Why do many people stay mediocre in life | A Philosopher's Perspective
Mediocrity more than a self realization stems from the society’s expectation from us; which is not necessarily a bad thing. And in this article we will understand why. But before we understand that, here is why people stay mediocre in life.
Most people stay mediocre in life because they get accustomed to the comfort zone they’re in. Even if they’re not really where they want to be, extended period of anything be it a bad situation becomes comforting and it becomes very difficult to choose uncertainty over comfort.
Cocooned in the comfort zone
It is obvious that someone who is drowning will put his life to swim above the water even though he doesn’t know how to swim. But someone who already knows how to swim and is not in a difficult situation is relaxed and stress free. Now if you ask him to level up his swimming skills or to learn surfing, seeing the amount of learning curve it has, he will rather opt out of it.
This scenario happens to all of us countless times in our lives. Once we achieve some stature in society or something of some value we feel satisfied and start enjoying our achievement so much that it becomes our natural state of being. And by now your younger self who did all the hard work to get you there becomes a distant one and you start to live life in auto-pilot because you’ve forgotten how to work hard & you don’t want to anymore.
Unaware of opportunities and the market
This is also a repercussion of achieving something in life. You think you’ve made it and your friends appreciate that about you. Slowly, you stop looking ahead and stop updating yourself with the world. Eventually, you become a Nokia in the world of Smartphones and this is how you become unaware of the amount of opportunities the world has to offer you.
Afraid of uncertainty
Now think of it this way, you’re safe and relaxed in your cocoon of comfort zone and you’re also unaware of the opportunities of the market. Would you deliberately want to go out there and try to figure it out even though you could just lay back in your comfy sofa and watch your favourite TV show?
Would it be normal for you to accept that level of uncertainty and work to achieve something more valuable or it would be easier to give up and console yourself thinking you’re not doing that bad in life anyway so it’s fine.
Fear of failure
Now let’s say you overcame all of the above and you start to work on something new. This is exactly when the fear of failure will creep in. Firstly you’ll risk losing what you already have and also your previous stature in society. On top of it, there is no guarantee that you’ll succeed in the attempt you’re trying to make. This will also block you from escaping the mediocrity trap.
So you see, there are multiple factors that come into play why do so many people stay mediocre. Even if you feel that you’re not like this and you’ll not fall into the trap of comfort zone. You’re wrong, because you’re human after all and we’re bound to make mistakes. But it is again up to us to accept our mistakes and put continuous efforts to overcome laziness and strive for the heights of success.
Ultimately, instead of thinking success as the pressure to compete against the society, it is better to think of it as honing our ability to achieve the most we can. In this way, escaping mediocrity will not feel like a burden. After all, life is all about becoming all we can be and living each moment to the fullest.
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