The problem with Motivational Speakers

Every generation has it's trends and buzz words. Generational gaps used to be up to 15-20 years, but right now, it feels like it is a struggle to even have a 10 year gap because everyone is fused into the lifestyle and trends of everyone else.

Anyway, that will be a post for another day.

Amidst all the fashion, social media and fitness trends around the world today, one trend that has grown over the past decade is the 'Motivation' trend. There are more and more people who actually have business cards that read "Motivational Speaker" and the job description of a "Life Coach" has not only been created, but also modified a few times.

The messages of "positivity", "self motivation", "be all you can be", "discover yourself", "chase your dreams" and "never give up" are spewed all over social media, the internet, radio and really, everyone is trying to live the positive life...which is a good thing. BUT....

You knew there had to be a 'But' right? lol

Every self acclaimed motivational speaker asks this question (or something akin to it): "Who are you really? What drives you? What is your purpose in life?" As much as finding the answer this question is probably key to living a fulfilling life, I think that a good number of people go through life really not knowing the answer. (and I believe that it is fine to not know the answer...there is nothing wrong with being lost as long as you accept that you are lost and embrace it as an adventure in which you will find interesting, distasteful, painful and exhilarating things). Because it is now 'in-trend' to break away from a seemingly professional and boring path and do something more random and indie-based and artistic/creative, there are more and more people who come at the world, saying that they have find the creative spirit in them and and are following their dreams (even when these dreams are really more of nightmares).

The pressure to find ourselves, put on us by motivational speakers and speeches (at this point, I pinch myself because I have gone this 'motivate-the-people' route on several of my past radio shows), has, in my opinion, raised a generation of people who are so blinded by the need to be charismatic, irrationally positive (or do a good job at pretending to be) and unrealistically ambitious. 

With religion, were the churches that preach prosperity and the all the rights a child of God has to the gold and milk and honey from the kingdom, get more patronage than the churches that preach that you have to put in the work in righteousness, unconditional love and persecution to be worthy of the title 'Child of God'. So it is with Motivational speeches. The formula of telling the people that positivity is all that matters has been tried and tested and seen to work. Technically, if you are not able to discover yourself, it is your fault. So the motivational speaker is there to put the pressure on you till you do...hopefully, the pressure will confuse you enough to make it more difficult for you to find yourself and make you more dependent on their CDs, books and events.

Don't get me wrong. Please be motivated and positive and all the things we are told to be in all the self help books published. But by all means, do not beat yourself if you ever do not know what you are meant to be or do. Most importantly, do not deceive yourself into believing that whatever it is you are doing now that seem to be a break from the norm, is what you have truly been called to do.

Allow yourself go through life without any hanging canopies...even the ones that push you unnecessarily to be a better version of you. Who says there is a better version? Life is short...live free.

Take Judas for instance...from the day he was born, he was 'called' to betray Jesus.