Starting the Journey Over

Growing up I had this picture of what success was supposed to look like.  It looked perfect, and I wanted that perfection.  Boy was I wrong.  I strived to have perfection in all I did.  I thought success meant being perfect.  Through a series of unfortunate events when I was in High School, I learned that perfect I was not.  I thought this meant that I was not successful and could not fully achieve success. I saw myself through tinted glasses.  I allowed the actions of others to cloud my view.  Perfect was not attainable.  It was never attainable.  That realization hurt me for a long time, but now I find it freeing.  I am flawed.  I am imperfect.  I am real.  And, I am successful.  I am also a failure.  That failure is what spurs me on to reach higher and work harder. I would rather be imperfect and fail than have a facade of perfection.  I have learned that what I used to think was success and was pe...

Have you ever sat there thinking that did not go well at all?  Your words failed you.  They failed to say what you meant, what you felt, what you thought.  Everything came out all wrong and jumbled.  And there you sit feeling lost and broken wondering how it could go so wrong.  Nothing came out right. I sit here thinking back over so many conversations gone wrong in life.  How do we fix what was said after?  Sometimes jumbled words can cause pain and heartache even when the intent was never meant to do that.  We can completely miss the mark sometimes. It takes being completely open and raw to show your true intent.  Now is not the time to hold back.  If your words have failed you, you need your heart to take over.  It's also time for action.  You can't just sit back, hoping your intended meaning will shine through the mess you've inadvertently made.  Do what it takes for your true heart and meaning to be heard. Words...

On a recent adventure in life, I encountered many disappearing roads.  When coming to the top of the climb on many ascents of a mountain road, the road appeared to disappear.  I couldn't tell where I was going to go once I reached the top.  It felt uncomfortable and disconcerting not knowing what was coming next. Life is often like that.  We feel that the road we are on just disappears.  There is no map to follow to tell us which way we go next.  We may know what we want out of life, but every time we try to get there, we fall off track.  There is a little glimpse of the path we are supposed to take and only a glimpse.  The unknown can be very scary, but it can hold so many great surprises.  We always fear what we don't know.  It's funny in a way because so many times there was nothing to fear. The twists, turns and unknowns of life often hold a lot of promise.  Stay the course even when you can't see the next step in the journey....

Life is busy and chaotic and crazy.  It's not going to slow down.  It's not going to get easier.  It is however easy to get caught up and get pulled along like your stuck in the current of a river.  We can be swept away and miss what is right before us. I used to complain that my life was busy.  I felt like I never got a moment to breath, to catch up.  My life felt out of control.  I let my life get out of control, and I was missing everything going on around me.  I had completely lost sight of what was important.  I was missing the beauty in the every day moments. It seemed like I was waiting for life to happen all while missing life going on right around me.  I was missing the opportunities in front of me, missing the beauty in the simple moments of life, letting chaos rule.  The funny thing is I was missing the beauty in the chaos. Life is chaotic.  Life is beautiful.  There is and can be beauty in that chaos.  ...