These two statements … they imply the same physical motion. Seems simple enough. But in much of the choices I make daily, I find myself constantly having to make the distinction between the two.
When you ask someone where they want to go or what they want to eat, how many times have you heard “I’m good with going anywhere, but I don’t want to go to (insert name of place)” or “I’ll eat anything but I don’t want to eat (insert cuisine of choice)”.
We seem to be really good at knowing what we don’t want.
Yes, running AWAY from something is as important as running TOWARDS something. But I’ve noticed just how disempowering running away from something is. It implies a force is pushing you; it implies you’re looking behind your shoulder. And if something is pushing you and you’re always looking backwards, you can’t see or control where you’re going.
When I decided to pursue the performing arts, it came out of a choice to pursue it. It didn’t come out of wanting to run away away from my corporate career. You can’t earn a living “NOT” doing something. Eventually, you have to choose something. Otherwise you end up conditioning yourself to see every opportunity through the lense of “I don’t want” instead of “I want”.
I have seen this happen for decades with friends I met early in my career - friends who are defined mostly by the negative experiences they have at work. So they change jobs frequently, hoping to find a positive experience but not realizing that they don’t know what they are looking for. What they are looking for is “not a negative experience” instead of looking for a “positive experience”. And because most of their careers have been negative, I don’t know if they’d recognize a positive one even if they had it. They’ve spent most of their careers running away FROM something, as opposed to running TOWARDS something.
That’s a huge difference.
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My name is Eu Jin. I embarked on a career as a professional actor after 20 years in the corporate world. I am a big advocate of personal growth in the performing arts. I dedicate time and energy in performing arts education, specifically in the arena of practical approaches to inner health because I believe that this lays the groundwork for a sustainable career as an artiste.
If you would like to engage in a conversation about a healthy inner life practice, please leave me a message on the "Contact" page of my website and a way to contact you. Thank you!