The Conform Track or The Inspiration Track?

What I thought was ‘meant to be’ for me at 26 years old was working and playing hard. I was bright and capable and had worked hard to get to where I was.  I was ‘meant to be’ out there blinding everyone with my success.  And so why was I lying in bed crippled instead? 

I recently watched a video clip by Christian Busch in which he said that the ‘why’ generation would change the world.  He argues that it’s by asking the question ‘why’ that we will change things.  I see his point.  In my case however it was the ‘what’ question that changed mine.  

THE Question

As I lay in bed, I asked myself the question ‘What if I am never able to walk again, what will I regret?’ 

I was expecting the standard answer from my ‘meant to be’ world.  I was ‘meant to be’ a partner in a Law firm in the City in London.  Why else would I be sacrificing everything to my job?  Working round the clock and week-ends? But what came was...

...not doing the Inca Trail in Peru 

And so, I went to get a map to see where Peru actually was, as I didn’t even know.

Then I seriously questioned my sanity.

 And then I had a big problem…

Facing The Truth

The problem was that I knew that that was the truth.  That the only thing I would regret would be not doing the Inca Trail.

And worse, I didn't know why or what, how or even where – but I did know that I had no choice. I knew that I would have to go there. I knew that fate had just dialled my number and that there was no going back. 

Maybe it was the truth, but it wasn’t easy.  What about my nice neat plans?  And what about the boxes I had lined up ready to tick? 

I had a life plan and a schedule to stick to.  And I was well on course.  I had the successful job, the partner, the new flat that we had just bought together, the new convertible.  I was so on track.  This was so unfair!  So close yet so far.

The Choice

And then I had to make a choice.  Which way did I want to go – did I want to listen to the ‘meant to’ voice or the ‘Inca Trail’ voice?

And so I made my choice.  I made a pact with myself - a simple one but a life changing one.  I promised myself that I would live with ‘no regrets’.  I put my life in the hands of destiny and decided to see where the ‘Inca Trail’ voice would lead me.  In that moment I changed tracks.  I grabbed the hand that fate was holding out for me and jumped.

This is when I realized that there are in fact two tracks.  One is the ‘conforming track’.  It is about meeting your family and society’s expectations of you.

The other is the ‘inspiration’ track.  It is about living on purpose.  It asks that you be true to your own heart.  It means promising to live with ‘no regrets’.

And one day comes when we all have to choose between the two tracks. Fate dials your number and destiny knocks at your door.  Your true life, the one you were meant to live, comes to call.  Your heart asks will you follow your true calling?

Neither track is wrong.  But they definitely lead to different places.

The question is what will you do when the knock on the door comes?

 Beyond The Conform Track

What I did when the call came was to change my life…completely.  I changed lifestyle and career. I travelled around South and Central America for 7 months. I did the Inca Trail.  And then went back and studied with shamans at Machu Picchu. 

I started off on the path of leading a life that was more ‘me’. 

At that time, I didn’t know what that meant exactly.  I wasn’t even sure then who ‘me’ actually was. 

Still I took my first baby steps towards a more authentic life. 

There is a lot of talk at the moment about leading an authentic life.  But what does that actually mean in practice?  Well it comes back to the tracks.  It is about choosing the ‘inspiration’ track over the ‘conforming’ track.

Easy you would think, but not always so.

Over and over again in my seminars, I ask people ‘what do they want?’ More often than not, they tell me what they don’t want.  And they find it hard to actually put words to what they do want.  It’s difficult to lead an authentic life, if you don’t know what you want. 

The bottom line is that most people just want to be happy.  However they don’t always know how to get there.  This is because the ‘conform track’ sold them a whole tick list of things that were ‘meant to’ make them happy.  And so they got very busy ticking the suggested boxes.  The problem is that, as they focused on the boxes, they also forgot what made them truly happy. 

 Embracing The Inspiration Track

Leading an authentic life means knowing what you want from the bottom of your heart.  It means knowing what your heart truly yearns for - your deepest most precious dreams. And being true to them.  It is about committing one hundred per cent to the ‘inspiration’ voice and following the ‘Inca Trail’ voice.

It calls you to be true to what is in your heart no matter what.  It asks you to follow the joyline and choose joy – what makes every cell in your body vibrate with pure joy?  Do you know?  Whatever it is find it and choose it. 

It reminds you to follow your inspiration.  To go for what lights you up.  To live a lighter life and one that is more accepting and loving of who you are. 

It also means speaking and standing for what you love and care most deeply about.  It basically means remembering who you really are and being true to your deepest values.

It is about investing in what makes you truly feel good.  Not just as a quick pleasure fix but as a deep feeling of goodness. It reminds you to put what is truly important to you first.  It means dusting off those dreams and going for them.  It calls you to follow inspiration even when it feels a little crazy. 

It wants you to sing the song your heart came to sing.  It says ‘come see beyond the boxes and you will find yourself there’.  And in that, it offers the ultimate prize – to get to the end of your life and look at yourself with respect in the mirror and say ‘I lived my best life and I have no regrets’.

Photo by Jeremy Beck on Unsplash