I’ve been sick for a week, and honestly, I’ve been acting like a big baby about it. I always know that I’m starting to feel better when I stop cutting myself slack and start expecting myself to get my rear in gear. That’s always the trick to recovering from an illness or injury for me. I have to get angry. Not full of rage or vengeance. No, I just have to get angry at myself and decide that I’m not going to let something beat me. I’m the same way when I’m struggling with a project or an idea. For instance, I’d really hoped to be on a regular writing schedule by now, but it seems like one problem after another has landed in my path. Nonetheless, I’m trying to plug along and keep on going because writing is just something I feel like I should be doing right now. I’ve put it off for too long with the idea that I’d do it when I had time, but I’ve had enough experience to know that I’ve failed to do a lot of things that I planned to do ‘when I had time.’
I heard Pastor Robert Madu of Social Dallas say, “In your 20s, you worry about what everyone thinks. In your 40s, you don’t worry about what anyone thinks. In your 60s, you realize nobody was thinking about you at all.” I’m only in my 40s, but I don’t really worry about what anyone thinks because I have responsibilities that make me more concerned with doing the right thing by the people in my life. However, I’m already having an awareness that nobody, except those who love me most, really thinks much about me, and that’s okay. In my 40s, I’m also discovering what I’m willing to spend time doing. I no longer am willing to waste my time doing things in which I have no interest, and I no longer am willing to overextend my emotional capacity to be as upset or angry as some people seem to be all the time. I don’t even know where they find the energy to be so worked up all the time.
One of the beauties of maturing is you start to see what matters versus what doesn’t. You start to understand how much energy you have and what you can use it for, and you start to value time. I was blessed to do a lot of things when I was in my 20s, and my 30s were a difficult time of dealing with family illness. My 40s are a time to continue taking care of loved ones and also doing things that I’ve postponed long enough. I no longer feel the siren call to go do all the new things everyone wants to try. I know the things that I love, and now, I want to focus on doing those things for the people I love. Sometimes, I wind up doing things for total strangers, and that’s okay, too, because those things are done with a sense of purpose.
If you’re at a point in life where you’re looking back and wishing you had done more, then stop looking back and start doing some of those things. If, like myself, you’re financially limited, then start doing things that don’t cost money. For instance, I’ve always wanted to declutter. Decluttering doesn’t cost me money. It costs me time so I’m spending my time on decluttering, and it feels good to see all the things I can share with other people, all the space I’d forgotten in my home, and all the renewed interest I have in doing the things I now have the space and time to do. If you’ve been wanting to learn something, start watching online instructional videos. If you’ve been meaning to use some of those craft supplies that have been boxed up for too long, then crack open that box and start crafting. If you’ve been meaning to donate a box of things to a local charitable organization, then drop that box off tomorrow. The point is to begin instead of waiting for the right time. Maybe the “right time” is exactly when you start making it happen.
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Inspirational verse for the day:
“To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.” Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NKJV)
All Things Subject to Change 