Do You Feel like a Puma in a Gerbil Cage?

Many days I feel like a Puma in a Gerbil Cage. Yes, a Puma in a Gerbil Cage. I want to run faster, love fuller, laugh harder, and climb tress. Not a Bull in a China Shop. That's different, I'm agile, I can work around things and people. A Puma in a Gerbil Cage. The spaces feel too small, the little metal wheel is not gonna cut it, and I want to roam freely. I know people do it everyday. Adhere to the rat race, drive in the traffic, do the job they don't love, spend time with people they don't like, and are numb. Sometimes I wish I could pretend it's ok, but it's not. I must be honest with myself. I only have one life and I want to live it fully.

Photo by Allen Wyler

It's hard sometimes though, society isn't set up for people that don't play by the rules, that don't follow the path laid before them. We all want to blaze our own trail. I know why people don't do it often though. It's hard and scary, and there is a big risk in the unknown. They might currently value their comfort and being accepted - over love, connection, or service, and that's totally cool. But here's the thing....

The biggest thing that people regret on their death bed is living a life that was expected of them versus a life that was true to themselves. Number One regret: Not being true to yourself. Sometimes people have lied to themselves so long they don't even know what true to themself is anymore. Truth is a muscle, you don't use it, you lose it.  I've always done what I wanted to do, even if it swung around and kicked me in the butt. But mostly it didn't, mostly it gave me more than I could have ever expected. When you live like the puma - the gerbil cage won't cut it for long, it can't, you don't fit.

When people see you don't follow the mold they start to create space for you, they create opportunities for you, they write roles for you, they think outside that box with you, they change scripts for you. Everyone wants to support something that is true, it makes them feel true and so when you are true to yourself in all ways you are ultimately helping all those around you. My plea, don't try to fit your puma (feel free to substitute eagle/elephant/tiger etc.) into any sort of cage. Be you. Be the biggest, freest, boldest, fullest, happiest, truest version of yourself you can be. Freeing yourself frees others, and then space starts to mold to you instead of you molding to it and you can run, fly, and soar.

Everyone was born to live a life they love, to do what they love, spend time with people they love, and to serve humanity in a way that's brilliant. Good is not good enough - go for Incredible. Let the Puma run.