The World in My Hands

"The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware."  - Henry Miller

     I am one that likes to be inspired.  The last few years of my life have not been inspiring ones...  I have been on many journeys.  Spike (my foot) has had some EPIC thrill rides.  Yet something happened to me during 2011.  What was it exactly?  Choice.

     Life is made up of choices.  Each day we face thousands of them. What will I eat for breakfast? What will I wear to work?  Then there are the less obvious choices that we make: Breathe in and out, swallow, cough, poop.  Although most of our choices may seem trivial, I have found that at any given time, there are choices that can change our lives. 

     During August, I experienced New York City for the first time.  I experienced it during a hurricane.  Having suffered from chronic pain for years, I have recently come to appreciate each day of life as a gift.  As Andrew and I talked to the locals in preperation for the hurricane, I noticed a totally split crowd of New Yorkers.  It seemed that half of them were over preparing while the other half didn't think it was a big deal and decided maybe they should go kayaking in the middle of the hurricane.  Poor choices usually end badly.  In this case, men from the National Guard risked their lives to save those of the mindless kayakers.  This event brought me to serious reflection: How would I feel if I knew that today could be my last day?  How would I spend my final moments?  What should I do to more fully enjoy and appreciate life?

     This experience led me to determine that the world is what I make it.  Two men look out through the same bars; one sees the mud and one sees the stars.  Certainly the situation these men are in is identical.  But what causes one of them to change their focus?  Attitude?  Wisdom?  CHOICE!!  The fact of the matter is all of us are going to pass through life's roller coaster.  It will hit us each in different ways and at different times.  For me it has hit my health. For others it may hit finances, family, friends, or all at once.  Yet life is still good!  Life is great in fact!  Why is it great?  Because it is whatever we make it!  What I realized in that hotel room while the winds howled and rains poured down outside the 1 inch pane of glass seperating me from certain wetness, was that the choices that matter most are the ones we make about how to react to the things that happen to us.  What we CHOOSE to see, the mud or the stars, is completely and utterly up to us.

     As 2012 begins, I know that the World is in my hands...  What I choose to do with it is up to me.  I've failed to live up to my potential the last few years and that stops now.  Pain will not hold me back.  Anxiety will fade like the sunset.  I will get in the best shape of my life.  I will be more positive.  I will update my blog more.  I will get my MBA.  I will be in relentless pursuit of things that matter.  Will it have its ups and downs?  I'm sure it will.  But when I look back on 2012, I will most certainly achieve one thing: I will be inspired... Why?  Because I choose to be!

"Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for; it is a thing to be achieved." -William Jennings Bryant