Greetings All —
Business is growing and spring is here and they both add up to the same thing for me — streamlining! In an effort to organize and update my newsletter list, I’d be ever appreciative if you would send me your contact information (name, email address, primary phone number, company name if applicable). Thanks for helping out.
Scroll down for this month’s message.
Some years ago while preparing for a job interview, I decided to read What Color is My Parachute? and there was one exercise in particular that stuck with me — list all the things you want to do before you die. I did and it was very revealing.
So it was no surprise that a feature on the Travel Channel with a similar name — 1000 Places To See Before You Die — would catch my attention. As a firm believer in the law of attraction and one who has several travel items on my aformentioned list, watching this series is a nice juxtaposition of the two. It’s a no-brainer.
I enjoy watching the openness of the young couple on the show as they marvel at the wonders of Alaska and Venice and so forth. However, on one of the early episodes, the woman told a seemingly innocuous story that I cannot shake. When she and her husband won this amazing opportunity and shared it with friends, the response in some cases was to the tune of, “How can you put your life on hold to do this?”
Imagine that. That is how we think now. Seeing the world is considered putting your life on hold. Is that crazy or what? So according to common wisdom, laying your eyes on a real honest-to-goodness glacier is going to stop you from what? Getting ahead at work? Cutting your lawn? Shuttling your kids to soccer practice? Seeing the latest action flick? Padding your retirement account? Going to the Olive Garden?
A decade ago, while being interviewed for a journalism fellowship at a major university, a prominent national journalist/author on the panel asked if it would bother me to be “out of the loop” for so long. We were both sports writers and I knew what he meant, but I was incredulous nonetheless. Would it be worth missing some basketball games and lacrosse matches to have the gift of two semesters of intellectual stimulation at a sprawling, vibrant campus? Heck yes.
Isn’t it time to pause and reflect when we start to view explorations, big and small, as putting our lives on hold? It brings to mind the saying, “Life is what happens to you when you’re busy making other plans.” Yes, the work and the lawn and the movie are part of life. And if we’re smart and emotionally healthy, we have designed that life to our liking. But let’s not get so caught up in the routine that we view the sabbaticals as an intrusion.
What do you want to do before you die? Figure it out and then build it into your life plan. The way I see it, NOT doing so would be putting your life on hold.
If you have any trouble putting that list into action, contact me for a life coaching consultation and I’ll help you work through the kinks to craft it into something special.
