Not everybody is willing to pay what selflessness costs.
“‘What can I do to help you out?”
“Is there anyway I can support what you’re doing?”
“I went ahead and..”
Selfless people are usually ‘busier’ then selfish people.
The difference is that selfless people are intentional, while selfish people are busy worried about themselves.”
-Ray Zingler on X
If you were to sit down and ask people what they prefer to be, “selfless or selfish”, the vast majority of people are going to respond with “selfless”, right?
Nobody outwardly wants to be selfish.
Those people are ego driven, conceited, and smug.
While selfless people are focused on using their gifts and resources to enhance the life experiences of others.
It’s the Big Red X versus the Shiny Green Checkmark.
But if most people were to outwardly claim they prefer selflessness over selfishness, why is it that the world is full of (often overly) selfish people?
It’s because people don’t actually want to be selfless.
They love the idea of being selfless, but they don’t love the (consistent) actions that selfless charges.
Charges?
Yes.
Selflessness comes with a cost. It’s expensive as hell, too.
It costs time, money, energy, and focus. And on top of it all, you must be INTENTIONAL in giving these things away.
You can see why saying you want to be selfless from the comforts of the couch over selfish is the popular answer, but when it comes to the practical aspects and implementation of the notion in the field, there are damn few players.
Selflessness is hard.
It asks that you meet yours and your family’s needs (which is obviously a hell of a task in and of itself, because you have to be able to care of you before you can take care of others) and then with whatever time is left over you have to be intentional about adding more onto an already crowded plate.
This is why selfish people often use the (fake) busy blanket to shield themselves from selflessness. It’s their scapegoat.
“Oh, you know we’re just too busy these days.”
Mmhhhmm.. Selfless people aren’t busy at all. They are frolicking around like fairies with wands just waiting on the selflessness call.
Yeah, right.
Selfless people are busier than selfish people.
The difference is that selfless people are highly intentional about being selfless. It’s planned. It’s calculated. It’s part of their mission. Selflessness isn’t an idea, it’s who they are.
There are unlimited ways to be selfless.
Start small.
You may not change the world tomorrow, but you’ll change your world.
Life is short. Be selfless as hell with it.
