Last night, shortly before the full moon began to arrive in the eastern sky, I was sitting on my patio at my apartment. Just to the south I saw one of the apartment managers preparing to show an apartment to a young couple. It was hard to tell from the heighth and distance, but they couldn't have been older than 20 or so. Like a flashback that they so eloquently display in movies, I was taken back through my life to when I was that age.
I can remember the excitement of "getting started". I was fresh out of college, married, and had my "eye on the ball". I had the most amazing plan for career, family.............just life in general. I had a plan. You'll laugh, but at one point my goal in life was to own the Interfirst Tower in downtown Dallas. I don't know what you call it now, but it's the one outlined in green neon. Then the most incredible thing happened right in the middle of "getting a new apartment and setting out on my illustrious career"........................change.
I think it's safe to say that almost nothing of my original plan has come to fruition. I don't live where I thought I would. I have a career that didn't even cross my mind as a child. I don't have a yellow house with shutters and a white picket fence. I live in an apartment. I don't have a dog. I DO have two wonderful children, but it's an "extended" family so to speak. I didn't stay married for 50 years. I even had a health scare in my early 40's that truly threatened to REALLY change things.
It's cliche, but the only thing for certain in this life, is that it will change. It may not be tomorrow or next week or even next month, but trust me on this. Change is coming like a mile of locomotives and you can't stop it. The real question is, how are you going to handle it? I was so happy for that young couple yesterday, yet life experience made me want to scream at them to hold on tight because it wasn't always going to be this perfect.
I've handled all my changes in life with varied success. Some were not my fault. Some were entirely my fault. Some I embraced with child-like enthusiasm. Some made me cower in a corner, sleeping, never wanting to come out. In the end, it seems it's always been about acceptance. It's been about accepting the fact that this is how things are right now, this minute. I have very little control over what happens next. The universe seems to align to arrange things to It's will. God's will, if you entertain that concept.
So here's my suggestion. Reflect on your life and take a moment to enjoy all that you've done. If it weren't for all my "changes" there are tons of wonderful things I might never have accomplished. Sure, I'm not a billionaire and I didn't cure cancer or make world peace a reality. But I have saved a life or two, seen the Grand Canyon, taken a great motorcycle trip and helped raise two amazing daughters. Success is what you make it.
Is it divorce? Death of a loved one? Career change? You moving? Fear not. Rejoice in the moment, because it's really all we have to hold on to. Right this minute is all that's guaranteed. Enjoy it.
This too, shall pass.
Nice, Matt. I could have written this myself.
ReplyDeleteWhen I married for love at 18 (and I'd do it all over again), my expectation was a house in the country with half a dozen kids and the dogs and the chickens all running around the yard. I wasn't interested in college because I was going to be a stay at home mom. Life didn't turn out that way but I'm glad.
I love my two boys. I've been to France. I've had my 2 seconds of fame in the Internet marketing world. I've held on to Andy and enjoyed the ride as he's gone off on all his wild adventures in life. I've lived in a cul-de-sac, in the country and in a high rise and I've love living in all of them. I've worked corporate, I've stayed at home and I've worked from home...and I realized that I need to work...it gives me the intellectual stimulation and challenge that I need in life.
So...I enjoyed the post. Very though provoking this morning.