The Adventurous Mind

Today, and every day, there is a countless number of people who are wasting away. They’re alive, but they are lonely, anxious, depressed, and aimless. They spend all of their time in their room, suffering from self-imposed isolation. I was one of them.

Our rooms are comfortable. In today’s world, we are able to spend all of our time watching tv, playing video games, surfing the internet, and scrolling on social media. By filling our time with these activities, we never need to face the world and overcome any sort of social anxiety. But we also never get to reach for our potential.

This “wasting away” has become progressively more prevalent, especially after 2020 and the isolation that Covid-19 brought. Around this time, I suffered a torn ACL and broke up with my girlfriend. This was when I began to experience this exact issue of deterioration in self-imposed isolation. During this time, I became so accustomed to being alone that it became difficult to re-integrate with normal society and life when the dust finally settled and everything returned to normal. In the years following 2020, I spent most of my time in my room, reading books, watching motivational YouTube videos, writing, analyzing my dreams, playing video games, and overthinking.

During this time, I had forgotten to live. I forgot how to be alive.

Before this time, I lived vibrantly. My personality shone like a light and I was filled with joy everyday. I didn’t waste away in my room. I was the driver for change. I was the catalyst that made things happen. I inspired action. I created stories. I explored and adventured. I lived.

This all seemed to change internally though when I was vulnerable and hurt, and unable to socialize due to the lockdowns. I receded into myself where things were comfortable and safe. I stayed in my room. I played video games. I listened to podcasts and watched YouTube videos. I watched porn and drank too much alcohol. I lived a life of comfort, fun, and pleasure as I ran away from any responsibility. It sounds great, but these were easily the worst years of my life.

There’s no meaning without sacrifice. There’s no purpose without striving.

We are not meant for comfort. We are not meant to waste away in our rooms. Our lives are meant to be lived. It’s not about survival. Surviving isn’t living. Life is meant for social connection. It’s meant for adventure and exploration, love and family, goals and dreams, discipline and hard-work, friendship and laughter, travel and experience.

If you find yourself living life without meaning, wasting away in your room, here’s my suggestion to you…

Try to find a vision of the future that resonates with your heart. Meditate and discover what calls to you. What lights you up inside and makes itself known as a worthy path to follow? That inspiring vision of the future may surprise you. When I began asking myself that question, these answers came to mind.

1. Build a castle
2. Buy a old timey sail boat and sail the world like a pirate
3. Write a book about chasing my potential
4. Move to Italy and train to become a goalkeeper
5. Three month body transformation

Everyone is different, so find your own unique vision of the future that would make life worthy of leaving your room. Then go pursue it. This is how you stop wasting away. This is how you live the life that you were meant for.

It’s time to be alive in this world.