I learned about writing a blog everyday and thought I am going to do this everyday for 2 years and see what happens. There are lots of days I wouldn’t have written anything without making that promise because it’s hard and sometimes I feel flat and have nothing to say.
I learned about vulnerability and said I want to be more like that. Then I found out how hard it was and I kind of didn’t want to do that anymore.
I learned about empathy and thought I can do more of that. Then I realized how hard it is because in order to practice empathy you really need to understand how you feel and operate on the other side of the equation, and I didn’t always know that.
I learned about the importance of adding value to someone else’s life and that my legacy would be every life I touch, and I thought I want to do more value adding. Then I realized how hard it is to be full of value when I’m just an ordinary person.
And through all of this I’ve learned a few things…
I’ve learned a lot about forgiveness. I’ve had to forgive myself for not knowing how, for not being perfect, for not being able to consistently do the things I’ve wanted to do, and for not being able to apply it to all areas of my life without someone telling me I’m missing a spot.
I’ve learned a lot about resilience. The only thing worse than trying to get through something that’s hard, is to quit because something seemed harder than I expected. I couldn’t stand the thought of not writing a blog post, not being empathetic, or not being vulnerable just because it was hard.
I’ve learned that I forget to enjoy the journey when it’s hard. I start wishing for myself to be at the finish line. I close my eyes and power through instead of pausing. I look back and wish I could be there, I look forward and wish I could be there. When really I just need to be here because this is where I am.
There is no escaping what’s hard.
There is no option to hide, to ignore, or to stay in a rut.
But there is the option to stop taking life so seriously and to enjoy the journey and the gifts it brings.
There is a chance we might look back and think these were some of the best days of our life.
So let’s live them and let’s enjoy them like they are the best days of our lives.