100 Ways To Motivate Yourself, Third Edition

20. Leave high school forever

Many of us feel as though we’ve been left stranded in high school forever, as if something happened there that we’ve never shaken off. Before high school, in our earlier and more carefree childhoods, we were creative dreamers filled with a boundless sense of energy and wonder. But in high school something got turned around. For the first time in our lives, we began fearing what other people were thinking of us. All of a sudden, our mission in life became not to be embarrassed. We were afraid to look bad, and so we made it a point not to take risks.

I’ll never forget something that happened to my friend Richard in high school. Richard and I were walking home from school one day, and all of a sudden he stopped in his ...