Remember when summer seemed to last forever? My mother use to say that some day we would realize just how fast time goes by. As usual, my mother was right. It's not that time has sped up but that our relationship to time has changed. We no longer have the perspective of time from a child's point of view. After living some 40 plus years, we realize that in the grand scheme of things the length of our lives can be measured in the blink of any eye. All the more reason to be conscious about choosing how we spend our time and live our lives. If you've heard the news lately, it's been like listening to an old 45 record with a scratch in it. The bad news keeps playing over and over: gas prices are soaring, people are losing their jobs, we may all get sick with the Flu next year, and the war in Iraq goes on. This repetitive onslaught of bad news has a spellbinding and paralyzing effect on us. We start to believe and act accordingly to what we are told. We even begin telling ourselves that this isn't the right time to start a new business, leave a job, go back to school, or move. Then the "what ifs" start chiming in. What if I lose my job? What if I can't find another job? What if I get sick? What if I can't pay my bills? This is what fear is designed to do: keep us from moving forward, from taking risks, and settling for mediocrity. Yes, there will always be a reason why you can't do something. The question is, are you going to let that stop you? In the play, Steel Magnolia's, the character Shelby suffers from brittle diabetes. She wants desperately to have a baby knowing that she is risking her health and going against medical advice. To her, having the opportunity is worth the risk. She says: "I'd rather live 30 minutes of wonderful than a lifetime of nothing special." What would 30 minutes of wonderful look like to you at this time in your life? Take a piece of paper and write down what immediately comes to your mind. Maybe it comes to you in a word, an image or a feeling. If you find yourself staring at a blank sheet of paper, I will guarantee that if you hang that piece of paper on the wall, every time you walk by it, you will be motivated to fill in the blank space with your answer. And, when you think about it, if you can create 30 minutes of wonderful then isn't it possible to create a lifetime that is something special? It's only too late if you don't start living now. |
