Sensational, Satisfied, Settling, Surviving, or Salivating

As 2017 will come to a close in a few weeks, the resolutions will start being made, the hopes and dreams for the new year will start, as they do at the beginning of many school years or any times of major change for the majority of people. It's a time to reflect and reset, to think about where we really want to go in life and where we currently are. This got me thinking though about the differences in how people approach life, goals, and transitions. Many wait for that hard date to be here before stating their new commitments to themselves or others, while there are some that do this ongoing. I have been making a conscious effort to get out more, expand my social circles, and meet more people. I have noticed that there seem to be a distinct bucket category that most people fall into on how they approach their views on life: sensational, satisfied, settling, surviving, or salivating.

There are the people who approach life as a series of sensational opportunities, they focus on what else can they contribute to others and how can they make each day better. Their lives may or may not look how they pictured them to be when they were children, but in general, their lives appear better than many can imagine. In general, these people are the ones vibrating at the highest level of energy. We see them and we want to be around them more, there's just something magnetic about them and we want to live in that same energy. There can be a misperception that they don't see the negative or scary things in life, but the more we talk to them, we will actually hear that they see and recognize those issues, but they choose to focus on how to work around or through those issues and spend the majority of their time on solutions. The more people like this that I meet, the more consistently I hear that they are goal setters, regardless of when everybody else sets their goals, these people are constantly setting goals and have plans in place.

Then there are the people who are satisfied with their lives. They may or may not be living the lives that they dreamed about or even expected, but they are in a comfortable place and they don't see a reason to change things. They accept things as they are, rarely challenge status quo and they are also going to be the peace keepers. They know how to neutralize situations and keep a calm middle. They are happy with life's expected joys and often can't fathom why some would take such big risks in life for big goals. They have likely had some enjoyable success through following the expected path in life, even if it wasn't the initial one they intended. They may or may not have big dreams, but they are not likely to voice what they are. They will probably set New Year's resolutions, but expect to drop them within a month, consciously or subconsciously.

There are those who see life as a series of events and circumstances in which they needed to settle. They see life as a series of compromises and maybe at one point they fought hard for something that drove them, but with failure, they chose to quit. This is the most heart breaking because these are the people who likely have stopped dreaming altogether and are least likely to be inspired enough take take action. There might be total chaos around them, but they see life as something that happens to them versus something that they can participate in or have an impact on others. They don't set goals, don't do resolutions because they don't expect to succeed at anything major, so why start now.

There are also the people that are surviving in life. Life is something that has absolutely happened to them. They will share the latest devastating event and how it impacted them and everybody around them. They will likely get the sympathy at the onset of the event and initial repercussions.

The person who is in survival mode moves from circumstance to circumstance. Goals are not a part of their way of thinking. There's no point in setting goals when you have no control over the direction of your life anyway, right? We all have major events that can happen and have likely at some point found ourselves in this mode. This however is the most toxic level of energy to feed, for you or somebody else. These are the people that if you offer them help, you must realize that if their thinking can't move beyond survival mode, the assistance will merely help them get through the current circumstance. It is imperative to manage expectations of how they will react if this is their way of approaching life. There is the exception though.

There are finally the people who are salivating over life. These are the people in the other category who inspire us. They might remind us of the underdog in a book or movie. They might ignite that spark in us to set some kick a** goals because we see them doing it. They also see life as sensational, even if they aren't yet living the ideal life they want. They are pursuing it or working on their vision or plan for it. These are the people that might work with us in traditional jobs, but then one day, we hear they're gone and while we knew they were destined for much bigger things in life, we're also bummed when they leave because their energy ignited something in us just by being around them. If we peaked inside their brains, we might see so many ideas at work at once or we might see a laser focused vision being targeted with everything they have. They also set goals at points in their lives they determine, which are likely a combination of calendar dates and a commitment to revisit their progress and recalibrate as needed.

Everybody in life has a purpose. For some people, it's imperative to find and pursue that purpose. For others, it just isn't. The people we choose to surround ourselves with will have a tremendous impact on how we approach life, particularly the five people with whom we spend the most time. If we are to pursue a path of success and being goal driven, the best way to do such is to surround ourselves with those people. When we hit a point in life that causes us to pause and evaluate, do we evaluate these factors? Do we consider who we have in our circle of influence, master mind group, or our support system? If this is something you haven't considered, this might be the time. It isn't to say that you should ditch your friends. It is to say, determine if the five people with whom you are closest are helping encourage where you want to be or are discouraging you from getting there. Either way, it's an individual decision of whether we each think we as individuals are worthy of our current circumstance or change.