Voluntarily caged

So many of us know ourselves only from our limited experiences in familiar situations that involve rules, laws, and pressures from what society considers as "normal". Since kids we have everything organized: we go to school, we have to study, we go on planned vacations. We don't have the time to think and to realize what we really are passionate about. Everything is decided for us. Then growing up we start to work and to pay the bills and the taxes, day in and year out. So we are part of the organized system that makes us leaving in a comfort zone. But what happens when we are exposed to totally new and unfamiliar settings where our habits don’t suffice? When we start a new job, when we move to a new country, when we radically change our habitat. The old we were used to might not work as expected when the ground rules change.
So what should we do? How should we act?
Being broken, losing friends and having sleepless nights can be tough when young and inexperienced. But that is how progress is made. That is how we learn. That is how we discover our true potential and our real desires.
One of my favourite motivational bits of advice are the following words of Charles Bukowski:

“If you're going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don't even start. This could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives and maybe even your mind. It could mean not eating for three or four days. It could mean freezing on a park bench. It could mean jail. It could mean derision. It could mean isolation. Isolation is the gift. All the others are a test of your endurance, of how much you really want to do it. And, you'll do it, despite rejection and the worst odds. And it will be better than anything else you can imagine. If you're going to try, go all the way. There is no other feeling like that. You will be alone with the gods, and the nights will flame with fire. You will ride life straight to perfect laughter. It's the only good fight there is.”