It’s still January as I write this and the first month of 2017 will soon fade and the year will officially launch from exciting newness into our mundane patterns of routine normalcy. I chose to write this BLOG a little later this month to catch you…to remind you…to stop you…at the month’s exit door. I want to get your attention before you leave January in your rear view mirror.
I want to ask you to pause for an brief moment and invite you to reflect on New Year’s for a spell. If you can just relax and go back there; I know it’s not easy because you’ve already been captured by the demands of life. Your schedule is already at the mercy of the momentum of the years current and the undertow of February is already pulling at you. But what were your ambitious 2017 New Year’s goals and aspirations inspirationally slated December 30, 2016? What were all the things not met in 2016 and year’s prior that you knew you wanted to get right this year? Contemplate the changes, improvements, quests, aspirations you so excitedly aspired to achieve as you rung in the New Year.
I bring this up to ensure you aren’t so overcome by the daily grind that you haven’t left YOU behind in the process. It’s so easy to do, by the way. We’re living. We’re working. We’re busy. We’re consumed. We’re full throttle and all engines go. You’d think we would certainly have ourselves at the nucleus of all that commotion and action. The Big Plan of all things that ARE. But believe it or not, sometimes the demands we accept and allow override the plans for WHO we are. Sometimes the LIFE we live isn’t ours. We can be alive, but not living. We can get lost in it all. It’s insidious how this wayward existence makes its stealth debut without our consent or knowledge. We surrender to the leaden existence sometimes without knowing, for hours. Then days. Those days turn into weeks. Weeks turn into years. And those years turn into decades. And for many, those decades turn into a lifetime.
I talk to people often who wonder where they went throughout life’s journey of chapters and acts. Time seems to have slipped on by without conscious attention to intentional purpose and meaning. They often do not know what happened to the hopes and dreams they once held sacred. They see themselves as a mere skeletal embodiment of an individual whom once was housed in their physical frame. When I ask these folks what their dreams once were, there are often long pauses and blank mental deliberation. Some can’t remember. One thing is certain, they are always bewildered. Bemused over the question—but more so over the fact that they exist so far away from the answers—and never knew they had even wandered.
So I ask you, this last week in January of 2017—to remember not to unintentionally wander from your dreams and aspirations. Hold them close. Write them down and keep them with you. They are part of YOU and your life journey. Carry them with you through the demands of other things, the chaos, distractions—never let go of them. While it’s true, you do only live once, there are many glorious days to do the living! Make sure each one embodies much purpose, joy and incredible happiness. Make sure it is spent doing what you love with whom you cherish being with. Shower the people you love with love, including yourself.
While I am all for re-purposing, redesigning and remapping our life as we age, I don’t want you to lose sight of where you are headed along the way! Keep your life compass close and follow your treasured living map! Live life through your bucket list! Age doesn't matter but living does! Always have great adventures in your future that you look forward to with anticipation! May 2017 be the year for your dreams to come true and you to live your BEST life now. And as always, my wishes are for you to do it with flair, finesse, and FUNctionality!