Originally posted on Facebook HERE
Dawn of a new day. Endless possibilities. Every day has endless possibilities. Every life has endless possibilities. How often do we really explore them? How often do we seriously consider anything that goes away from our routines, or from the “normal” way of doing things? At my age, people have started asking me when I’m going to retire. I seriously never think about it unless and until I’m asked because it doesn’t really cross my mind. Why would I retire? Why is Bruce Springsteen still playing three hour shows at 73 years old? Shouldn’t he be retired? Maybe his retirement fund isn’t big enough yet? I doubt that’s the reason. It has to do with passion. The ”normal” way of doing things is to work at a job until later in life, then retire. Nothing at all wrong with that. Bill Belichick will turn 71 in April. Still coaching the Patriots – and he’s also the general manager. Extremely time consuming jobs. Why?… why not retire?… because he has a burning desire, a passion, a love for what he does. But we have all kinds of normal routines that people follow – whether it’s going to college or buying a house or how a funeral is handled. I love it when I meet an outlier. Someone who lives their life from within a box of their own making and consistently questions if it’s still the box they want to stay in, and has the courage to blow everything apart when called to do so. Those people who, when you talk to them, make you think – wow, I can’t believe you actually did that. We tend to side with our rational sides more than with our intuitive sides. The rational side – you do this, then that, here’s how this is done, it been done this way for years, etc – is safer, feels way more comfortable. Then there’s that voice in the back of our heads, saying “Hey there! What if we tried this?”… and sometimes there’s real magic in those thoughts if we’re open to considering them. Consider it all. Sell everything you own and move to Maui?… Why not? Fear? Ah… fear. Fear holds us back so often from exploring new horizons. The desire has to be stronger than the fear for us to ever move forward. You wanna have your funeral be a huge party on the beach in Cancun with a band, that uses up all your estate proceeds to pay everyone’s way there and back for a week, why not? Throw your ashes in the ocean in the midst of the coolest party ever. Now that’s a funeral. One we’ll probably never see, though. But… hmmm… maybe it’s time to rethink that estate plan… and everything else as well. We get one shot at this life. Don’t limit your expectations based on what’s always been done before. Blow it up! What new and creative things could you do do make your life more interesting and exciting – to make it YOUR life?… stay open to it all…
