I realize this may sound puerile (that is another of those fun words to say like oxymoron) but I have a very serious question for you. Whose life are you leading? Is it the one you always thought it would be? Is it one that has taken you on merry but certainly unexpected adventures? Is it one that you can say leaves you with little regret? Or is it one that conforms to someone else’s expectations of/for you? One that leaves you less than satisfied? One that has more tears than happiness?
Another way of phrasing this is – when you wake up in the morning, what is your first thought? Do you start your day with a smile or a groan? And if you feel that your life is less than you thought, hoped or wished it would be, what’s stopping you from making the changes you need in order to have the life you want? Is the safety of the known, albeit less than satisfactory, to be preferred to the unknown challenge… ‘out there’?
The old saying is true – life is too short to waste the time in regret. Life really is for those who are brave enough to embrace it. And lest you make unwarranted conclusions, I would never suggest that you abandon your responsibilities and those in your life for only selfish acts. It isn’t necessary to throw the baby out with the bathwater – that accomplishes nothing. But… you can start making adjustments to your life choices that heads you in the direction you want to go.
Far too many people wake up one morning to discover that those hopes and dreams and wishes seem as far away as they were when they first decided on them. If true, then do what you can do to begin becoming all you can be. It is never too late. I know I’ve written on this topic before and with some of the same emphases – but that’s probably because too often people give in and stop dreaming, stop doing what they can to accomplish what they want. I challenge you, as I do myself every morning, to make me count today in … my life.
