“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” – Mary Oliver, poet
What do you want that you already have, Megan? I’ve been mulling over this self-imposed question for weeks.
I’m in a season of reflection. As a rule, I’ve always been a reflective sort of girl, but this go-around I’m digging deeper. Asking myself tougher questions. Dusting off some old boxes of the heart and taking a peek inside so see what I had hidden away. I’m on my hands and knees, scrubbing clean the tiles of the ideals and hopes I have let diminish in beauty over time.
Its dirty work, I’m not gonna lie. And it takes seemingly for-evvvvver.
But, that question might just be revolutionizing my life.
What do I want?
- In my relationships with my kids, my husband, my friends?
- From my daily routine? My career?
- For my future?
- My goals to achieve?
- My body to look like? Feel like? Move like?
- My spiritual life to be?
- My reputation to reflect?
- My influence to impact?
- My legacy to be?
Answer them truthfully and the deepest desires of your heart emerge. In the answers is where I’ve found the most hard-hitting truth of all. That I’m often complaining about and wishing for things that are already right here with me. Every single day.
Of course I have ‘wants’. Plenty of them. I am human, after all. Stuff that I long for, need, hope for and strive towards that I don’t already have. And having those keeps me curious. Because what is life if we have it all, all right now? Give me some mystery and adventure, I say!
Right now, I desire more from life than I ever did. I’m paying closer attention to my fantasies (tsk, tsk…mind outta the gutter), because in them I’m finding the wonder and playfulness and passion of a life that is possible. I am believing in seemingly insurmountable things more than ever too. Because when I let myself dream (and believe) the impossible, there is where I find my tipping point for motivation. And that is power. Motivation keeps us going through some pretty tough stuff. Motivation is the manifestation of someone who is fully alive.
What do you want that you already have? List it. Speak it. Stop complaining and start embracing.
What do you want that you don’t have but yearn for, hope for, need to be fully alive? Chase those with fervor and tenacity. Destiny is possible but not probable. I’ll always error on the side of creating my own.
So.
What do you want?
Megan Smith is the founder of CAKE&WHISKEY. Her work and ramblings can be found here:
meganpsmith.com and homemaking101.com
photo credit: Sarah Jane Sanders.