I am beginning to notice this lately with almost everyone and it slightly annoys me. Almost every time I have a conversation with someone regarding careers and the future, they always have big dreams of becoming financially independent, a star, an influencer etc. Most if not all of them will not make it. Why? One of the biggest reasons is that they have a habit of artificially creating small problems so that they do not have to deal with the bigger, more difficult problems that they are faced with.
One example is children. Let me preface by saying that no one is obligated to have children. That is just a life script that was imposed on you. You don't have to follow it. The choice should be easier when you have dreams of that you want to turn into reality. That isn't easy, as it takes years of dedication, and unwavering ambition to achieve it. So instead of solving that problem, why not replace it with another smaller problem in order to distract myself from my impending failure? Children is perfect for this because often they are used as a perfectly acceptable excuse to miss out on your life goals that may negatively impact you and your relationship with your child. All in all, this is temporary though because once they are grown, the emptiness will come back and you will end up searching for a another problem to cover up the bigger one you refused to address (e.g. grandkids).
You can use relationships as well. There are so many people out there investing their time and money into maintaining relationships with people who are toxic and taking them nowhere. Jumping from one bad relationship to another. All while avoiding the elephant in the room; themselves.
School is also another example. It is almost time for the final tests of the semester, and I am sure a lot of students are procrastinating, and studying for an exam that won't mean **** for them in the long run. The real world, where your dreams can manifest into reality, largely doesn't care about your test scores or your GPA. So why do it? Because its easier to sit down and take a multiple choice test for a few hours that your professor prepared you for than go out into the real world where you have be resourceful and intelligent to gain actual success.
How about video games where gamers spend hours grinding to complete challenges, quests, and acquire unique items?
Why can't they use that dedication on other parts of their lives? Because completing quests in a game is easier than completing a real life quest where you don't have infinite lives, can't go back in time, can't stand still and think etc.
At this point, you get the picture. People are afraid of approaching the real problems in their lives, so they replace it with smaller problems that makes them feel better but they are still sick; it's like taking Dayquil instead of taking rest and eating right. Temporary relief instead of a cure.
We are only here on this earth once. Distracting yourself now will leave less time for you to slay your demons.
Thanks for reading!