That's a really good question. My immediate response is "everything." But if I really think about it, I don't know if that's entirely true yet. Upon further evaluation of this question, I had another question that I must answer before the original question is answered. "What do I want to become?" I believe this is a question that a lot of people haven't answered or are having a hard time answering. I know I do.
What do I want to become? That question can encompass so much from personal to spiritual to social to professional. And to answer the question in any of these categories would require a certain level of soul searching, which can be difficult in and of itself if you've ignored your personal desires for any amount of time.
I don't think, however, I will be able to answer the original question until the second is answered. First I must decide what I want to be. Only then can I decide what I'm willing to sacrifice to be what I want to be. Going back to my original hasty reply to the question, being willing to sacrifice everything to be what I want to become is a huge commitment. Being willing to sacrifice everything could mean anything from giving up some time in front of the t.v. to losing friends. It could mean changing the kind of books I read to estrangement from my family. Being willing to sacrifice everything could mean a little or it could mean a lot. To be where I want to be, I must be willing to sacrifice anything.
In order to accomplish any kind of impossible, I know that big sacrifices are going to have to be made. A friend told me, "With every decision, there is sacrifice." The bigger the decision, the bigger the sacrifice. I want to accomplish impossible things. So I have to be ready to make big sacrifices. But before I can commit in my mind or to anyone else, I have to decide what I want to become. I think that making my plan to accomplish impossible is going to require answers in all the categories I mentioned earlier; personal, spiritual, social, and professional. Maybe even more than that. But it's a start.
And so begins my soul searching.
What am I willing to sacrifice for what I want to become?
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Call Me Unconventional
I'm a dreamer. I have big dreams for my life. I tend to think about and see things differently from most people. That can be hard because sometimes I am misunderstood. I'm pretty sure that my thoughts usually aren't profound or on any higher level than the next average person. However, my thoughts do tend to stray down "the road less traveled" if you will. Call me unconventional. When I do share my thoughts, sometimes I get shot down, laughed at, blown off, whatever you want to call it, I have a negative experience. I, then, either retreat or blow up. Either way, I can't understand why the other party doesn't see what I'm seeing and it hurts.
Because of that pain of rejection, I have slipped into a negative cycle. (I call it negative because it won't help me accomplish anything, much less impossible.) One of two things usually happen. Either I conjure up the courage (yes, I have to summon the energy to say something I'm thinking whether it's "unconventional" or not) to say what I'm thinking, or I just never say anything at all. If I do say my thoughts out loud, that's usually where they stop because I don't push past the negative pressures. And if I don't say anything at all then the thought is lost with newer input. These are unhealthy trends.
They are unhealthy for a couple reasons. One is that I shouldn't let other people's opinion dictate my actions. I should state my own thoughts, my own opinions, my own goals and dreams, my own epiphanies and I should stand by them as mine. I should defend my position when I know I am right. I should protect my dreams and goals because no one else will make sure I reach them. I should worry less about what people, who are impulsively negative about my thoughts, think because if they won't even give themselves time to mull it over in their own mind then they really don't know what they're talking about. The second reason my trends are unhealthy is because what if I am letting the brief negative I experience stop me from changing the world? What if Edison quit trying invent the lightbulb? What if Columbus stopped trying find a new way to India? What if Lincoln didn't hold the colonies together? They all experience intense negative! What if they quit? What if we had no lightbulb? What if we still thought the world was flat? What if the United States of America weren't united? What if I accept the status quo? Nothing would change. Life would go on and no one would know what they are missing.
Everything new, everything different is "unconventional." I have to be ok with that. I want to impact the world. If I want to do that I have to be like Columbus and Edison and Lincoln. I have to have that never quit attitude. Life or death. Columbus could have died on his trip across the Atlantic. He had no idea where he was going! All he knew was that he had to get there or die trying. Lincoln led the nation to unity at the cost of his life. I know that most of us aren't going to feel the need to invent something new or discover something at the cost of our lives, but what if you are? Are you just going to give up and regret it for the rest of your life? I've heard that most people end up regretting what they never did and should have more than what they did do and shouldn't have. I've also heard a definition of hell as who you are meeting who you could have been. What if you just do what you know you need to do and be the person you need to be?
Nothing is by accident. You are alive for a reason. You may not be here to invent lightbulb, but you are here to impact the people around you and deep down I think most of you know what you're supposed to be doing. DO IT! Whether it's serving at your church, or ministering to the homeless, or whatever it is just do it. And if you don't know what you should be doing, start there. Volunteer your time somewhere. How much different would this world be if each person would set goals and act on their dreams. What have you always wanted to do and just haven't taken the time to go do it? Be the person you want everyone to remember when you're gone. Each person was created to shine. You were born with strengths. Capitalize on them and change your life and the lives around you.
Because of that pain of rejection, I have slipped into a negative cycle. (I call it negative because it won't help me accomplish anything, much less impossible.) One of two things usually happen. Either I conjure up the courage (yes, I have to summon the energy to say something I'm thinking whether it's "unconventional" or not) to say what I'm thinking, or I just never say anything at all. If I do say my thoughts out loud, that's usually where they stop because I don't push past the negative pressures. And if I don't say anything at all then the thought is lost with newer input. These are unhealthy trends.
They are unhealthy for a couple reasons. One is that I shouldn't let other people's opinion dictate my actions. I should state my own thoughts, my own opinions, my own goals and dreams, my own epiphanies and I should stand by them as mine. I should defend my position when I know I am right. I should protect my dreams and goals because no one else will make sure I reach them. I should worry less about what people, who are impulsively negative about my thoughts, think because if they won't even give themselves time to mull it over in their own mind then they really don't know what they're talking about. The second reason my trends are unhealthy is because what if I am letting the brief negative I experience stop me from changing the world? What if Edison quit trying invent the lightbulb? What if Columbus stopped trying find a new way to India? What if Lincoln didn't hold the colonies together? They all experience intense negative! What if they quit? What if we had no lightbulb? What if we still thought the world was flat? What if the United States of America weren't united? What if I accept the status quo? Nothing would change. Life would go on and no one would know what they are missing.
Everything new, everything different is "unconventional." I have to be ok with that. I want to impact the world. If I want to do that I have to be like Columbus and Edison and Lincoln. I have to have that never quit attitude. Life or death. Columbus could have died on his trip across the Atlantic. He had no idea where he was going! All he knew was that he had to get there or die trying. Lincoln led the nation to unity at the cost of his life. I know that most of us aren't going to feel the need to invent something new or discover something at the cost of our lives, but what if you are? Are you just going to give up and regret it for the rest of your life? I've heard that most people end up regretting what they never did and should have more than what they did do and shouldn't have. I've also heard a definition of hell as who you are meeting who you could have been. What if you just do what you know you need to do and be the person you need to be?
Nothing is by accident. You are alive for a reason. You may not be here to invent lightbulb, but you are here to impact the people around you and deep down I think most of you know what you're supposed to be doing. DO IT! Whether it's serving at your church, or ministering to the homeless, or whatever it is just do it. And if you don't know what you should be doing, start there. Volunteer your time somewhere. How much different would this world be if each person would set goals and act on their dreams. What have you always wanted to do and just haven't taken the time to go do it? Be the person you want everyone to remember when you're gone. Each person was created to shine. You were born with strengths. Capitalize on them and change your life and the lives around you.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Dream Impossible
One day I was on the porch swing with my one-year-old nephew with little else to do as he fell asleep in my arms but think. That's when I had this epiphany.
I began to think about all the "greats" of time. I thought about Christopher Columbus and how he crossed over uncharted waters to discover the Americas. I thought about George Washington and how he lead a fledgling United States of America to freedom from England. I thought about Abraham Lincoln and how he maintained the union of the states. I though about Thomas Edison and how he invented the lightbulb. All things once thought to be impossible.
As I thought about all these people, I realized that each one of them impacted the entire world. Every single one of them did something that changed the course of history. They also did these "great" things at some kind of cost to themselves-- from mock and ridicule to the cost of lives.
Plus possibility of accomlishment was questioned. Once, the world was flat and it was impossible to go the other way around the world. Once the electric lightbulb was unimaginable. Once the 13 colonies in America couldn't ever dream of being a United and great nation. Impossible right?
No. None of them believed their mission was impossible. They accomplished impossible and impacted the world.
This is where my epiphany began. I realized that if my dreams aren't impossible, they probably aren't big enough.
I want to impact the world. I want to invent my own lightbulb. I want to accomplish my own impossible. Not only that, but I also want to help people all over the country and the world accomplish their own impossible.
I began to think about all the "greats" of time. I thought about Christopher Columbus and how he crossed over uncharted waters to discover the Americas. I thought about George Washington and how he lead a fledgling United States of America to freedom from England. I thought about Abraham Lincoln and how he maintained the union of the states. I though about Thomas Edison and how he invented the lightbulb. All things once thought to be impossible.
As I thought about all these people, I realized that each one of them impacted the entire world. Every single one of them did something that changed the course of history. They also did these "great" things at some kind of cost to themselves-- from mock and ridicule to the cost of lives.
Plus possibility of accomlishment was questioned. Once, the world was flat and it was impossible to go the other way around the world. Once the electric lightbulb was unimaginable. Once the 13 colonies in America couldn't ever dream of being a United and great nation. Impossible right?
No. None of them believed their mission was impossible. They accomplished impossible and impacted the world.
This is where my epiphany began. I realized that if my dreams aren't impossible, they probably aren't big enough.
I want to impact the world. I want to invent my own lightbulb. I want to accomplish my own impossible. Not only that, but I also want to help people all over the country and the world accomplish their own impossible.
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