My beautiful Puerto Rico beach, the place I went to find myself by getting lost
What do you want? Right now, in this moment, what do you want, who do you want to be, what would you like to see in your life?
If you look around and see only what you don’t want to see, then it will be difficult to get anywhere new.
You can’t get there from there.
There are many injustices in the world. People are starving or being persecuted, there is racism and hatred, the economy is making the rich richer and the poor poorer, and the climate is changing. What’s there to like about anything?
But there have never not been challenges. Plagues, war, famine, earthquakes, and whatever happened to the Mayans are moments from history that show things have never been perfect. There is no heaven on earth.
This was taken on my first trip to Puerto Rico, when I decided to find beauty and make sense of my life
There are lots of words in the English language. Some invoke passion, while others are more passive. The word ‘squander’ is powerful. It denotes the intentional wasting of an opportunity, or time, or money.
The actual definition is to waste something in a reckless and foolish manner.
Ouch.
There are so many things that we can do every day. We can make decisions to start an exercise habit, to begin to build our own business, or to find ways to help others.
Or we can sit in front of the TV, or play video games, and squander away the day. It’s a choice.
It’s like a big pen coming out of the sky, writing words that can change everything in an instant
Language is a fascinating creation. So much of what we say has hidden meanings or innuendos that we don’t pay attention to but that can shape our existence in ways we don’t fully appreciate.
A lot of it is almost a form of sorcery.
We go to school to learn to spell. The verb spell means to write or name letters in a correct sequence to form a word. It can also mean to forecast something bad; for instance, the new government could spell disaster to the economy.
The noun form of spell means using words to invoke a magical charm or incantation. Interesting, yes?
I can climb anything I want – just tell me I can’t!
Tell me I can’t do something and you inspire me to try my best, to continue fighting for it even if I have my own doubts that I can accomplish it.
This has always been a motivator for me.
I remember when I was learning to golf, someone said I should hit off of the ladies’ tees, or forward tees or red tees or whatever we call them now, because I couldn’t hit the ball very far.
I refused. I stood at the normal tee box and hit the ball.
Snow yoga – not something I would be excited about doing again!
I have a good exercise habit going on. For the last five years or so, I have been pretty consistent with getting up and getting it done.
For me the mornings always work best. If I leave it until later in the day, I find that the excuses become easy to make and my willpower disappears.
I’ve gotten used to exercising first and eating later. It works for me, and so that is what I do.
That’s the key. You can listen to what other people do, think that it sounds good, and then try it and find out it isn’t for you. It’s not a bad thing – there is something that works for everyone. You just have to experiment until you find it.
Because there is definitely no one thing that works for everyone, trying to make someone else’s routine fit yours can be a frustrating pursuit.
Knowing that you can do something and then choosing not to do it is another matter.
Sometimes I have a bit of an argument with myself when I know I said I would do something and then I just don’t feel like it. It always seems easy to make the plans, set the intention to follow through, and then find enough reasons not to do it .
I have always been good at starting things, but there have been many times when I haven’t finished. And I never feel good about it after.
As I’ve grown older, I now try to commit only to projects that I am passionate about. I guard my time better and am able to say no to things that take me away from what is truly important to me.
My reasons for wanting to do something have to be powerful. I get up and exercise because I love feeling fit, strong, and it gives me energy. If I don’t do it I feel lousy.
Make goals, and make the reasons why you want to achieve the goals so important to you that not following through would be more painful than doing the work.
Strong reasons lead to strong willpower and powerful motivation. You can accomplish almost anything if you want it badly enough.
Beauty is everywhere. Get out and find it! Costa Rica in all of its loveliness
FOMO – the fear of missing out. Apparently this has become a big thing for the younger generations, but it has been around a lot longer than that. It just didn’t have a catchy acronym before!
Although it usually refers to the next party or the next concert or a one-time event, it could easily apply to life in general. The years go by, we aren’t doing what we want to do, and we start to wonder if this is all there is.
Then we start to push ourselves harder. We don’t want to miss out on the latest opportunity, the next big thing, that one event that will finally change our lives into magical fairytales where we never experience hardship or disappointment again.
It would be nice, but I don’t think life actually works like that.
I remember many things that I thought I wanted, or places I thought I needed to go over the years. With age comes perspective. Most of what I thought I wanted would have been a disaster if I had actually received it.
From guys I thought I wanted to marry, to jobs I felt would be fun, to places I thought I wanted to live – when I look back now, I’m very glad that these things didn’t pan out.
Why? Because I can’t imagine being anywhere other than where I am right now.
Through my own experiences, I have learned that everything seems to unfold exactly the way it is supposed to. Holding on to an idea of how life should be takes you away from experiencing your life as it actually is.
If you look around and are truly dissatisfied with where you are and what you are doing, then by making a few decisions you can begin to move in a new direction.
You could change your entire life in the next year if you wanted to. Let’s face it – the year is going to pass by anyways, and if you don’t take control now then nothing will change.
If you want to lose some weight, then start eating less and moving more. The formula isn’t difficult.
If you want a new career, then look at what you can do today to begin to move in that direction. Take a course, talk to people who are doing what you want to do and find out how they started. Do anything to move you forward.
The fear of missing out is unfortunately all too real for many people, but come back to this moment and remember that the decisions you make today will build your tomorrows. In this moment you have the power to do what you need to do.
Make a decision right now that you aren’t going to miss out on what you want. Then take action immediately. Action builds momentum, and momentum produces results.
If you aren’t where you want to be, then don’t keep doing the same things you’ve been doing. Don’t let fear stop you from living life to the fullest.
