No matter where you are in your life, YOU can Reset YOUR life to follow your heart and passions to joy!
Ned Lips – Author
“YOU’RE A HORRIBLE MOTHER! YOU’RE RUINING THEIR LIVES,” Robert screamed into her face, spitting bourbon, echoing laughter through the nothingness. . . .
Sarah felt her girls, their love for her. She’d sacrificed everything for them. She was a GREAT mother! Her soul was incensed and rose from the horror.” Reset page 13.
To make a dramatic change, to truly Reset our lives, we often have to focus on some critical part of our lives that will drive and motivate us. For Sarah, it was always the safety of her daughters. What in your life will motivate you to Reset your life? Spouse, children, family, money, satisfaction, depression, alcoholism or some other addiction or illness, or a myriad other things that are making your life sad, joy-less and just sorta good enough. Find it. Use it. Build on it. But do it in a positive way.
I was at a low point, but my life was good-enough. I’m intelligent enough. I can make money. I had my wonderful wife, two grown and powerful daughters and a good support group of family and friends. Good-enough. But I was not happy. I was going through the motions. Going from one job to the next, doing what I was supposed to do. Never what I truly wanted to do, which was to write. How crazy, risky is that?
Some of the people I know who have Reset their lives were at a very high point in their lives and had plenty of money to quit and do something new. One of my friends had built a strong company, with my help, he sold it to his business partner, bought a bait and tackle shop on Kentucky Lake and lives his passion in total joy. But he could afford to do that.
Others were at a dangerously low point so anything was an improvement. Addictions that nearly killed them or sent them to prison, and caused the loss of loved ones. Guys who’d been “let go” from the company they’d worked in for decades, and now were out in the real world for the first time. In those cases, resetting one’s life is fairly easy.
It is much harder to go from good to great. I worked with a friend who’d done “OK” in the big company, but had risen as far as he’d ever rise, was bored out of his skull, and hated what he was doing. He had a wife, a couple of High School age kids who’d be off to college soon, a nice house and yard, and life was, from the perspective of the outside world, good. He was doing what he was supposed to do. He’d followed the path to the American life in suburbia. But he was personally miserable. After we talked through where his true passions lay, what his superpowers really were, how he could become best in the world at that, and figured out how he could make money doing what he loved, he quit and has been happily following his passions ever since. He fought quite a Storm to make this happen, but everyone is happier that he did.
If your life is OK—good enough job, good enough spouse, some kids, a house, two cars, and good enough stuff—the risks of stopping all that and starting something brand new can be daunting.
If you’re unhappy, you have to make a change. It makes no sense to make a change simply to make a change. I did not have the strength to do it. Most don’t. I’m going to suggest that baby steps along this path makes the most sense. Start to figure out what you love in life, what brings you joy. Listen to your heart of hearts and do what you know is right for you. Quit things in your life when you know it’s the right time for you. One step at a time is the only way to do this anyway.
