It has nothing to do with winning - it has everything to do with trying.
When I stumbled across this YouTube Short for the first time, I was hooked.
It captured my interest not because I am an advocate for ads or marketing.
Usually advertisement does offer no value. At all.
It suggests that you are not complete with the product or service they offer to you, it tells you that you are not enough as you are and it says that you need more of anything in order to achieve happiness.
This one however does the total opposite.
Even more.
Risking to sound absolutely manic to you, I would even say it offers wisdom to a society that is obsessed with the best possible end result: Winning, whatever it is you are attempting to do.
As a matter of fact, this slogan of Nike ‘Just do it’ is emphasised within the quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson
It's not the Destination, It's the journey.
A thing of beauty that is so often forgotten in our hustle culture to obtain more and more of everything and anything all of the time, whenever we want.
While thinking about it another quote came to my mind, by Jay Shetty.
Wired for generosity. Educated for greed.
It stands in alignment with the quote and Nike slogan above. Very much so, because it reinforces the argument that most of us are indeed from a very young age onwards set on the path of success. Success as others interpret it. Success as in winning, being the best. Because there is not enough for all of us. Only the very best, the creme de la creme of humankind, deserve and get the best of the best.
Success as in being on the top is rather lonely, generally speaking. I would imagine being up there, being admired for all you have achieved somehow puts a filter on someone’s personality. The image you have to obtain in order to keep the status that you worked for.
And everyone is eager to see cracks in the carefully maintained image of perfection.
Success becomes a lonely tip on the human hierarchy pyramid.
Expectations, pressure, and most probably childhood trauma suddenly work perfectly together for the isolation from authenticity and being human.
What does it mean to be human?
Why are we wired for generosity but educated for greed?
It does not make sense to be the best at anything because no one really ever can maintain perfection, much less even be perfect in the first place.
It is an illusion.
This coming from someone who was brought up to believe that perfection is the only reassurance that can protect you from the unfair outside world and give you control over every aspect of life itself.
All lies.
The true beauty lies in imperfection and the grace to not only be able to admit that for yourself in your mind. Feeling it deep in your heart and living this truth is the true challenge that arises.
And that brings us full circle to ‘Just do it’ and ‘It’s not the destination, it’s the journey’.
Not everyone wants to be the richest person on the planet. Even more, wealth means a very different thing to a lot of people.
Yes, I am currently saving money to acquire a car. Yet, this car is not supposed to become a status symbol, it is an external expression of how my interpretation of freedom has changed. For me, life is about my freedom. For others it is about their children. For people on Wall Street it might be about who has the most money or power.
So how come we are told there is not enough for everyone in this world if everyone defines what they want enough of differently?!
What is your understanding of wealth?
And where do you want to go?
Travelling full time? That was and still is my dream. It is not everyone’s dream though.
It all comes down to this:
Everyone has a different understanding of success.
Everyone wants different things in life. That means that as long as you take responsibility for yourself and promise to not give up on your dream, no matter how deep you fall or how steep the climb is, you will get there eventually.
Life is not a straight line. It is not even a curved line. Life is not even able to be defined by such two dimensional metaphors.
Life is a force, an ocean.
With underlying currents.
Sometimes you are floating and the sun is tickling your nose while a turtle supports your back and you can relax and enjoy the ride.
Sometimes it is a riptide and there is no telling where up or down is.
Sometimes you are so high up, you enjoy the view in a boat.
Sometimes you feel like you are alone with no air in the vast darkness of The Challenger Deep crevices on the ocean floor and it seems to be costing you your life.
All of us undergo hardships. All of us have different life stories. All of us are in the same ocean, on this Blue Planet of ours. Thus, in some way, all of us are in it together. And if we abandon the thought of us as being separate in a world where nothing we do has a cause or effect on others, then we have a chance that we find wealth of any kind within our lives.
It all comes down to love.
And care.
And compassion.
For our fellow humans.
For all life on Earth.
For ourselves, our faults, our virtues, our imperfections.
For showing up.
For trying our best.
For trying at all.
True healing happens when we acknowledge the wealth in our hearts. When we not only practice this in our own home during a 10 minute meditation as part of our daily to do list, but in everyday life.
Practice makes master.
At some point, it will not even feel like it costs any effort or energy anymore.
At some point it is within your muscular memory, your every cell’s vibration, your very being.
At some point it will become the source of your happiness - being of service to others.
Doing one kind thing every day.
One good deed a day.
Sometimes simply being kind to yourself is all that needs to be done.
‘Just do it.’ means more than the face value of superficial winning to be the best.
It will become the deep knowledge that it is about the journey, the development, the growth.
Which in turn can only be achieved by connection.
Connections with other life forms.
Connections to our core.
‘Just do it’ will be transformed from a mere marketing slogan into the epiphany for humanity - and I am aware that this sounds like a utopian exaggeration of something that started out as this trivial marketing campaign.
But to me- this shows that someone who understands the true value of marketing, also understands human psychology:
We are all doing our best.
Judgement won’t get us far.
Diminishing our light because once upon a time we were taught to accept we are not winners or the best, won’t get us anywhere anyhow.
So try it out.
Be kind to yourself and others.
See everything as a journey and do not be focused so much on the destination.
Reward yourself with new possibilities of new priorities within your new life in this new year 2023.
‘Just do it.’
Happy New Year 2023.
From my heart to yours,
With all the love and light
Nadine