The Struggle

I’m going to state the obvious, growing up is hard. Having grown up in the Midwest we tend to get accustomed to the comforts that life has to offer. Maybe it’s not just the Midwest, maybe it’s just a human thing. Here’s how it goes; Grow up in a decent family, mom and dad try hard to get along (or maybe not so hard) because I mean, what else do you do? Graduate high school and get into a decent college not too far from home. Forgot to mention, working a part-time/full-time job while trying to maintain good grades isn’t as easy as it seems. During college you meet a guy/girl and low and behold he/she is the one, so now that that’s settled this can go one of two ways; baby before or after marriage, doesn’t make a difference these days. You get a steady and good paying job. Yes, both men and women have a work life and guess what, this is normal. You ‘grow up’ and sure as h*ll, grow old. I mean the rest is history right? I think I speak for humankind when I say this, I call bullsh*t.

When did life become a norm? When did we as a collective stop shooting beyond the stars and chasing the dreams that scare the be-jesus out of us? Why is it such a struggle sometimes to not know what in the h*ll we are doing and actually be okay with that?? The only standards and expectations that are of this life, we have put there as a whole. My greatest wish, to you and beyond, is that you live a life you’re proud of (thank you Rascal Flatts, I wish it too).

Regardless of age, or maturity for some of us, life isn’t just about what happens to us, life is about how we respond to it all. Do we give up and give in? Do we throw in the towel and live a life someone else would have wanted? Do we make excuses and play victim? I’ve spent a lot of life doing the latter, afraid of the unknown, afraid of the possibilities, afraid of my potential. It’s always easier to stay with what we know, or at least so we thought. So why do I feel nothing? Why do I want for more? Why do I look for the little bit of passion and then go off to extremes in an effort to savor it? Why do I feel like the life I’m living, isn’t the life for me anymore? Sometimes I can’t tell the difference between these feelings and if this is another ‘escape’ method or if this is my higher calling coming to the rescue. I tell you what, all I know is that it’s time for us to step up and step out. What’s holding you back from living a life you dreamed of? What is stopping you from surrendering to letting life live you and instead, actually living life? We can get so caught up in the moment of ‘this is how life is supposed to be’ or ‘man, this is how I wish life was’. It’s time to take a stand. Who do you want to be? What do you want to do? And when you look back in 20, 30, 40, 50 years, what do you want to see? When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say ‘I used everything you gave me’ – Erma Bombeck. So what does your story look like?

 

Light & Love, always

Kels

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