Exit the Stage

All the world's a stage indeed, and whether we want to acknowledge that we are but players on the stage of life or not, the fact is that we all, at some point, find ourselves at a place where we pander to an audience.We crave facebook 'likes' and Twitter followers.  We seek the approval of our peers, our bosses, our parents, our clients - we want to be validated. We want to feel that what we do matters, that people are affected by it, that we are loved, appreciated, respected, admired.   I'm sure the pragmatic among us would say it's good for our egos, and very often serves to fuel our activities and impact our results.

And I guess all of that is understandable. We are gregarious beings. Unfortunately, however, we too often derive our sense of purpose, our value, from the opinion of others. In other words, the value we place on ourselves or our work is too often referenced by people's response to us, or worse, by our perception of that response. Don't get me wrong, however; there is immeasurable (and measurable) market value in client feed-back. And there is value in understanding how your actions impact others - that's why in business we do market research and feasibility studies. However, there is a clear and present danger in allowing ourselves to become so conscious of 'audience' response (whoever that audience is) as to cripple or immobilize us.

The trouble is, if we are not at the place where our 'whys' ( purpose) transcend our 'whats' (objective) we are likely to stay stuck in a valley called discouragement, locked in on either side by fear and indecision. The fact is our vision for our future must be fueled by self-direction. We need to find ourselves in a place where we want something badly enough to be willing to push beyond the opinions of others; to be so attuned to the music of our souls that it is the primary beat  to which we dance; that we get to the place where we remain faithful to our dreams even when the returns are small; that we believe in a cause for which we are willing to yield our last breath, in the quietude of our own parlors, sans a stage and the attendant audience.

Many a passion has died in the cinders of public opinion.  Many a talent has been left undeveloped, underutilized because someone didn't get the approval he/she sought or expected. It is time to draw the line. Time to learn to march to the beat of your own drum. Time to get to the place where you are no longer mere actors on a stage awaiting audience validation. It may mean dispensing with protocol, disregarding societal norms, walking paths never before trod. Whatever it takes, know this: the realization of your dreams lies just beyond the stage. It's time to take a bow and make your exit.