Don't be Left Dreaming, Do It.

One thing that I have learned over these past few months, is that you cannot predict how things are going to go in life. You can only control how you respond to them. These past few months have challenged me in a way that I have never been challenged before and have pushed me way outside my comfort zone. And if I am going to be completely honest, I have been left feeling like a shadow of myself and still am a bit today.

During this time, I can see glimpses of myself, especially when things that are important to me come up: they help bring me out of myself, but I am still not quite there. Therefore, I decided to pour myself into reading, into self-development and to focus my attention on finding and building a connection with the Universe / God / Woman in the Sky - whatever you want to call it. I’ve been working to redirect my focus, and in doing so, I made a list of all of the things that I want to accomplish in my lifetime: places I want to go, people I want to meet, anything and everything that I ever dreamt of doing.

As a result, I put a timeline against each item on my list of when I would like to achieve each goal, which put into perspective just how long life is. Granted, it can feel rather short as it feels like it goes by rather quickly, but when you’re putting down 20 - 30 plus years beside your goals, you realize that you do, in fact, have time to do the things that you want to do.

It really was a big eye-opener and made me realize that it's time that I start planning and taking action towards the goals that I have in life, otherwise they are merely dreams. And I don’t want to be a dreamer. I want to be a doer. I want to take action. I want to say that I lived and left no stone unturned.

As a result, I looked at my short-term goals and made the commitment to run my first marathon this year!

I have spent years thinking and dreaming about doing it, so why not just do it?

I made the commitment at the beginning of the year and have been training since. Granted, as I have struggled personally, there have been some weeks that I have fallen off course. During this time, I did not train, I did not stick to a regimented eating plan and indulged and ate quite a bit of sweets (more than I care to admit). But I have a date in mind and I am going to keep pushing; I am going to keep learning, and I am going to keep training.

I am not running my first marathon intending to be the fastest: I am going in with the mindset of enjoying the process, having some fun, and to simply finish. I am giving myself permission to be messy. To make mistakes, but at the same time, to push my limits and prove that I am capable of achieving anything I set my mind to.

Isn’t this what life is about at the end of the day: Trying new things; enjoying the process; being messy; all the while, knowing that you at least tried and lived?