Got A Dream? Choose Your Comfort
Fridays are fun days in my house. They are the only days I get to speak to my domestic manager for a whole hour before she goes full throttle on her chores. ‘Dreams tend to dominate the threshing floor. Not the kind that visits you when you sleep. But the things you desire to achieve, often think about them with your eyes open and threaten you to choose your comfort.
She and I seem to always differ on such. Especially matters concerning dreams. Trust me, they are audacious, African-ly speaking, for a married woman with kids.
I have often told her that I want to travel the world, inspire thousands in stadiums, coach aspiring entrepreneurs making less than $2 in profit daily rocket to $20, and make a living while at it. I also itch to learn about various cultures and create a product from the mix. A line of products that will change the world!
Quite a fervid dream, don’t you think?
Booking.comThe Eureka Moment
My domestic manager agrees with this dream. She loves my guts to say the least. But on travel, that’s where we part ways. She doesn’t see the sense in travelling to fulfil my dreams.
“You can do all that from right here!”
“No. I must travel. My call is to go where my impact is uncompromised.” Read that as away from my daily comfort.
She pushes back in protest, and for the next 59 minutes, I defend my stand. Sometimes she agrees with me. But more often than not, we agree to disagree.
This had been the case until I had the Eureka moment amidst the bargain. I blurted, “Choose your comfort!”
You see, she believes that I have everything I need. What else would I need to pursue when my rent, medical cover, and food are all paid for by my husband?
Wanting More Comfort
If you threw your hands in agreement, you are in good company. But hear me first.
I may have all the comfort most people can ask for when someone else pays my bills. But my life is more than sitting on the receiving bench. Such has turned me into a lazy bum!
The solution; scroll back up to the second paragraph and read it once more. Diagnose every word this time and see if you can pick the scent.
Did you smell it?
My dream is to give! And not to one person. But to folks all over the world.
Let’s take this deeper, shall we?
There’s comfort in sitting at home writing pretty articles and often going out to mentor aspiring entrepreneurs when the opportunity shows up. That’s cool. But I call such ‘the fattening comfort’.
Sorry, but no sorry. I am built for more.
The Price of Comfort
The argument progressed to the life of Jesus Christ. The Bible says he left his heavenly comfort to live a lower version of life on earth. Here he got hungry, fed the hungry, healed the sick and even brought Lazarus and Jairus’ daughter back to life!
Then he took a distressing journey to the cross for the same people who betrayed him in the name of paying for their sins.
The story wouldn’t have had any impact if it ended there, would it?
We later learn that Jesus got his seat on the right hand of God, the Father, and a name above all names. Some super comfort right there!
Did you notice the price he had to pay for the comfort?
Another Comfort Case
If that example is too superhuman to comprehend, think of every employee around you. They could choose to carry on with their sleep every morning and enjoy the comfort of their beds.
But they don’t.
Instead, they leave their homes to spend the better part of their active day, or night, at work. However, at the end of the work season, they enjoy the comfort brought to them by their salaries.
They just need to choose their comfort.
My Kind of Comfort
This case applies to my domestic manager. She leaves her house regardless of the weather for work. But when month-end comes, comfort meets her at the bank!
She would choose the restful, fattening and poverty-rendering comfort of not leaving her bed every morning. But the consequences are appalling.
So she chooses the rewarding comfort that comes after enduring much pain. The kind of comfort that makes her independent.
Such is the case in pursuing my dream.
Choosing My Comfort
Living in Mombasa under the comfort of my husband’s care is enticing. In fact, I have sat in it for 12 years and counting. But as grateful as I am, it has left the silos of my dreams depressingly hollow. And with deafening emptiness. I get sick thinking of the millions I could inspire, coach and train, but fail to reach.
Useless is more like it.
I am here, on earth, to help other people solve their problems. That’s my calling. To help an upcoming businessperson somewhere across the globe 10x their profit. Like a football coach, such is a player I must locate and coach. They aspire to run profitable businesses but they need inspiration and guidance to get there. Someone to walk the journey with them.
That calls for me to choose my comfort. Either remain to sit in my husband’s care serving him and coaching a few small businesspeople when the opportunity avails. Or the comfort that begins with the pain of leaving my family in Mombasa to pursue my business coaching dream with all that I am!
The Result
Going all out comes with the comfort of seeing small businesspeople succeed. It assures me of inspiring multitudes and writing those stories in books for the rest of the world to celebrate along!
The latter comfort is worth the pain that comes with it. It’s worth the struggle. And the payments that come with it.
In Conclusion
How about you?
Would you take the next five minutes to weigh your comforts and see the kind that fits your bill?
Of course there is nothing wrong with choosing the former comfort. The comfort I am enjoying right now. We are speaking about working from home, waking up every morning to set breakfast for my hubby, preparing him to go pursue his dreams at work and having his table set when he comes home in the evening.
That’s honourable as it is.
But I want more. And such comes with choosing to die to my current comfort so I may have my seat at the right table. And that, I dare myself to pursue!
