perceived

Everyone knows the old glass is half empty/full test. Supposedly based on your answer you can tell if you are an optimistic or pessimistic person. I’ve been thinking a lot about the differences in personal perception lately. It is pretty easy to be caught up in my own little head and world to forget that this world is a completely different place for everyone else in it. I forget that people can look at something that seems so obvious and so exciting to me, and be bored to death. I’m talking about a difference on a much deeper level than personal preferences, whether or not your favorite color is blue like mine. I’m talking about the perception, or the creation, of different worlds inside each and every person’s head. When I visit with some of my friends from home, this creation of a different reality is jarringly apparent. I look at this time in my life as an incredible opportunity, a springboard for going out and attacking everything I’ve ever wanted or dreamed of. This seems so obvious to me. But for my friends, who must look at this through their own filters see my actions as somewhat foolish, dreamy, and impractical. For them, there really only lies one true path from here, the continued progress on the linear projection of life. It seems they believe I really shouldn’t be focusing on big dreams, when I have not completed the necessary steps. It is almost as if there is some sort of progress chart where you can see the exact step next in your progress. It means grinding through unhappiness in hopes of crossing that level off your list and moving on to the next one. Now I realize I may be exaggerating on this, but this is how I perceive the situation. And it scares me to death. The idea of potentially cashing in your dreams for comfort, security, and companionship runs chills up my spine. I just don’t know why people assume that work has to really be “work.” Why can’t you like your work? Why can’t you do what you want? I’m by no means an expert on the adult world, and my philosophy on life may ultimately push my into the gutter, but I think the pain of ignoring this drive would be far more difficult to bear than to end up in the gutter later. After all, it is a hell of a lot more empowering to tell yourself “I will” than to say “I wish I had.”