In recent years I became extremely dissatisfied with how my life was going. I’m sure my friends and coworkers thought I was going crazy and maybe in some aspects…I was. I talked about it with people I loved and tried to find ways to make myself happy but it wasn’t easy. I’ve always felt that everyone should get a chance to have at least one do over in their lifetime. Why? Because life often creates detours that steer you in directions that God did not intend for you to go. We listen to the voices in our head instead of the one voice that matters. The one in our hearts. Everybody has a story and some stories are more horrific than others.

I learned a few things recently that has been helping me to put my life in better perspective.

I learned how to find out what you were put on this earth to do. Everybody has at least one thing that they are good at, one thing that they love doing more than anything; but we often let our fears tell us that we shouldn’t do it or focus on it and why we aren’t good enough. Well we are good enough and we should be using our special powers for the good of all of mankind. It is what we were designed for and what ultimately makes us happy.

There are a lot of things out there that people are good at but may have ignored it, such as writing, cooking, research, teaching, gardening, singing, playing an instrument, or drawing. Just to name a few. If you feel like you don’t have any creative talents then maybe there is something else your good at such as sports, fighting, being organized, party planning, caring for children or even building things with your hands. It’s up to you to find out what your really good at and by all means please do so because you may realize that it is the thing that makes you who you are and what makes you happiest.

One of my favorite movies is City Slickers starring Billy Crystal and I don’t usually watch comedy films but this one is very funny and honest. I love this film because it is about a man named Mitch who is unhappy with his life and it begins to effect every aspect of his life. He decides to go and have some fun with his two best friends on a ranch in New Mexico. While he is there he learns from a tough but wise old cowboy named Curly that all you need in order to discover the secret of life is one thing. If you can find that one thing that makes your life worth living, nothing else matters. For me it is writing because I’ve been doing it since I was a kid and it is the one thing that I do that gives me the most pleasure. For Mitch it was his family and when it came to his job and being a husband and father he decided that he was just going to do it better instead of feeling sorry for himself. That is a great way to end his story. When I’m not writing, I feel as though there is something missing in my life, something important.

We must not let fear keep us from the things we love most in life. If you don’t like the way your life is going then change it and only you have the power to do it. If you don’t like your job then look for a better one or try to do better at the one you have. But if you can find something that makes you happy then it wont matter how crappy your job is, it wont matter how lousy your relationship is. Once you begin to appreciate the things that you already have then you will begin to feel happy about your life. But here me when I say this…you are never too old to start over. I’m forty-eight years old and I am experiencing my do over right now. It may be frustrating at times going through this transition period and you may even have to do some things that you aren’t comfortable with but if it helps you to get where you want to be in life then I say damn it just go ahead and do it! Have a wonderful and productive life. Until next time…