Your Life Belongs to You

You thought I was going to continue numbering the posts forever?

I hope not, just the thought of having to keep track of all those numbers is mind numbing. If I wanted to be a numbers person....oh right...I track numbers all day long. Want to know what the regional average is for doctors compensation by year, hour, and specialty? Me neither, but I do. So no numbers.

I had several ideas for this next lesson, but they didn't feel quite right and between that and life I couldn't quite bring myself to post. And then while I was showering the fully formed idea for this post hit me.

This is why I don't carry a notebook for my thoughts. My thoughts are as inconsiderate as life tends to be occurring to me at times when I surely couldn't stop to write them down. Like in the shower, jogging, exercising in general, sex, right in the middle of someone telling me something that is very pivotal to their lives - wait hold that thought while I write something clever down.

Can you imagine? I don't think it would be pretty.

And it isn't very nice either, so I've trained my brain to have mental post its so I can visualize the thought and tag it for later reminders - like on your Outlook calendar.

So on to the thought.

You owe your life to no one.

Don't start arguing yet - let it sink in for a moment while I explain what I mean.

This isn't meant to be a purely ego driven comment that says damn the man and my parents and I do what I want.

It's a reminder that a life is too much to have to owe anyone, yes I owe my mother a lot for bringing me into this world, but do I owe her living a life I don't want to make her happy?

No. Nor should I, and I don't because my mother only wants for her children to be happy.

Let me give you another example -

You sit around day by day and are frustrated with your life, your job, money, friends, home life, etc. You complain and you are depressed. Or even just mildly dissatisfied by it or something else.

Whether or not you feel powerless.

Whether or not you feel that you are realistically in a place to change some or all of those things.

Whether or not you feel like it was really your decision to end up where you are.

Doesn't matter.

You have a choice - they are not always pretty, but there are always options. So you have to decide - if you are going to continue doing what you are doing - in this case lets say a job - then you have to recognize that is your choice.

You don't owe the responsibility of the choice or the resulting actions to anyone but you.

It is easy to be angry and frustrated at others and even ourselves, but it is much harder to simply recognize that life is full of hard choices and sometimes we have to make do with the shitty option until something better comes along.

So your life is - always - in your hands. And if you choose to spend it doing something you don't life - think about this -

You get one chance to live today - to be the age you are today and it will be gone like a spring tulip. Never to return.

So are you going to spend it - crying, laughing, worrying, alone, lonely, in despair?

Or will you choose something different as you consider your options?

Take a walk and think about it. Maybe you will have an inspiring moment or conversation that will lead to a new life.