Leading & Loving Your Family
“The attitude you have as a parent is what your kids will learn from more than what you tell them. They don’t remember what you try to teach them. They remember what you are.” -Jim Henson
Growth and development should be a part of the human experience. It should be a part of how we go through life. The stages that we go through should push us to continue to become better people. However, I’m not sure what the stage of growth is, where the things that are yours no longer become yours.
Who is your enemy? Who is stopping you from accomplishing that goal/dream that you have set ? Can you see them? Are you looking in the mirror?
The number one enemy to what you want to accomplish in life isn’t The Man, or the devil, or your boss that won’t promote you. Your number one, top of the list, enemy is YOU! We get in our own way more often than we will admit or like to admit. It’s a lot easier to blame someone else for our problems than it is to take responsibility for them. Once we do take responsibility for our life, then we can change our life. It can be the life that we dreamed of.
Run your own race. It’s your life, it’s up to you on how your life turns out. What will be accomplished in your lifetime? Choose to accomplish your dreams and build the life that you want. Too many times we settle for the life that society gives us. We can have an attitude that goes with the flow. Where we do the things that we think we’re supposed to do.
I grew up in a middle class town where graduating from high school was a given and it was assumed that you would go to college. I’m grateful for this place and position that I’m in, but I’m also not going to settle for being average. A lot people learn from trial and error that college isn’t for them. In either case, I know I had not spent time thinking about what I wanted my life to look like. Most high school students would say the same thing. I don’t want a life that consists of working day in and day out with no impact on the world. I honestly don’t believe that most of us want that either. Yet, somehow we find ourselves in this very location.
I dream of a future where my children can work to pursue their dreams, not where they work because they need the paycheck. Does this happen with a average mindset? I don’t think it does. I look to others who have accomplished their dreams, not to compare myself but as inspiration that what I dream is possible.
Forbes recently published an article that dives into the effects of comparing ourselves to other people. The article highlights how comparing ourselves to what we see online can lead to a more negative view of ourselves . In a world of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram we are comparing ourselves to someone else’s curated content.
Social media and reality tv have lead us to a place where we would rather watch people live their lives rather than live our own. In a time where we are supposed to be a more connected to the world, we’ve never been more isolated.
We need to run our own race. Not our friends race, not a celebrities race, but our own. The world needs the great ideas that you have on the inside of you. There is a light on the inside of you that needs to shine. We can do this! We were made to walk on water!
As you guys know I recently had an employment change to where I’m now able to work in a field that is in my degree. One day last week I was sitting with my wife after we had put the kids to bed and she had this look on her face. Of course I asked what she was thinking about. What she said was what prompted my inspiration for today’s post. Her answer was that when I got home from work the kids were outside and they ran up to me when I pulled in the driveway and just gave me the biggest hug. It was a real out of the movies type of thing. I didn’t really think anything about it at the time. My wife stood back and watched this whole thing and it was a real moment for her.
With all that being said, it got me to thinking about how many moments that we may be letting pass us by. My situation was that I was working a night shift and missing time with my family. Yours may be similar or something different. Either way, we don’t want to miss the moments that make life special.
How do we take advantage or make sure that we don’t lose those moments.
