Personal Meditation No. 138

“Courage is choosing to change.”

Embrace the Within.

There are a lot of things to change in my life. And I have slowly worked on changing those things over nearly five decades of being on this planet. The first twenty-five of those years were childhood and the past twenty-three were young adulthood. Trying to find a sense and a meaning for the first twenty-five. So, that the most profound changes are still on the horizon for me is undoubted. Over the past two years, I have finally started to hit a groove and a semblance of being an adult. Taking ownership of my life and putting things into perspective.

Nothing shows the difference in my behavior than getting out on the highways of America where everyone is in a rush and very few have civility. I used to get angry at the way folks drive and their inconsiderate actions BUT now I understand that they’re just not healthy people. I live in a world full of unhealthy people. And I have to remember that, not so long ago, I was just as much a mess as they are now.

That gives me the perspective to teach my children, my students, my peers, my friends, my family, and myself about how important getting healthy truly is for living an amazing life. I am constantly looking for new insights into physical and mental health and I am quite certain my kids and wife are tired of hearing podcasts on health, nutrition, and behavioral science. I am sure that my family is tired of seeing seeds, spores, books, and the like on my present lists. I get the question, “Isn’t there something else you want besides seeds and books?”

And that answer is quite simply, “If it isn’t on my list. I don’t need it.” I gave up on wanting a lot of things and started simplifying things over the past fourteen days. Outside of wrasslin t-shirts, my wardrobe is getting much more sparse. I don’t see the need to buy a lot of things that aren’t moving me forward with my goals. I don’t get distracted by something flashy and sparkly and new. I am rather focused on my path in life right now.

And all it took was deciding I wasn’t going to live the life I was living anymore. Everything else was the work to get me toward that goal. And every day that I took those steps, then those steps got easier and easier. They got me this far and I await where they will lead.

The courage is in the decision to live the life you want. I have always been outside the normal. I was living outside the normal for nearly three decades BUT I never quite found the path for me. I found the paths of other folks that went before me. I found folks to emulate and idolize BUT I never really found me until I had to spend a lot of time around me. I had to have a conversation with myself about what I wanted.

That takes goal-setting and problem-solving and metacognition. And a lot of sometimes scary questions about how you are going to become what you want to be. That takes courage. I hope you find the time to have the conversation with yourself that you need. I hope you start solving your problems and moving forward. I hope you find the knowledge of what you want to become. And I hope you find that courage as well. That courage to change.

Have the day you want. I hope you find whatever you’re looking for.

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoGodsNoMasters #MyBodyMyChoice #MakeYourselfGreatAgain