Embrace Possible

Decide to live beyond the role that life has handed to you

Listen here.

Look at this picture. What comes to mind as you observe each of these people? Perhaps that’s the boss conveying direction to the team from the whiteboard. The woman on the right is challenging what is being said. One person is taking notes. The other two seem to be listening with skepticism. Each of them is playing a role.

This reminds me of a movie many of you have seen. “The Truman Show”¹ tells the story of Truman, whose entire life has been filmed for a TV show that the world watches, but he thinks is real. Toward the end of the movie, Christof, the show’s creator, is asked why he thinks Truman hasn’t yet discovered the true nature of his existence. Christof replies:

“We accept the reality of the world with which we're presented. It's as simple as that.”

“Tarek, we’re all just playing a role here. You just need to do it well.” Someone gave me this advice years ago about advancing my career. It was meant to be helpful. That comment always bothered me, though. Playing a role? Who wrote the script? What’s the endgame? It certainly doesn’t feel like one I’ve written. If I play my role well, at the end of the movie, what do I get…more money? More money could buy nicer clothes, homes, cars, vacations, wine clubs, golf memberships, and fancier friends?

Do I even want to be in this movie? It took me 20+ years of working to ask this question. Ultimately, I desperately want to be me-the REAL me, the person God created me to be, flaws and all.

Perhaps you find yourself playing a role you don’t want to play. You started following the crowd day by day, month by month, year by year, and decade by decade. And now you don’t know how you got here or recognize the person you’ve become.

Perhaps you want to live a life of significance where you pursue what you were made to do. Since you’re reading this blog, there are good odds you fall into that camp. Here are some questions you can ask yourself:

1. Am I living the life I want, or am I trying to be who others want me to be?

2. What percentage of the real me do I show the rest of the world? How can I start being more myself in one small way this week?

3. What will my life look like 5 years from now if I continue pursuing this path?

4. When I take my last breath, will I be proud of who I have become?

You owe it to yourself to live an authentic life. The world is best served when you are most authentically…you. It’s never too late to become who you were always meant to be. Today is a great day to start.

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1. The Truman Show