I have a friend who always says this to me, and I LOVE it. She says it at just the right time, when I’m demonstrating behavior that indicates I’m considering the possibility of accepting an outcome that is not my ultimate goal. It took me a while to use her statement as a gentle smack in the face, to get me back on track. She’s right! …and I know she’s right. I believe that she’s right, and I even try to live my life demonstrating such resolve and conviction. Like everyone though, I too need the gentle reminder, especially in challenging situations.
If you believe it, you can achieve your goal, your ultimate end game. If you believe it, you can achieve your milestones, your turtle steps, your baby steps. If you believe it, you can do anything you want to do. It’s true. It may take some time, you may need to be patient, but what do we have if not time? I know, I know, in our crazy, busy, fast paced world, we often don’t have ‘enough time in the day to get things done’, but we do have the time between now and when we no longer have time here on earth. I think of that time, as my journey through life. Over the years, I’ve learned that if I go crazy to accomplish one of my goals in a short amount of time, I feel good for a minute, and then I start to think about what my next goal is. It’s kind of a short lived pleasure, because I always want to achieve more. This process, for me, makes chasing my dream feel like work. It sucks the pleasure out of the process, and builds an expectation that once I accomplish my dream, I’m going to feel awesome, elated and happy for a very long time. Not the case, at least not for me. Once I obtained my goal, I started to think – what next? I was in a hamster wheel, or riding my bike in a circle …. moving, but never feeling quite satisfied, never feeling like I really got where I needed to be.
Fast forward to today. I look at life different now. It took me 50 years to get to this point, and I’m loving it! I hope that my stories spark others to take a step back and to retool their lives, if they too feel like they are on the never ending hamster wheel of life. Today I am on a journey. I’m traveling on route 66 (which by the way is one of my life long dreams). I’m not just shooting across I80 to get from the East Coast to the West Coast (which I have done… and it’s actually kind of boring). I’m on route 66, and I’m stopping at every attraction, every amusement center along the way. I’m embracing culture, drinking in life, and taking the time to learn from everything I do and everyone I meet. It’s awesome! It’s wonderful! It’s breathtaking! And, I’m ultimately achieving my goal, and so much more because I’m taking the time to savor life. To enjoy and appreciate and revel in the experiences I am having with others along the way.
When I believe it, I do achieve it. It may not be the exact image I had in my mind at the beginning of my journey. I may have retooled my deliverable, modified my approach, re-visioned the final outcome, but it is typically better than what I originally imagined. It’s so cool. When I get confused, or impatient, or unsure of my next turn – I pray. I pray that God with give me a clear understanding of what to do next. This prayer enables me to clear my mind from my own thoughts. It frees me from thinking that I have to make the next decision on my own. It stills me. I let go of ownership of the outcome, and then I eventually ‘just know’, and that is such a cool feeling. Prayer, meditation, mindfully letting go, setting an intention every morning; these are all great ways to clear your mind. Sitting in silence. Keeping the radio, MP3 player, IPad, TV off. Sit with yourself, even for 5 to 10 minutes a day. It’s so good. It doesn’t hurt to try – at most, you’ll miss a couple of songs, maybe the daily gossip on the news too. What you find within yourself, well, that’s so much more worth it.
If you believe it, you can achieve it ~
ttyl
~debbie
