 'average' in your career but be the best person you possibly can in other aspects of your life. The word average almost seems like it's insulting to say, but today I wanted to talk about why it can actually be kind of awesome.
2015 was the year that I thought I was going to make a big shift in my career and I didn't end up achieving the goal that I wanted to. Not being able to achieve what I so desperately want to do has made me feel really rubbish. It's made me feel like I'm inadequate and it's taken a lot of pep talks to myself to realise that it's just not the right time for me to make that massive step which will not only take me away from other areas of my life, but it's a big financial investment too. So whilst this year I've felt very much average in my career I've been awesome at looking after myself and being truly happy.
Whilst listening to the podcast [listen here] I felt like I was hearing everything that I felt too ashamed to say during this year. My career is something that I hold high in what's important to me, but it's ok if it's not number one right now. Jessica's 10 Truths are something that I've looked at every single day since discovering them. Just to remind myself of some very fundamental topics and things I think that we can all relate to. As much as I adore the blogging world and the inspiring posts that people produce they aren't applicable for everyone's life. The morals and the values that I hold near and dear to myself are very different to what others hold close to them and that's ok. It's easy to forget that you have to do what is right by you and your life rather than run against someone else in their own race. Personal success is something that should be celebrated just as much as career success in my eyes. Having a big fancy job role or a 6 figure business isn't what defines happiness for me. It can be easy to look at people who are on their way to getting everything they want from their jobs and think that they have it all, but that doesn't mean it's true.
Something that has been on my mind a lot lately is what if I'm not destined for a big success in my life, am I going to be happy with that? And the answer is yes, I will be. My mindset towards almost everything in my life has changed this year and I'm a lot happier for it. You might be thinking well if you work hard then, of course, you will be a "success", but the world doesn't work that way. You can pour hours, days, months and even years into something and it can still fail. We can control so much in our life but we cannot control everything and that's ok. This is why I believe personal success is so important for a happy life.
Ultimately success doesn't have one definition and just because I've not reached my ultimate career goal this year it doesn't mean it's never going to happen or that I've not had a great year. Whilst we're constantly striving for bigger things and feeling the stress of being busy it's rare that we sit down and think about we grateful we are for the things we do have. I used to be terrible for complaining and it's not an attractive quality, of course, it's totally ok to vent now and then but when you're doing it on a daily basis it's not ok. Just because I've not made big things happen this year doesn't mean I'm not incredibly grateful for the things that I have done. With the recent events that have happened around the world, it brings you right back down to realise what is truly important.
So to finish I wanted to include a little reminder to myself as well as anyone reading this. Life works in seasons and it might not be until later in life that you reach your big hustle and right now could be your time to work on other area's of your life, which are just as important. Not everybody wants a big fancy job title and a killer career history and it's no-one else's place to make a judgement. If you fancy further reading on this subject then check out this awesome post from Clementine Daily.
I'd love to know your thoughts on this topic
R x
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