Where There is No Vision, We Perish

​Want to know one good thing about having been religiously indoctrinated as a kid?

​I frequently have random proverbs pop into my thought process. Some of them random, but some of them full of practical life wisdom. Like this one:

​Where there is no vision, the people perish.
Proverbs 29:18

No intent to trigger my ex-fundamental-missionary-kid friends reading this (lol). This verse is pure gold. Especially right now when it seems increasingly difficult to see forward into a predictable, grander, long-term, hopeful plan for the future.

I used to pride myself in inherently going with the flow, having a “whatever” attitude, refusing to abide my life by a set plan. While such a free-spirited perspective can be fun and even necessary sometimes, it’s not useful for moving forward. It isn’t helpful for fulfilling desired outcomes of personal growth.

What I gather from the Proverb is this:

If we want to not stay stuck in the “This Isn’t Working Anymore” place we are in now, we at least need a vision of where we want (need?) to go. We need a sense of why we want to go in a particular direction. Otherwise, not only will we be unable to create much-needed changes to move forward in our individual lives; we risk missing the opportunities to teach adequate methods of aiming toward a future for those who come after us and remain beyond our lifetimes.

I don’t know why I never realized this until, like, the past year or so… Actually, I kinda know why. It’s because I’m a recovering “jUsT tRuSt GoD’s WiLL as an excuse for complacency” fool. Plus, nobody in my immediate life had the ability to lay out this lesson in a way I could understand or legitimately care to implement. I had to learn goal-visioning for myself in my late twenties. And to be honest, I’ve been rather self-centered most of my life– til all the chaos in 2020 quite literally shook up my perspectives. (So there’s that…)

I’d say, finallyyyyyy, at almost 30, I have grown to love goal-setting, establishing a routine and allowing myself to get into a groove with living in ways that aim toward some type of vision.

Perhaps there are two things that prevent us from exploring future possibilities or actively pursuing them.

​1. We are in survival mode.

In survival mode we don’t have the immediate luxury of imagining a realistic vision beyond getting through the month/week/day. Clearly, this can make it hard to even want to think ahead. Or to want something better. Or to think of ourselves as something worthy of Becoming.

​2. We commit to someone else’s vision, expecting it to provide an ideal situation for us.

Subscribing to someone else’s vision can include a career, a favorite cause, a political identity, a religious ideology, you name it. We tend to look to others’ pre-made visions and goals to attach ourselves to, perhaps in attempts of ignoring actually thinking about ours. It can get really distracting once we begin to follow along an outside vision hardcore without critical thought.

Of course, it’s completely human and important to hold shared aims, hopes and dreams for future improvement. This is how history is made. I’m not saying it’s bad to go after a personal vision that’s in line with a strong community of expanders and supporters. I’m saying it’s crucial to be aware of whether or not your life’s direction is one being originated by YOU or mimicked from someone else whose ideas you’ve eaten and digested as your own; neglecting your own timing, feelings and insights about it.

​Generally it’s rare to exist in an environment where the norm is to think about, believe in and plan toward personal vision. The point here is not to guilt us all into not having a vision (if that be the case). The point it to get new thoughts and ideas activated into even further potential.

​Both of the above mentioned are fine if we simply don’t care. But a lot of us don’t like staying there. Staying… here. Perpetuating habits with zero intention or vision behind them.

So, some questions. Call ’em journal prompts 😉 for vision:

Do I have an idea of future vision?
If not, do I want one?
If I want one, what am I willing to start imagining, beyond present feeling?
If I already have ideas, how can I show up for them?
​If showing up already, how far have I come? How is it going?