Originally posted on Facebook HERE
Thinking about floors and ceilings today… and perceptions. We all have our ups and downs. We all have things we’d like to attain in our lives. We all have different views of what success is. Many people set monetary goals, for example – “I’d like to make $100,000 a year”, or “I want a net worth of at least a million dollars”. For some people, monetary goals are very important to them. It defines their idea of success in life. Other people see things in their own way, and define success by a different set of parameters. Whatever the goal is it’s totally unique to each of us. Even two people who have similar goals won’t be 100% exact. Whatever it is that we think equates a successful life will involve many options, and they will be varied in levels of importance. Those options and levels are constantly changing as we age. And we’ll have floors and ceilings along the way, too – things that happen one way or the other that might change how we view things. Or, maybe – with some introspection, we realize that whatever it is we thought we wanted we really didn’t want at all. Not enough to do whatever was necessary to attain it, anyway. When I was in my 20s, I really think that being a rock star was a goal. At least getting a record deal and becoming a nationally known band or artist. That was the pinnacle to me. Man, if that happened I would certainly have seen myself as a success. And I did a lot of the necessary work, too – practicing for hours every day, playing with other musicians, recording albums, sending demos to record companies… but none of the bands I was with ever hit it big (yet). As I got older my idea of what a successful life would look and feel like changed. And I started thinking – man, if I could just make $100,000 a year and have a house in the country with my wife and a dog, that would be success… wow. Been a long time since I thought about that. Around 1990 that was really my dream life. And it’s the life I’ve been living for years now. Huh… What happens once you hit goals like that? Well, new goals take their place I guess. But the goals I have now don’t determine whether I see myself as a success or not. I think I’ve succeeded big time in the game of life. Along the way I’ve had some extremely low points, too. I know what debt feels like. I know what ending a relationship feels like. I know what losing a pet, or a loved one feels like. I know what having them all happen at once feels like. But the lows will either make us lose our will to live or reset ourselves to make the changes needed to succeed. And eventually, if we put in the work, we’ll start to really look back in awe. It happened to me yesterday at the office. Another quiet Saturday and the overwhelming feeling of love and gratitude just took over. How did I get here? How did I get such a great bunch of friends? How is it that I have this family? How did I get this job, these clients? It’s all amazing. It’s all fantastic. And now I just see success in life as being able to live with love and gratitude for every moment. Funny thing is, when you can do that… everything else will just fall in place. Thank you for reading this post. You’re awesome. I hope you know that. I mean, really know in the depth of your heart what a gift you are to this world. We are the only thing standing in the way of what we think of ourselves… and in my life I’ve explored both ends of that spectrum. I appreciate what I have today because of the experience of knowing what it’s like from the other end. Floors and ceilings form our perceptions. And our perceptions determine our self image. And the world will respond to what we believe we are from there…
