Nobody ever planned to be miserable; we became miserable because life dishes out miserable meals to everyone, for free.

I was talking with my woman yesterday (she’s the only person I have deep conversations with), and we got into one of our many long-winded conversations: why are we where we are?

The answer to that question, we discovered, was simple: we were beginning to find peace in the things that once irked us; we were agreeing to ideas and ways of life that we once abhorred. We were settling for what life has to offer.

The biggest disservice a man can do to himself, and his lineage is to settle for what is - to accept life as it is and flow with the tides. It is like slow drowning yourself in a pool but accepting your sinking situation because the tides aren’t rising as high, and you’re technically not drowning because you have enough air to breathe. You know, with this drowning, that you’re slinking our safe, healthy-oxygen territory, but you’re unbothered because you’re not gasping for air. At least not yet.

Just like the slow drown, settling doesn't just happen to a man. It starts slowly. It starts with failing. And failing. And accepting that failure is part of life's fabric. It starts with accepting that your life can’t be as great as you’d hoped, and that, if we’re keeping it a buck, you’ve not been dealt the best of hands of be among the 1% of people who achieve the lofty goals you have.

Even at that, that's not where SETTLING truly starts. It starts WAY BEFORE YOU RECOGNIZE IT.

SETTLING STARTS FROM DREAMING BIG, SOMETIMES TOO BIG.

Hold up! I’ll explain.

Remember when you were younger? Remember how you thought you could do any and everything you set your mind to? The child-like innocence and enthusiasm?

You see, settlers were once dreamers - starry-eyed people who wanted to conquer the world. The believed they could conquer the world.