To grow

Happy Thursday:

How are you all doing on this amazing Thursday evening? Are you getting excited for the weekend? I know I am. I have some fun stuff planned. I get to go to a tea with my girl-tribe on Saturday and on Sunday, my club is having a lucky duck derby. That’s always a fun event and the money we raise at this event goes to a great cause. The money raised enables us to continue our philanthropy within our community for kiddos and their families.

I wanted to share with you all the reason I’ve been a little absent again. I signed up for a 3 day writing course, a 5 day writing course and a 4 day business course. Wow, the information I received was invigorating. While I did get a little lost on the business class, the writing course was simply the best. I felt like I found my place in life. I mean, I know writing is my passion. This class though, I felt like I was immersed in my passion, learning and collaborating with others who are just as passionate as I am about writing. I am beyond excited, because in my class, I was given the opportunity to submit my book to a major publisher for consideration. With that being said, I’m diving back into my original manuscript and changing things again, for at least the 5th time since finishing the book. I’ll keep you posted as things progress and once I submit my memoir to the publisher, I’ll let you know.

I am so excited to write again. I’ve added to my dream of becoming a published author and I’m smiling from ear to ear with the possibilities out there for me. I am a tad nervous that I’ll drop the ball and miss opportunities, however, I think as long as I keep John up to date on my to-do list, he’ll help me stay focused and on task, at least to the best of his ability. I’m a handful at times.

With so many changes happening in my life, I thought this quote I ran across a couple weeks back seemed only fitting to share with everyone. Who knows, maybe one of you needs to hear it too.

“The only way that we can live, is if we grow. The only way we can grow is if we change. The only way that we can change is if we learn. The only way we can learn is if we are exposed. And the only way that we can become exposed is if we throw ourselves out into the open. Do it. Throw yourself.”-C. JoyBell C.

I’m sure most, if not all of you would agree, change is not the easiest thing in the world to embrace. I know for me; change gives me anxiety, yet, in some ways, it also gives me a burst of energy and excitement.

I’m super excited for all the journey’s John and I have planned for this year and beyond, yet, some of the things we have planned do make me nervous. Hard to believe I’m nervous when I have a man as amazing as John by my side, yet, the butterflies flutter about deep within my soul, then again, maybe the butterflies are about the unknowns, maybe it’s John giving me butterflies, after all, he is truly, the love of my life.

I think in all honesty, the reason I’m a tad nervous is because I still find it hard to embrace and let go of all the what if’s. Those what if’s are something out of my control and I need to learn to remember that small detail. I need to remember I can’t control everything in my life, but I can learn to control the way I respond to the changes. With a mind set like that, I will gain power over allowing my thoughts to wander, and perhaps, on that note, I can get out of the nervousness of the what if’s.

I’m beyond blessed to have someone in my life that supports me, supports us and embraces the unknowns of our life. I suppose, embracing the unknowns is to embrace the changes and the journey.

“Life is a journey, not a destination.”-Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Think about this. Every time we wake up, we are given the opportunity to make choices for that day. Each decision we make from the moment we awaken, until the closing of our eyes as we slip into our slumber, those choices, are our free will. We are setting our life up for each day to go a certain way, but what if we chose, for example to stay home rather than go to the store? With that choice, we could have very well avoided an accident. We could have avoided being robbed, or assaulted in some way. On the flip side, what if we decided not to stay home and say, went to the grocery store? What if we would have stopped by the lotto machine on our way out of the store? Who knows, we could have changed our entire life by perhaps buying the winning lotto ticket. Point is, each step we take every day is setting up our life for the future. What a concept, isn’t it?

I think what I take from this concept is, we can stay locked up in our little bubbles of life and stay snuggled up safe (for the most part) at home and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. We each have a choice to make for the life we want to live. Some of us prefer the comfort of home while others seek the adventure of the world. We have free will and we have the ability, for the most part, to make a choice of how to live. We might not agree with each others choices and they may not agree with ours, and that’s okay. We can either choose to live a quiet life, safe, for the most part from the outside world, or, we can go out into the world and live life, love life and embrace life’s unknowns. When we choose to be open to the adventures of life, we grow. We grow in wisdom. We grow in insight. We grow in experiences. Overall, we grow as a person.

This is not to say those that chose the quiet life, the home life miss out, or don’t grow, they do, just in a different way, and that’s okay. It’s a wonderful thing to have the choice to live a life we want, because some aren’t as fortunate in this life. It’s sad when we take life for granted. I mean, you just never know what tomorrow will bring, that is, if we see tomorrow. Life is so precious and life is short. Time is a gift, one that I believe strongly our creator doesn’t want us to squander away. Sure, he wants us to have the ability to relax, and he wants us to have the ability to enjoy new things.

To grow is to experience life in my opinion. Whatever experiencing looks like for you I’m sure is different from what it looks like to me. I just hope, as you and I navigate through life we grow as individuals. I hope we live life with little to no regret, after all, we never know when our final sleep may come. “Go as far as you can see and when you get there, you will always be able to see farther.”-Zig Ziglar.

I love this quote. To me, it shows the never ending potential for all of us to grow. There’s no finish line in sight. Once we think we’ve made it to the finish line, all we have to do is look up, look out and look beyond, because we are seeing another future. I guess, it’s up to us to decide how to proceed.

“Life is about growing, learning and becoming. You can not grow, learn, or become if you can not embrace the changes in your life.”-Steve Rizzo.

I don’t know what challenges I’ll face tomorrow when I wake up. I don’t know the obstacles, if any I’ll face, but I do know when I wake up, I am gifted with another day to make a choice, to make a difference to follow my dream. I know tomorrow I’m one day closer to my dream of becoming a published author. I also know I’ll be one day closer to my final breath. It’s my choice how to spend those moments and I hope I make the right choices for me and for John and I, after-all, we’re in this life together as long as God sees fit.

I hope tomorrow, we all wake up, thank our creator for another wonderful day of life and I hope we make choices where we continue to learn and grow as individuals.

That’s my thought for today. Until next time, don’t forget, Love Life++ hugs