Down the Rabbit Hole
East of the Ozarks
Totally Brrrrrr! 22 Degrees
7:29 a.m.
For much of my life, I thought that “mandatory” meant I had to do it.
Based on what I’ve already told you about my former sheeple self, I was more than happy to do it.
When I went out and started my first business, most of my time was spent figuring out what rules I had to follow. If somebody was serving up something mandatory, I was going to eat it right up! I like my mandatory medium rare please!
So just to be clear, lest you not quite understand JUST how scared I was, I’ll say it again:
I was far more worried about what was “mandatory” for running a business than I was about actually succeeding and being able to feed my family.
That is embarrassing.
Mandatory, as I’ve come to realize, is a funny word people often use to project authority when they really have none. It’s nothing more than an attempt to intimidate and coerce. And really, its only power comes from the people who comply, not from the people who direct.
For example, all of the “mandatory” rules we’ve got out right now are things the old Jason would have happily followed.
But the real Jason, when faced with a so-called “mandatory” issue, generates quite a different response. It usually begins with a simple question:
“What makes you think that applies to me?”
If you think the world happens to you, that you are simply a pawn in this big game someone else controls…where your existence is rather inconsequential and meaningless, then MANDATORY might generate some level of fear response. You’d hate to run afoul of the directive, wouldn’t you? You might get in trouble with the folks you’ve given your power away to. That would be baaaaaaddddddd.
If, however, you take the position that you CREATE the world, that you, in fact, energize and direct the very process of creation, then you’re going to have a different response.
Because another’s claim of authority over you will sound pretty silly when they try to exercise it.
If you feel a level of comfort by complying with MANDATORY, then there is much work to be done.
When you are able to feel more comfortable following the things YOU decide are mandatory for you than you do following what you are told is mandatory by others, then you are on the path to life…YOUR life.