I just finished watching “Freedom Writers” with Hillary Swank. And it brings up a question that I have always had. Why does it seem that the ‘bigger’ we get the less we think we can do, or the harder it is to obtain something. While this is a general thought I believe that it can be applied to many people. How many times do you hear someone say that, “I wish I could have done this or I wish I could have done that?” Who says that you can’t do what you want, most of the time I think that it is due the fact that once people come up with an idea or something that they want, they then try to talk them selves out of that idea, or are just lazy. I know I have done that. And I think that we are very lazy people…not all of us, but most of us. We do what is easy and just do enough to get by. Even as I am writing this I can think of many things that I want but I am too lazy to work for. Why is that, I don’t know. I think a part of that is that I am living right now and not living a few moments ahead. I love the outdoors, and want to hike the Appalachian Trail. Will it happen maybe one day, but I will have to work hard, and have to sacrifice something else. And that really does break down what life is about and it is about make choices, that effect other things in life. My question is why as we get further away from our goal do we just believe that it can’t happen. Because I am not upset that I won’t ever get to hike the AT but am upset because I have already counted myself out of hiking the AT. And while this is just an example it is a real one, but I just need to keep that in my head that I will hike the AT one day, maybe with my Son/Daughter, or solo. And if it were with my son or daughter that it might be even better than what it might be now. And it is the what ifs, that in the end you can’t beat yourself up about. You have to make sure that the decisions that you do make are worth what you decided not to do…and I can say that I am happy about the decisions that I have made. Building my family is important to me, traveling when I am older is important to me, and not saying no to something and trying something new is important to me. And I think that is what gives you freedom is understanding that you can’t give up, you can always go hike the AT, you just have to make that decision.
I have asked this similar question recently to some friends of mine,
“When starting something why is it the bigger it gets, the further away it gets from what you started out to do. How do you pull yourself back, to look at yourself and go I have deviated from what I set out to do.”
I believe that the best way to explain it is when someone begins a business, that it is because they want something that someone is not providing or they want to do something better. So that when this business begins they are the best at what they set out to do, but as they begin to grow the start to forget what they set out to do and end up becoming what they tried to correct. I guess that everything comes full circle. And I can say that I wish that we would slow down sometimes and really just enjoy what we have.
The movie was really good. Go see it, and then watch Lean On Me. It is nice to see someone who works hard, and does it for some else and not for themselves. I think my Mom is that someone, and I love her very much. Thanks, Mom.
