Disney Leadership Keynote Speaker
Five daily blogs about life's 5 big choices on five interconnected sites.
Mid Life Crisis? Mid Life Celebration?
Two choices. Maybe there are more, but it only seems like two that are obvious.
So if you had a choice, which would you pick?
No brainer, eh?
Yep, no brainer. Then why are so many unhappy?
Because life is hard. Sometimes, it even feels impossible.
“The toughest thing about being a success is that you’ve got to keep being a success”. — Irving Berlin
Most people go through their life and never comprehend what Irving Berlin is saying here. It is what it is.
Here’s the thing though. What do you say? What do you think?
Do you ever get tired of criticizing other people? Or does it somehow, foolishly, elevate your life past mediocrity?
These are things that run through my head every single day. Thought I’d attempt to challenge your thinking.
Oh wait, maybe you want to criticize that. Hey, at least I’m trying. What are you doing right now that focuses on challenging your status quo?
“Despair is the price one pays for setting oneself an impossible aim”. — Graham Greene
Wow. Then what does it mean, “If your goal isn’t impossible, you’re not reaching high enough”?
Simply this: You can set the bar low and reach a goal, and then wonder if you could have done better, eventually living with a certain degree of regret for not trying harder.
Or, you can set the bar impossibly high, give it your absolute best, fail, yet live with the satisfaction and peace that you left nothing on the table.
There are no guarantees in life. But you already knew that, right?
Roger Bannister, the first human to run one mile in less than four-minutes, said:
“I sometimes think that running has given me a glimpse of the greatest freedom a man can ever know, because it results in the simultaneous liberation of both the mind and body….. The runner does not know how or why he runs. He only knows that he must run….. We run, not because it is doing us good, but because we enjoy it and cannot help ourselves”. — 1956
Prior to 1956, people said running under four-minutes was essentially impossible for the human body to withstand. There were others, like Roger Bannister, who knew it was inevitable.
Simply a matter of time before the impossible becomes possible, and then, before you know it, the impossible becomes business as usual.
Sometimes, I think certain things are impossible at mid-life.
Then I think about people like Roger Bannister.
And then I start to wonder when it will simply be, business as usual.
Make it a GREAT day, and may all your impossible dreams come true. Carpe diem, jeff noel 🙂
Getting old isn’t a burden, it’s a huge responsibility. It’s also a gift.
It’s hard as heck to stay healthy. You’d never guess by looking at me, but I have to work incredibly hard to stay healthy. My very life literally depends on it.
For some, it’s “impossible”, because that’s the choice they’ve made, to believe it is impossible.
Christopher Reeves wrote several books, one entitled, “Nothing Is Impossible“.
In my work, I was blessed to spend time with him and his family.
I can’t help but wonder what he would have paid to do what you (most of us anyway) and I did this morning. Wake up. Throw the blankets aside. Stand up. Walk to the bathroom. Bend over and brush our teeth. Etc.
What would Christopher have paid to do that?
One million dollars?
Five million?
$50,000,000?
We got it for free? At least that’s what I think.
If you think you can, or you think you can not, you are right.
It’s all about choices. Tough choices. Life-altering choices. Easy choices and hard choices. At least that’s what I think.
Hope you get time soon to think about your choices. If you don’t decide, who will? If not now, when? The people who love you are watching. This scares the heck out of me. Carpe diem, jeff 🙂