Your life legacy. There is no greater question. At one time it might have been so clear, but then, the world catches up, our perception of reality sets in, and our dreams are lost.  Feeling the pressure of what needs to get done, conforming into the approved path of life, we give up what we once held so dearly.  Legendary is about finding that legacy, believing in it and yourself, and having the courage to make it your reality.  If this is your one shot at life, how do you want to live it?

Our childhood holds several certainties.  The loss of a first tooth, the inevitable punishment for misbehaving, and the perspective of life being this vast and limitless playground.  It doesn’t make sense to hang upside-down from the monkey bars now, but then it was an adventure. We did it because we wanted to, we did it because we saw the ideas potential, lets face it, we did it because it was fun.  And most of the time hanging upside down from the monkey bars would result in the loss of our first tooth quickly followed by the inevitable punishment. Thus fulfilling the inevitable events of our youth in one swift, miscalculation of our leg placement on some dirty, silver-faded bars.

Anything that was in our knowledge bank could be shaped and molded through our imagination.  Filters, that we depend on to navigate our lives so well, didn’t exist at this age.  Childish and immature as your 10-year old intent might be, it was pure and uncontaminated from societal influences.  But as we grow and learn, we also forget - we forget that life’s a playground.

Instead we feel pressures.  Pressures that say monkey bars are trivial and big, bright yellow slides are a waste of time.  But what could be more important then our childhood rational for doing things. Wanting to act, seeing potential in the idea of doing, and having fun are ideas that get dirtied and manipulated by normative pressures.

Suddenly our wants and our ideas get pushed aside by a more powerful pressure of perceived needs.  The need for a job, any job. The need to make money, lots of money. The need for success, great success.  The problem here is that one and two do not add up to the latter.  And while at one time we had what is now an outlandish dream at best, we are so caught up in fulfilling our day to day pressures, that we forget about the 10-year old game plan of our life.

It is an uncomfortable feeling when everyone is doing one thing and you are the isolated person doing something else.  You almost automatically think you must be wrong.  Otherwise someone else would be doing what you are.

But how many people do you think are feeling the same way you are? Scared to get out of line because everyone else is in it.

Group norms and dynamics are strong.  We are influenced by them daily, and although they play beneficial roles in our lives, we let go of certain things, very important things, in order to follow the group.

Psychologist Solomon Asch conducted an experiment examining group conformity and peer pressure.  Using a series of straight, black lines, he would ask participants which line was longer.  Unknown to the participant, the three people asked before that person were all confederates.  They purposefully answered the questions incorrectly and when it came time for the participant to answer he or she was significantly more likely to choose the wrong answer.

Nearly 75% of the participants went along with the group at least one time and a total combination of trials and results indicated they conformed to the incorrect group answer one third of the time.

We are perfectly intelligent individuals who know very well which line is longer. Not wanting to stray from the majority, and thinking there must be something they are missing, participants would pick what they knew to be the wrong answer.

And so in life we don’t see people on monkey bars. We see people in jobs.  Not necessarily jobs that they want to be doing, but everyone follows that path, so it must be the right one?  And even if you know that it might be the wrong answer, it doesn’t relieve the pressure.

That’s life.  Pressures are always present.  You should do this - you need to do that.  And so your playground now has something it never had before, a set of rules.  You follow them just like everyone else.  But these aren’t your rules. Suddenly you are living in a life scripted by should’s and need’s that aren’t even your own.

What is it you want to do with your life? What is your legacy? It’s alright if it doesn’t fit in these predefined rules of what should happen or what needs to happen.  If this is your one shot at life then what do you want to happen? And what are you scared of?  As daunting as the fear of doing can by it seems trivial compared to the realization of not.

So it may be against the rules and you might be the only one doing it, but hanging from those monkey bars might be the most authentic and original thing you could do.