Don Miller: Speaking Something into Nothing

So, I'll add this blog post to the litany of reasons I love Don Miller. Here's an excerpt from the post that spoke to me the most:

I often find myself thinking complaints about life, about business or politics or relationships. Anymore, though, when I complain, I am starting to realize that, in part, every ounce of nothingness in life is my fault, because I always have the ability to speak something into it, to create a different reality. A theory that life is meaningless is just an excuse not to try. It’s safe. It’s risk free. It may end in ruin, but it is a ruin we can control, and we know with certainty what will happen. We will be bored. Or worse.

Reading this is such an encouragment to me on the day I head back to Auburn. The day I resettle into my grad student life, rife with work and stress and wondering. But it could be a life of productivity, learning, discovery and opportunity. It all depends on how I choose to view it.

Despite my procrastinatory nature, getting work done has always happened for me. Making the grade, acing the test, all the nerdy brick and mortar things that go along with being successful in school have happened for me. But the hardest thing for me to do is to change the way I think. It's confounding that mindpower has been one of my greatest assets, but also one of my greatest limitations.

I realize that there are many circumstances beyond our control. But I'm tired of letting those things be my excuse to sit idly in resignation. I'm tired of letting them be my excuse to not even try. I can't_____, because I'll just end up being disappointed. That's garbage. Like Don Miller said, that type of thinking is safe and risk-free which = controllable and certain. Even if it sucks, it's a suckiness you're comfortable with. I don't want to be that way anymore.

I have the ability to speak something into nothing and to create a different reality.