What if?

“What if I tell that person that I like them/something about them?” “What if I take the risk and go after my dream job, instead of just the safe option?” “What if I try something and fail at it?”

What if all of our potential was only held back by our own thoughts? What if instead of letting our negative mindsets and self-doubt take all of the control, we took the time to take action toward just trying to make things happen for ourselves.

I am the first to admit that I “what if” about things in my life way too often and I waste precious time thinking about the “what if’s” instead of saying “What if this happens?” Okay, so it does… What’s the worst that could come of that?” and then move on and try to go after it anyway and just take the risk. Nothing positive even has the POTENTIAL to come out of a situation if you don’t put yourself out there. Sometimes we “what if” ourselves into a corner and we get stuck. It’s okay to get stuck… It’s part of growth. It’s part of life.. but you can’t move forward from your present circumstances if you aren’t willing to TAKE ACTION and MAKE POSITIVE CHANGES to keep moving forward. Too many times, we let fear dictate our future… We let the opinions of others keep us in a corner instead of moving toward our goals and dreams and making them happen. When we do that, we sell ourselves short. Sometimes you have to say, “Well that sucked” or “That didn’t work”, dust yourself off and KEEP MOVING FORWARD. Sometimes things don’t work out because God has something better planned for your life, but sometimes you have to have the WRONG (or not quite right for you) opportunities come into your life first for you to recognize the RIGHT opportunities. It’s called GROWTH. You have to take the opportunities that God gives you and make the most of them in the moment and be have an open-mind and open-heart that it’ll all be worth it at the end. Other times… when you want things to happen, you flat out just have to make them happen… and if you can’t do it on your own (and in your heart it’s still worth doing), you need share your dreams and goals with others (whether it’s sharing them with, God, family, or friends)… People can’t know what in your heart if you aren’t willing to share it with them. My 101 list (which I have 4 1/2 more months to complete) has helped me be accountable and stay accountable with my goals, so that I can grow and prepare for whatever the next chapter in my life should be. I will write an entire entry on that alone, when the time comes. Over the course of my life though, I’ve had people tell me that they feel so sorry for me for “everything I’ve been through” (without really even understanding my life)… but as I’ve grown as a person and realized that I don’t WANT people to feel sorry for me, I decided to make changes in my life (especially over the past couple of years since my thyroid cancer diagnosis), I have heard people tell me how “lucky” I am or how they wish they had half the opportunities I’ve had (which I have definitely been very fortunate). What people sometimes fail to realize is that they DO have the same opportunities to do things that matter to them and every single day is a new day and and new opportunity to make a change for a better or happier life in some way… if they are willing to put themselves out there and do their part to make things happen. Every choice we make leads to a different opportunity, so we have to make sure that the choices we make help lead us to the right opportunities for ourselves. *What if* instead of resisting our dreams, we embraced them? We can’t accomplish our goals if we aren’t willing to put them out there and make ourselves remain accountable. No one will care about your dreams or goals more than you do, so why not take small strides every day to accomplish those things that matter most to us.

People often times wait so long to pursue their dreams or passions that they realize that they’ve waited too late in life to enjoy their experiences. I hope that if I ever have children that they will never let doubt in themselves (or doubt planted by others opinions) or fear of something that they really want in their life to hold them back. I want my future children to truly experience LIFE and enjoy it to the fullest extent. You can’t always get back missed opportunities, and there is no guarantee that there will be a second chance. Quality of life is so important. Our quality of life should never be defined by someone else’s idea of what it’s supposed to look like. We have a voice. We need to learn to use it for positivity; not only for ourselves, but also so that we can leave the world a better place in some way. What if we allowed ourselves to live the type of life that was always MEANT TO BE for us? We would all probably be a lot happier in the long run.