“What you tolerate, you accept.”
If you tolerate being a victim, you’ll always be a victim. If you tolerate what your parents or a teacher said to you as a child, you will always be a byproduct of their perception. A boss that hates you, an employee that takes advantage of you, a neighbor who always puts his trashcan in front of your driveway—why do we tolerate these things?
Because it feels safer than standing up and saying, “No.”
Most people will tolerate just about anything as long as they feel safe. That means they will get into average relationships, they’ll get into average jobs, design their life around average desires. No great risks, but no great joy, either. Maybe it’s satisfying to them. I see it as sad—I believe you should always want more than what you have today.
For years, I tolerated people saying I was dumb, that I couldn’t perform at a university level, that I’d never have financial independence, or that I’d always be codependent on relationships and parental guidance. It took me a long time to realize that by tolerating their words, I’d accepted them as part of my identity.
That realization was what allowed me to say, “Screw it—I’m not going to be that person anymore. I’m choosing to risk everything in order to live my own life.”
- excerpt from Blissful Ignorance "The Art of bring an Entrepreneur"
