'Dreamers are not content with being mediocre.' Rick Pitino 

Neither dreamers nor strategists are. Mediocrity is the universal comfort zone, our area of retreat, the safe home of casualness, far away from venture and adventure. It´s the place where we go to avoid any complication. It´s furthermore the place where nothing ever happens, thus stagnancy rules. 

There is this saying that: If you don´t go forwards, you go backwards. Refusing mediocrity is more than that. It´s about doing things with passion or not at all. It´s about willing to be special. It´s about living fully and fearlessly.  

It´s about wanting all or nothing at all. 

The All or Nothing Theory 

A yesterday´s held chat with my friend Daniel inspired me to write this article. We know each other for 30 years now, which means that we have these 'great minds think alike moments' when one of us said something and the other one was thinking exactly the same. 

Yesterday we came to the conclusion that we are both these kind of persons who always need to give all or nothing - in order to get all or nothing. Obviously, we can´t succeed all the time. Life behaves like waves: sometimes we swim at the top and everything works out magically, and sometimes we don´t. 

The key is that we´ve never stopped trying to swim at the top. 

We couldn´t ever content ourselves by chosing the middle course. We wouldn´t be able to accept missing the chance to have more than that. We would feel thirst for adventure, excitement, true emotions. We would experience thirst for life. 

Wanting all or nothing means to never underestimate your capabilities. 

Being mediocre means accepting to not go to one´s own limits, to never step over the edge and see what´s on the other side of the mountain. Mediocrity is the devaluation of our personal potentials.  

'The Gambler (2014)' (1:03 minutes video worth watching!) 

You're set up to be a philosopher or a king or Shakespeare and (...) all they give you (...) is an instruction in how to be ordinary...

The whole video transcript (Source: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2039393/quotes): 

There was a student... just the other day... who said that my problem,  if one's nature is a problem, rather than just problematic, is that I  see things in terms of victory or death, and not just victory but total  victory. And it's true: I always have. It's either victory, or don't  bother. The only thing worth doing is the impossible. Everything else is gray. You're born... as a man... with the nerves of a soldier, the apprehension of an angel, to lift a phrase, but there is no use for it.  Here? Where's the use for it? 

You're set up to be a philosopher or a king or Shakespeare, and this is all they give you? This? Twenty- odd years of school which is all instruction in how to be ordinary... or  they'll fucking kill you, they fucking will, and then it's a career,  which is not the same thing as existence... I want unlimited things. I want everything. A real love. A real house. A real thing to do... every  day. I'd rather die if I don't get it. Did I just say that out loud?  

Love is an all-or-nothing-game 

We shouldn´t ever fall in love with somebody who wouldn´t be able to say something like:
'I am into it' after a certain time. Everybody deserves to hear that at least once in a lifetime. Everybody deserves to hear 'You know what? I go all in with you.' 

'Behind somebody who ventures is somebody who loves.'
Pabro Arribas: 'Sal con un valiente' (Spanish: Go with a brave one)

Love is probably one of the most risky adventures of all. You put your heart into the hands of somebody else, completely tear down your defense wall and accept to be 100% vulnerable.

Where love is there is no compromise. 

Yes, if things didn´t work out the way you expected, it could almost kill you. Almost. Things that don´t kill us, give us new reasons to write. The scars of life are witnesses of passion.   

The only thing in life you can lose are opportunities

The brave ones - the all in guys - don´t really care about society´s understanding of success vs. failure. What counts for brave people is having tried. 

The brave ones know that the only thing you can lose in life is not your relationship neither a game nor a salary. They know that the only thing you can lose is the next opportunity.  

John Newman: 'Come And Get It'  ♫ 

Every man has been broken
Every woman too
The reason I think I’m something special
Is ‘cause I was never broken by you 

Final thoughts:
The scars of life are witnesses of passion. They are symbols of heroism, proving that we didn´t ever miss a chance to swim at the top of life´s wave.
Mediocrity slows us down, impedes movement. If we don´t go forwards, we go backwards. That´s why there is only one way: All In Or Nothing.   

I hope you enjoyed the read.
Have a wonderful weekend Steemians, and don´t forget to be brave :-)
Marly -

'Life is either an adventure or nothing.' Helen Keller
All In! 

Picture sources:
Title image: pixabay.com
Love actually card: http://www.motherjones.com/files/
Couple sun: http://static.tumblr.com/dfao9gt/n8umaipis/