The Journey to Living Well

Everywhere you turn it seems to be swirling around you.  You feel like you can't get a break, it's absolute chaos.  I have been thinking about this a lot lately.  Many of us have this desire, almost need to achieve perfection.  We may not think we do, but it is there, hiding amidst us.  What if we stopped trying to achieve perfection?  What if we stopped looking at life as being less than or needing more and enjoyed what we do have? I have had so many conversations with people who are wanting.  They want more.  They feel their life is lacking somehow.  They feel like they can't gain their footing. When we try to achieve something or some ideal that doesn't exist, we lose our joy, we lose ourselves.  We can start to feel like a failure and miss out on all the great things around us. Maybe we aren't where we want to be yet.  Maybe we have goals we haven't achieved.  Maybe so many things, but even if we are still on our way, we sh...

 We've all heard it before that we need to make a plan or plan to fail.  So here's my question: Have you actually made a plan or are you still just winging it?  I will admit that there are some areas of my life that I have just been winging it.  I hadn't noticed until recently that's what I was doing.  I have always chosen my goals, made a plan and worked for them.  In undergoing some major changes in life, I stepped back a bit.  My intent was never to "wing it" because that's not who I am. To my core I believe in working hard to achieve the life I want and the dreams I have.  I look at this as a little reminder that without a plan, I am planning to fail.  I have felt like I have been spinning my wheels a bit.  I've been doing the work but not gaining much traction with some of my dreams.  Then the epiphany hit.  What's my plan?  What are the steps I need to take to get there?  I had not made my plan. I know as someon...

I have spent so much of my life trying to be who everyone else thought I should be.  No matter how hard I tried to just be me, I kept losing my way and myself.  Why I have tried so hard over the years to fit in, I have no idea.  I chased after people.  I chased after things I didn't want.  I did what was supposed to come next.  And ultimately that got me nowhere.  I was surrounded by people but felt so utterly lonely.   When I was younger, I did the traditional white dress, big wedding, the whole shebang.  It was what was supposed to come next.  We didn't fit.  I don't want to speak ill of my first husband because he is the father of my children and will always have a special place in my life and heart.  It was both of us trying to fit into a relationship that wasn't us.  We bought the house.  We got married.  We had kids.  We kept taking the next step and the next and the next. Fast forward.  We got di...

 The last year and a half have been very humbling for me.  After having been sick for so long and still working on healing, my body doesn't always do what I want it to.  Things that used to be easy for me have become difficult.  I used to be able to bike 25 miles like it was nothing on the trails.  I even biked 78 miles in a mtb race a few years ago.  I have cried more times than I can count out of frustration.  This has definitely been a season of grieving for me.  We are still unsure of what I will be able to gain back and what I won't.   I find myself in a place that is unfamiliar.  I have always been able to pick a goal and reach it, but right now that is proving to be a bit more difficult.  For anyone who knows me, this will not stop me.  I am digging in and figuring it out day by day.  So what if I can't run right now.  I can walk, and I can hike.  So what if I can't bike 25 miles.  I can bike over 6 m...

 One step at a time.  One day at a time.  One foot in front of the other.  So many ways to look at it, but one simple truth.  Take it slowly, bit by bit.  Success can seem far away when we look at where we want to end up, but what if we break it down?  What if instead of trying to just look at where we want to go, we pay attention to the steps we need to take to get there?  It's time to shift focus from the end goal to the little steps along the way.  No one who climbed a mountain did it without taking many smaller steps along the way.  We can get so caught up on arriving at the finish line that we miss the lessons and beautiful things along the way.   I have been so focused on where I want to get to in regaining my health and fitness after being ill that I have been beating myself up that I'm not there already.  I keep looking to my end goal and becoming frustrated.  I needed to stop the insanity.  I needed to stop h...