The smell is subtle at first. It tickles the inner hair of your nostrils as you brave the cold weather to warm up your car so that you can sit in an hour of gridlock to commute to the job you hate.
You notice it again, wafting throughout the conference room, where you waste two hours of your life in a meeting about stuff that no one really cares about, but they have to pretend to care.
After braving another hour of traffic to get home and shoving chips down your throat to silence your frustration, you’re greeted with a “wham-bam” of the stench as you receive a lackluster acknowledgment from a partner who doesn’t really have your best interests at heart.
What’s the smell? It’s the slow decay that comes from settling for a life that is less than what you deserve. Simply put, settling smells.
Settling for a life that is beneath you starts off slowly at first. You choose a job that you don’t love, for the money. But instead of using it as an opportunity to double down on what you really want to do with your life, you get comfortable and start accumulating stuff. You get stuck and settle.
You tolerate that group of toxic friends, because you are too afraid of being alone. The more time you spend with them, the more you feel drained, unmotivated, and negative about life in general. You get stuck with negative friendships and settle.
Your significant other doesn’t treat you with respect and give you the love that you deserve. Your relationship is filled with drama, lies, and fights that leave you stressed and broken. “But love is supposed to be passionate,” you think. Or, “This person is better than the others I’ve been with.” Or, “I’m too [insert whatever excuse here] to find someone else.” You get stuck, and you settle.
Before you know it, the little decisions to settle have turned into a giant heaping pile of wasted time, energy, and life. It really stinks to realize that you aren’t where you want to be in life. The odor of regret can’t be Febrezed away.
It’s time to take out the trash. Quit the job that is sapping your energy. Drop the toxic friends and relationship. Cut the consuming and get back to basics. The crisp scent of abundant freedom is absolutely worth it.
