More Thinking About the Pursuit of Simplicity

Life isn't about having it all. You take what you got, enjoy it & push to see where you can take it.

- Andre Kajilich, paratriathlete

I’d never heard of Andre Kajilich until reading an interview in Runner’s World, detailing his pursuit of sport after surviving a horrific train accident.

You can read that interview for yourself here.

Andre is certainly speaking from his perspective of learning to embrace what he can do rather than focusing on what he can’t do. But I think that he’s tapped into something that we’re reluctant to admit to ourselves.

Having it all is a fallacy.

Let’s be honest with ourselves: You can’t have it all. It’s impossible. Things come into conflict and you have to make a choice.

• Sometimes the choice is to do or do not do.
• At times the choice is to do this now and do that later.
• Other times the choice is to accept that there are things that are just nice daydreams.

One thing is for certain: Walking the path of wisdom requires learning that you can’t be all things to all people, you can’t pursue every whim and fancy, and you can’t run yourself ragged in the attempt to “not miss a thing.”

After all, it would be a terrible tragedy to be so busy in your life that you forget to live.

As Andre said, There’s something about transitioning from dreaming to doing that forces you to let go of the dream.

In other words, stop dreaming about what you want to do and simply start doing. Start being.

It’s ok to dream – but in stopping to breathe and be, you’ll find your dreams don’t die, but they stop having the power to negatively control your life.