The 3 C's of Life: Choices, Chances and Changes ~
You must make a choice to take a chance or your life will never change
-unknown
It began with a bunch of changes in my life and one rather large leap of faith. Somewhere along the way I made a decision that this would be the year that I would start doing all the things I have always talked about doing. Too often I found myself gushing, “Oh I’ve always wanted to do that.” It begged the question, why wasn’t I? It was time to start. This is my story, the story of following your bliss, living with intention and the meandering quest for self.
Welcome to My Insatiable Life
I’m a list maker. I love to-do lists and check lists. I’m not obsessive about them or anything but a good list now and then can serve a purpose. I like to set goals. Goals by nature evolve and change with time. Sometimes one path leads to another, which leads to another until you find yourself somewhere you never would have anticipated ending up when you first started out. Or sometimes you reach the goal you set out to achieve and once attained, you realize it’s not as fulfilling as you thought it would be. I like to call that going with the flow. Setting goals is important but just as important is acknowledging when to change course if a goal isn’t working. You never know how much you’re going to end up changing- your values, passions, job, what really makes you happy, or even what you want out of life. The goals I had at 23 are very different now that I’m 29.
I had a successful career in a city everyone envied but many things were missing and as I sought to define what those things were, I was soon able to fill my life with what had been lacking. For me this was: personal relationships, family and community. It’s hard to plan for something as difficult to define as a “happy life” but in some respects that’s what I was doing. I embarked on a journey of self discovery taking every class under the sun and putting on paper a list of all the things I had always wanted to do and try- both the grandiose and the simple. I learned that achieving goals is not only about crossing the finish line and marking something off your list. It’s about the process involved and the thrill of going confidently in the direction of your dreams.
Maybe that’s why I love trying new things and venturing outside my comfort zone- the people I surround myself with and the experiences I have is what makes life worth living. I’m always adding new things to my “I’ve always wanted to do that list” right now it’s participating in my first Muddy Buddy race. But the best life plans don’t simply address individual ambitions they force you to live with intention. They ask of us what have I left unfinished? Are there classes I’m dying to take? Skills I’d love to learn? What have I shyed away from doing in the past out of fear? What do I regret not doing? Why not do it now? They ask of us, “How do you want your life to look? Not just now but five years from now ten years from now?” There’s no hard and fast answer to these questions or manual for a life well lived. But you can go after the life you really want and relish every step, experience, person met and insight gained along the way. And that’s living with intention.
First up on the “I’ve always wanted to do that list”: Learn how to make cheese
