Saturday, March 21, 2009

How Many Chances Do We Get to Live Our Best Life?

It's an age old question, passed along through the ages ... "How many chances do each of us get to live our best life?" The life we dreamed about as a child, crammed with all those adventures we knew someday would come true. We all have them. Some dreams are nurtured along more than others by our parents, teachers, friends and mentors. Some dreams fall by the way side, quickly replaced by the next passion of the moment and there are some dreams we hold onto and never loose sight of.

What we learn along the way is that life moves at rapid speed and it becomes easy to loose sight of the things that are truly important. Time passes just living day in and day out and we can run out of time to make those dreams become reality. Sometimes we need something to shake us up and force us to re-evaluate where we are on our life path and just how many of those dreams came true.

A life threatening event can serve as a powerful force. It gave me the time I needed to slow down, re-evaluate and think. At the end of all that thinking.... I came to the conclusion that it's really important for me to not come to the "end" and look back on my life with regrets. No, I decided pretty early on in the process that's not going to be how it all goes down for me.

I admit for as much as I'd like to take the credit for my new found wisdom, it didn't all come from my own personal self evaluation. The ongoing pile of books stacked on my night table, surely have contributed new and interesting perspectives. The power of words continue to amaze and delight me. I have also learned valuable lessons from the eye opening wisdom others have shared with me about their journey's. We're all on that path to finding our best life and what I'm learning along the way is, we can't get there without taking chances when we come to a fork in the road.

When it's all said and done, I don't have the answer to "how many chances we get to live our best life." But I'm pretty sure it's not too many. It takes a clear focus to re-evaluate ones life. A positive attitude and belief that everything really does happen for a reason. Unique caring people came into my life during my battle with cancer that have forever changed me. Some of those people were loosing their fight and knew they wouldn't get another chance, others demonstrated what unconditional love and friendship are all about. I learned a few valuable lessons about the importance of reaching out to others for help even when it's difficult to ask for it. To accept love and embrace the joy that comes from giving it back. I learned the only way for me to live my best life, is to stay focused on working toward the things I am absolutely passionate about. It's also just as crutial to move on and be willing to try new things when I begin to feel off course and loose sight of my dreams.

Believe in your dreams, it's up to you to close the deal.