This week has been all about finding great sources of information to help us, not just me, get ahead in life. My journey is more our journey. I count on all of you reading to continue doing so for motivation and drive. Today I write my message to you.
We are all in the same boat. At some point all of us have trials and tribulations we need to overcome to take that next step in our lives. Sometimes, we give up and let life take its course. We accept the cards we have been given and the roles we have been assigned. We basically become the people trapped in the Matrix whose lives have been preordained and mapped out. For some of us, that is perfect. We have no issue with continuing on the road paved for us. We work our 9-5 Monday to Friday, drive the kids to soccer, have a barbeque for the friends and relatives once in a while and go to sleep at 11:30pm after the news or maybe a bit later to catch the opening of David Letterman. It sounds like a great life and you know what, for some it absolutely is.
Then there are the people who have different ideas. There are those of us who spend days on end wondering what went wrong? Why didn’t I take that left turn at Albuquerque? How did I get to where I am today?
That was me. I was that person. I could have tried to make peace with the hand I was dealt and continue doing what I was doing. But I am not that person and I know some of you out there feel the same way. To steal a line from one of the most emotional scenes in Shawshank Redemption, “I have to remind myself that some birds aren’t meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright. And when they fly away, the part of you that knows it was a sin to lock them up DOES rejoice.†When I think of that quote it makes me feel better about my decision. I would have woken up again one day down the road and started with a whole slew of questions…again. Why? What if? What happened? I asked myself “Would I be able to live with myself even 10 years down the road if I don’t even at least take a shot?†My answer was simple and unequivocal, no. I would not be able to live with myself.
So here we are. Some of you are happy with your lives and are reading to enjoy or support my story. Some of you, like me, long for more and are trying to figure out how to get there or where to start. That’s what this week has been all about. I want to be able to look back when I reread these posts and not think it was a self-serving piece of tripe better left in the hallows of the World Wide Web than promoted and continued. I want this journey to be about something more than me. I want to know that whatever I learn along the way, that not only do I share it, but I try to find a way for other people to take something away from the experience and hopefully help other people try to achieve their goals.
If you are the same as me. If you are someone who can’t settle. Then decide to make a move. In my post yesterday the column by Henrik Edberg had an awesome quote by Theodore Roosevelt. He said, “In a moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing to do, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.†I invite you to decide to try something new. I invite you to pursue a dream. Even if you fail the pursuit will be rewarding and it will change you for the better. You can sleep easy knowing you did anything and everything you could to try and make your dream possible. That’s the worst case scenario!
What is the best case scenario? That you succeed. That you get what you want. You can’t lose when you try. This is in stark contrast to you can never lose if you don’t play. When you try you are least in the game and can benefit from the experience. Try. If you are sitting there with something eating at the back of your mind, some unfinished business or a road left untraveled. Try. I invite you to take your shot. You have nothing to lose.
