• Challenges us to see opportunities differently.
  
• Pushes us to do things we wouldn't normally do.​
  
• Forces us to see ourselves for who we are and look closely at how we handle disappointment and stress.

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Blissful summer!  Blue skies.  Long days.  Warm nights.  Fresh air.  I had a new bike and great plans for the lazy hazy days about to stretch ahead.  But those plans were short-lived because a few weeks into July I broke my ankle at a HIIT class.  

Just like that my plans for summer were kaput. No golf lessons.  No Pickleball.  No hikes.  No bikes.  No swimming.  Heck, I couldn't even walk!

I admit that for the first few days I was in denial. So much so that I avoided going to the hospital for an x-ray until the pain reached an unbearable crescendo. 

That's when I realized Life is about Plan B.  

Plan B is what you do when you it's clear that Plan A is ​not going to happen.

Play B is a bit scary.  It's also a bit annoying.  It's easier to remain upset, down in the dumps, or steeped in doing nothing.  But what's the point of that? It not going to change the situation.   

 By the time summer was over I was doing chair aerobics every day (not as easy as I thought); I had reached my age in on-my-knees-push-ups, and I had mastered Pilates moves that had eluded me for years.  I'd learned to sing new songs, read more books, and seen more movies...

My broken ankle opened new doors...  

It's the most wonderful time of the year...  
It's Christmas!  The celebrations,  the New Year, the enjoyment of time with family and friends.

​As the years roll by so have many of the traditions of Christmas. In my family traditions would include a real Christmas tree adorned with silvery tinsel. Mom's mincemeat tarts, shortbread cookies, Christmas pudding drenched in warm rum sauce with a wax-paper wrapped quarter tucked inside. Gifts with glittery paper and neatly tied bows under the tree. Blinking lights of green, red, and gold. Singing carols, mistletoe, poinsettias, and Christmas cards from friends and family near and far.  Small bowls of peppermint candy. 

The years drift by and traditions transition from one year to the next, from one generation to the next. Yet the core of the customs, stories, songs, beliefs, food, and rituals remain the same. As we maintain and transmit traditions we are teaching the importance of values in our culture, in society.  Tradition is the the passing on of important lessons, fond memories, nostalgia and customs of those who are now gone.  

Traditions are good thing.  

​So... in the name of tradition, this is my sentiment to you...

 Will the App soon be ancient history?Artificial Intelligence will answer that question.  AI will not only fulfil our needs - it will anticipate them.  until then I remember...

Gestetner Machines - A great photo-copier.  You could obtain multi-copies of a document and tone your shoulders at the same time!
Telegraph - The only way to arrange the date and time for a long distance call. Yup. Once upon another time it was so super-expensive to talk on the phone people had to plan the call in advance.
Dial telephones That good-old-dial phone had a lot of benefits.  For one, the dial's rotation gave us time to think before we said or sent something we might later regret.
Busy Signals The beep-beep may have been annoying if you were the one trying to get through  but taking the phone off the hook meant you could stop people from getting through.  It was absolutely the best way to take get work done!
Inter-office memos Four pages - white, pink, yellow and green. Every page had a different meaning and everyone knew what the meaning was. There were no multiple messages.  No never-ending streams of emails on the same subject.  White/pink = Message Sent. Yellow/green = Reply Received.  Job done.  Issue resolved.
Liquid Paper A dab of liquid paper took a full minute to dry.  In that minute you took a break.  Doodled.  Thought.  Reflected.  Ahhh - the memory...
Typewriters And people complain of carpal tunnel... pshaw!  Try pounding out a full page letter on a standard Underwood!  It's not for ninnies!
Facsimile Not that long ago a fax was the way to send and receive - it seems like a   dinosaur by today's standards.

Taking a risk can feel like you're walking a tightrope. When you're out there, all alone, palms moist, heart racing, mind whirling... 

Never taking a risk leads to regret.
"If only I had...." Four words you never want to hear yourself saying.  What do you want to do? What is your heart's desire? If nothing stood in your way, what would you set out to achieve?  Whatever it is it's time to start planning the journey to achieving your dream.  ​What do you need to do first?  Do it.  Today.  How is NOW.

Never taking a risk increases anxiety.
I know it sounds counter intuitive but not taking a risk leads to isolation. Isolation, loneliness, depression and anxiety.  Do something new.  Aim high. Dream big.  

​You've got to go out on a limb to get to where the fruit is. 

Life is full of setbacks.  

Yes.... it's good to pick yourself up,  brush yourself off and start all over again. But constantly moving forward without reflection could lead to making the same mistake over and over again. 

On the DECISION POINTS circle this is the mired-in-the-mud and going-nowhere-fast place.  It's the place where we need to be honest with our self - be true to our core values - not the core values of our BFF, our parents, our therapist, or our significant other.  It's where we need to grab a pen and paper, sit still, be silent, dig deep, and answer these important questions:

1. Where am I in my journey?   
2. How did I arrive at this spot? 
3. What do I really want?   
4. What about my heart's desire is important to me?  
5. What do I need to do to live the life I dream of?
6. What's next? 

Oh yes, on question 3... dig deep. In other words the answer is not "To be happy."  And question 5: You may not think you know the answer to this questions but you do...  That's where honesty comes in.

Life has two ways of testing our will.  The first is by making nothing happen at all. The second is by having everything happen at once. In the first case we feel as though we are moving at a snail's pace, if we are moving at all.  On the other end of the spectrum, changes are happening fast, furious and all at once.  Either way, we feel as though life is falling apart faster than we can pick up the pieces and put them back together again.  

Whether your life is calm or calamitous, as life transforms keep in mind that:

Even Giants Cry.  Tears are a natural and sometimes spontaneous release of emotions are the best thing for us.  Whether its tears of frustration, hurt, sadness, anger, joy or loss... Tears express that we are human. We feel.  We love.  We care.  It's always okay to shed a tear.  

Life Locks: It's a drag but it happens.  There will be times when you feel stuck in the mud, working hard and going nowhere.  Other times you'll take one step forward and three steps back.  But remember, the wheels are in motion; you are working hard!  You took ONE step forward!  This is motion, motion is action, and it is through action that you will eventually get out of a rut and into your groove.

Opportunity is Always Knocking:  Are you listening?  Is your door open? Do you see the vista before you? Or do you close the door shut and make excuses for remaining where you are? You have a choice:  You can complain and remain or you can replace excuses with effort; laziness with learning; postponement with persistence. Changing one thing will change everything. Before you know it, a new day will dawn and everything will fall into place.  

I remember the day a friend talked me into signing up for a marathon.  I also remember the day she dropped out of the run.  I had a choice to make. I could stay put or I could turn off the computer, lace up my shoes and meet up with a team of women to train for a 26.2 mile run.  I learned a lot:

Action Changes Things.

The first step takes courage. The beginning is half of the action. From this point on you will know, for the rest of your life, that you ventured outside of your comfort zone. You will know that you either "did" or you "did not" continue forward to create a totally different life for yourself.  

The second step takes commitment.  You may be out on a limb - so far out that you're afraid of falling out of the tree - but the second step forward means that you realize that going back will always be filled with ​"what if's" and "if only".  So you take a risk.  Sometimes you fail (some runs are better than others) but most of the time you feel better for branching out.

The third step is a mindset.  You're ready and willing for a new challenge. You may not feel ready.  You may not look ready. You may not even be ready.  But none of that matters because mentally you are ​ready.  You intuitively know that the time is now. 

The forth step is perseverance.  Taking action is tough.  Taking action hurts.  But you persevere because you have your goal in mind and you know the steps you need to take to reach the end and  even if you can't see the Finish Line you know it's there - just around the next bend.

The fifth step is looking UP because when you look down every stone in your path looks like a bolder; every crack in the sidewalk looks like a gaping menace; every rain shower looks like a potential downpour; every ache and pain feels like a reason not to go on.  Look up, breathe easier, and the obstacles disappear.     

You'll make new friends.  Wonderful. Marvellous. Fun. Inspiring. Life changing.  And all of this will happen because you took action and action changes things.

You may not know it from this photo, but when this pictures was snapped this little guy was moving - and fast.  He had a goal in mind (catching up with mom) and nothing was going to get in the way!  

​Jon Bon Jovi

Put Pen to Paper: Dream big. Use an anything-is-possible attitude. While it's true that goals need to be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-Focused) they also need to aim for stars. Be witty, wonderful, and wildly optimistic!
 
Write THE List:  Can you imagine baking a cake without a recipe?  Neither can I.  A recipe provides clear instructions to achieve a successful outcome. Your well-defined list of steps to achieve your goal will set the course that you need to follow. Your list is a reminder that you  are headed in the right direction:  To the Finish Line!

Mark Your Progress: Make a note of every step forward. Seeing that you've made progress will boost your spirits and steel your resolve, especially when you experience the inevitable failures, setbacks and obstacles that litter the road to success.  

Visualize Your Outcome: Take a few moments each day mentally visualizing yourself reaching your goal. Seeing positive outcomes in your mind's eye spurs mental and physical momentum. As you move forward you will gain focus and be able to adjust your path.

Celebrate Your Success:  In running we say  medals matter. A medal acknowledges you reached the Finish Line. Celebrate reaching your goal.  After all, you set out to do something and you did it!

Sir Anthony Hopkins, film, stage and television actor, once said, "We are dying from overthinking. We are slowly killing ourselves by thinking about everything.  Think. Think. Think. You can never trust the human mind anyway.  It's a death trap."

I'm not sure about the deathtrap part but I do agree that I have been guilty of spending too much time thinking things through and not enough time doing the things I think about.  

One of the reasons we overthink is fear. The fear of making the wrong decision.  The fear of failure.  The fear of going out on a limb and falling out of the tree.  
Whatever our fear is, overthinking our next move is a time and energy sucker.

Too much thinking leads to anxiety, stress, frustration, regrets, and loss of sleep.  
All because we create problems that were never there.

Stop thinking.  
Start doing.  
​Whatever happens, happens.  

                 Just.   Let.   Go! 

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