How big a jolt do you need to be convinced that your life isn’t turning out to be less than what was promised or you expected, wanted, or once believed possible? If you thought it would be coming from someone else, forget it. That jolt must come from you.
Maybe it already has.
Like smoke rising from a smoldering fire, it most likely originated from one, two, or all three of these sources — time, achievement, and satisfaction. It’s highly likely you are near or already at the upper limit of how much time you can squeeze from an absolute 24 hours, your achievements have fallen short of what you anticipated or dreamed, and few seem to notice or care about your successes.
Fearful of being considered irrelevant, you responded to those realities by more closely budgeting your time, revising your list of what you wanted to accomplish, and raising the quality bar even higher.
That’s fine if you want to pump your life as you would pump iron at the gym, stress and strain yourself, create a puddle of sweat with maybe no one watching, admiring, or encouraging.
Here, however, is the reality: The more time you spend in achieving, the less time you will have for yourself and the more you achieve, the more you and others will want or require of you.
In the meantime, the calendar pages continue to turn, moving you and everyone else through their twenties and thirties, then on through their forties, fifties, sixties, and beyond. You are already sensing that the days, weeks, months, and years are arriving, hesitating, then fading much too quickly. You were born happy, and here you are, frustrated by the goals you aren’t reaching, the ribbons you aren’t breaking, and the awards you aren’t winning.
You know all too well that there are no guarantees and that you can’t relive the past, but you can certainly do something about the present and hence your future. Yes, you can get your arms around it, and yes, the old saying of “better late than never” definitely applies.
Here are some thoughts for you to consider. It’s a broad sweep, so it will be up to you to figure out which ones apply most to you. Like a mechanic, consider them as tools to use for either a major overhaul or a mere tune-up.
- Say “no” to everything, then carefully retract and substitute “yes” on a strictly limited and worthy basis.
- A wise person once said we all could save a lot of time by not hearing or reading the news until ten years after it happened. By then, historians would have identified what was really worth knowing.
- To live an interesting life is a choice. If it isn’t interesting, you are choosing wrong. Fix it.
- Achieving may appear to be a matter of getting, but it begins with giving. And the more you give, the more you get.
- Regardless of the benefits they will provide in the hereafter, obeying the Ten Commandments is the best possible way to live your mortal life here on earth. Add to that the Golden Rule which is the finest gift you can give anyone.
- Whatever you are today is what you are becoming.
- Your physical body is a magnificent example of superb design and workmanship. It is all yours and the only one you will ever have. Protect it from excesses. Cradle it in your loving arms then speak to it and be aware of its answer. Give or get help if something goes wrong your body that it can’t seem to easily or quickly fix.
- Of course there’s a heaven. So be smart and plan accordingly.
- Human beings couldn’t have a more magnificent companion than Mother Nature. An endless sense of overpowering wonder awaits all those who sample her wonders. Be one of them.
- No matter what happens or what anyone says, there never has been, isn’t now, nor will there ever be another person just like you. Make the most of that uniqueness.
- Extend a helping hand to anyone who complains or objects to you doing or believing any of the above.
