Yeah, whatever...

Early in my college career, I was overwhelmed. I remember sitting in a psychology class being lost and dumbfounded by the sheer amount of information that was being conveyed by the professor. In an accounting class, I had the same feeling. In my first exams in both class, I received failing grades, even after tremendous amount of studying, reading, and memorization. I had to pay visits to each professor, begging for them to drop these grades if I did better on the next exams. I did better, on both subsequent exams, but not before significant sacrifice of time and effort. I had originally majored in Business Administration--I thought this would propel me to decent job prospects. It took me two years to finally figure things out. I changed my field to Criminology and became active in college social groups, and I even served in the student senate (I won a senator of the year award in my final year for my service and work in improving the group's election process). I was also a college ambassador, and I founded the Residence Hall Association--where was this Chris two years prior? 

 


I tell this because my attitude initially was, yeah, whatever. I had little motivation to change my circumstances until the pressure became too much to bear, but change should have occurred well prior to this point. In life, we are all susceptible to falling into a zone of comfort or ambivalence or indolence or all of the above. We drive the same way to work, eat the same foods, have the same workouts, read the same types of books, and travel to the same places. Our life becomes ordinary, expected, and customary with little risk of change. When things do change, we become anxious, and feel stressed, so we revert back to our old selves, predictable and comfortable. To me, comfortable is the most dangerous part of the human experience, since we gravitate toward what we like, are accustomed to, and we fear what change might bring--why risk anything when what is comfortable is what is placid? 

This yeah, whatever attitude is the detriment to everything in life--politics, voting, careers, personal and professional development, and family. Toward the end of life, people begin to regret not taking more risks, regret saying yeah, whatever one too many times, and not caring enough of self development. 

I was a police officer for nearly eight years, and by the end of that tenure, I wanted nothing more to leave and pursue other passions. I could have said yeah, whatever and stuck with the job for another two to three years to earn a pension, but my circumstances were untenable--my stress levels were high, I developed insomnia and other health issues, and I was only getting four to five hours of sleep nightly. I risked a lot when I left, such as financial security. Eight years have passed, and I can write a novel about everything that's happened to me since. However, those eight years have provided me with a paradigm shift, finally pursuing my true passion of developing people and motivating people to change. If I didn't take a risk (or many risks) change would have likely not happened and I would have likely not have found a career that I enjoy. Yeah, whatever is easy, often too easy, and we fall into the trap regularly. 

To dig yourself out of the yeah, whatever trap, alter your routines, change something in your life (not just your toothbrush or underwear), and explore the things that make us happy. I took flying lessons, and it was by far the best thing I have done in my life. I took my dad on a European cruise. I moved to Seattle, Washington. I started my own business. I started writing a book. None of this could have happened if I had adopted the yeah, whatever attitude. Humans are really good at keeping with the Status Quo, but when we do that, we're selling ourselves (and those around us) short. Taking small risks gets us out of our comfort zones, which allows us to force change. If you don't feel uncomfortable weekly, change isn't occurring.