Designing a life we don’t need to escape from.
Ever since I can remember, I’ve always loved going on vacations.
What's not to like? Time off. Relaxing. Recharging. Maybe on a sandy beach, maybe at a ski resort. Maybe at home.
But each time I went on a vacation, there was always one problem: the getting back part.
My vacations served as an escape from real life. For two weeks every year, I was running away and rather than dealing with the real issue. I took a pill.
Until, one day, the pill was no longer working. Vacationing was no longer working. What I needed was a different kind of pill—a “red pill.” Similar to Neo's journey in The Matrix, I needed to experience the real world beyond the façade I had been living.
Taking the red pill was not easy. It meant accepting the truth of reality: My life was not how I wanted to live. I wanted something different; I wanted a life I did not need to escape from.
I'm not talking about a life that is one big vacation, but instead a life that is so enjoyable, so balanced, so meaningful that I didn't need to run away from it. And rather than planning to retire from work at age 65 or 70 or whatever “retirement age” is going to be in the future, doing work so rich and fulfilling that I never want to retire.
So I took the plunge and threw myself into designing that life. More than a decade later, I still find myself ruminating on escaping from time to time. But I've come a long way since then.
What I've come to recognize is that life constantly presents us with the choice of taking the red pill or the blue pill.
Take the red pill and wake up the harsh truth.
Take the blue pill and remain asleep in denial.
The choice is always there at every minute.
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Writer
Tal Gur is a location independent entrepreneur, author, and impact investor. After trading his daily grind for a life of his own daring design, he spent a decade pursuing 100 major life goals around the globe. His most recent book and bestseller, The Art of Fully Living - 1 Man, 10 Years, 100 Life Goals Around the World, has set the stage for his new mission: elevating society to its abundance potential.
