Taking Some Chance

I didn’t want to listen to “Same Drugs” by Chance the Rapper. I’m like, “I don’t do drugs, ‘Drugs are bad, m’kay?’” But I gave in to the peer pressure and “took some Chance.”
I’m glad I did.

In a nutshell, the song is referring to Peter Pan and Wendy.
CTR’s saying, “Wendy, you grew up! You quit believing in what you could be! I don’t know you… you’re not like me anymore!!” 

Dang. That so true isn’t it?

You can be anything you want until you start “growing up.” Then everyone starts getting pushy: “NOPE! Quit dreaming. Get a job!” That’s why most people just become what they’re “supposed to.”

That’s because most of us didn’t even know we had a choice:

“Do I take the same “drugs” as Wendy…?

or Chance…?”

Do I “grow up” or do I stick to my dreams?
Do I step into a grim persona or hang on to my playful attitude?

When I told my friend Kyle, “I want to work with high school and college age peeps because they’re soooooooooo full of energy and imagination!”
He said, “Good, get them while they’re young… before life makes them realistic.”

Adulthood is a bitter pill to swallow, isn’t it? But only because we play into that attitude. We agree to be part of that. We agree it has to feel that way! But, it wouldn’t be so tough if we kept taking the same “drugs” as Chance.

You CAN be anything – until you start being stuffed with “nos” and “be realistic, that’s impossible!” But what IS realistic? What do we base “realistic” on? “Realistic” really means what’s realistic for other people. And their “realistic” was based on what was realistic for the people before them!

Meanwhile, innovators and visionaries and regular ol’ creative people who didn’t give a gobbledygook about “being realistic” gave us things like cars, the Internet, mobile phones, Skype, and John Oliver.

I wanted to be an actress, and even though we all know OTHER people go out and become actresses, it wasn’t “realistic” for ME. So I gave that up – because, like so many others, I believed what society wanted me to believe:

Just because it’s possible doesn’t mean it’s possible for ME. 

But being realistic is nonsense. There’s no way I’m the only one who can say, “I’ve done some pretty unrealistic stuff in my life.”

Like, when I was 25, I went couchsurfing and spent the most amazing 8-weeks of my life exploring the Southern U.S. I found myself in situations that were interesting, exciting, scary, uncomfortable, educational, and life-changing. It was two rad-tac-u-lous months of discovering the word: “IMPOSSIBLE” actually spells, “I’m Possible.”

It wasn’t “realistic” to sell my crap, load my car, and drive off into the unknown. But I “took some Chance” and I did it!

I remember people saying, “You’re either really crazy or really brave.” But I just kept thinking, “Until I try, how will I know?”

Look, until you see your world from hundreds of miles away, through the frame of your rearview mirror… Until you make mistake, after mistake, after even BIGGER mistakes: missing exits, getting lost, making judgement calls that were WAAAAAYYY wrong. Until you show yourself that you make good decisions and get things right too – Until you do that, how do you know what you’re capable of? How could you possibly know what’s possible? And why would you give up who you are and what you believe in just because someone else told you that’s what adults do? 

The adults who “took some Chance” didn’t do that.

So now, Chance and I do the same drugs – the really addictive ones:
– Believing in the power of childlike wonder, fairy dust, and the impossible
– Happy thoughts and chasing dreams
– Feeling good about what I do and who I am

You can change your choices and what you believe, no matter how old you are. So ask yourself:

“If I’m a grown up, who’s telling me no… except me? 
When’s the last time I ‘took some Chance?’”