Getting What You Want

Are you getting what you want or have you decided to just take whatever comes along?  If you’ve been following for very long, you have to know how opposed I am to that mindset.  You have been given unique talents to maximize your potential on this earth.  Everyone benefits when we use our talents to the full.

My intent is not to encourage you to be selfish, or self-centered.  Any man wrapped up in himself is a very small package.  However, far too many people take whatever hand is dealt them.  WRONG!  If you try to do something extraordinary, you may fail.  But you may succeed beyond anything you imagined.

At the end of your life, you will regret the things you didn’t do more than than the things you did.  Just do it!

Rain

Even hearing the word brings a certain peace.  The patter on the roof, the drop in temperature on a hot summer day, the fresh smell in the air.

Standing out in the rain however, causes us to cower and run for shelter.  We don’t like the feeling of being wet, pelted by water droplets.  Watch as the multitudes hide out inside, waiting for the storm to pass.  We run and hunker as though we’re being chased, as if somehow, the drops could be avoided.

Sometimes the things we avoid are the very things that would change our attitude.  Watch a child in the rain.  They are oblivious to the fact they are drenched!  They’re having too much fun.  Look at the smile, hear the laughter, annoyed?  They love it!  The rain doesn’t change for them, they accept and embrace it.

The next time “rain” falls on you, let your inner child handle it. Hey, you may even smile!

 

 

Enough!

You will never do anything different.  Change is not possible.  That is, until you’ve had enough.  When you’re tired of doing things the same way, the way that no longer works, you’ll change,

“The pain of staying the same has to become greater than the pain of change.”

Anthony Coppedge

Change is painful.  Truth is, it hurts like hell.  I don’t like it.  I like routine.  I like the known, the predictable, then mundane.  Change challenges all of that.  It’s scary, uncomfortable.

The truth is it’s also exhilarating, stimulating and is the only thing that will cause us to grow and become all we can.

You will change, when you’ve had enough of the same.

Time

My dad never said much worth quoting.  I mean no disrespect in saying that, he just was not a deeply philosophical individual.  One of the the things I’ve never been able to escape was something he said to me once when I said, “I wish it was Friday!”  He looked at me with intense seriousness and said, “Son, don’t wish your life away.”

The inescapable truth is we all wish so much of our lives away.  We can’t wait for Friday, vacation, Christmas, you name it.  We want it and we want it now.  Unfortunately, when the event comes and goes, we find the anticipation was bigger than it was.  We’re often left a bit empty because it didn’t live up to the hype.  Now, a little older, we find that a Father’s wisdom prevails after all, “Son, don’t wish your life away.”

Just enjoy the moment.  The things that seem so insignificant may in years to come be the thing you remember rather than the time you wished for.  The moments you wish you could live again may have at the time seemed quite unimportant.  They’re not.  Not one of them.  Make them all count or the time will come when you’ll wish you had.

A Rough Spot

I love hiking.  It’s one of my passions.  There are some trails and some portions of others that I don’t like.  Actually, I cringe when I get there and if not for the destination, I wouldn’t hike them.  It’s that bad.

Life is like a trail sometimes.  Quite honestly, there are times I want to get off the path. One side promises jagged, almost vertical rock wall.  The other side hosts a deep gorge, with an uncertain stopping point.  Ahead lies more pain but promises unparalleled views.  Options are limited.  Resources are nearly exhausted and desire is gone.  What compelled me to come?  I’m spent.  I want off.  I’m hurt and tired beyond description

Pride will not let me quit and fear will not let me waver.  The bit of passion I have left keeps pushing me forward, fueled by the unquenchable thirst to know what lies ahead.  I draw on the last of my stores to complete my trek.  I punish my soul, one agonizing step after the other.  To give up is to die.  In the immortal words of Sir Winston Chuchill, “Never give up.  Never.”