Whatcha Waiting On…?

If you are like me (an assumption I like to make because it makes me feel better), you spend a lot of time waiting for something.  I don’t mean waiting in the grocery store line, I mean waiting for some event to happen; some circumstance to change; some item to arrive before you can be happy.  So my question for you is, whatcha waitin’ on?

It’s always seemed odd to me how we have learned to constantly defer our happiness to some future date.  “Once I get that new job and more money, things are going to be great!”  “When I get that new house or that new car or that new something, life will be good.”  “When I go on vacation; when Friday comes; when summer gets here; when I can finally retire and do what I want!”, life will be just awesome.”  When I find that special someone, my life will be complete.”   And while I know I have said this before, what in the world are we waiting for?  Like I told my wife last night, if we spend so much time dreaming about being away from our jobs, maybe we should figure out how to  be away from our jobs more often, or maybe do the kind of work we love?  Odd, huh?

As I think about a little more deeply, what grand, magnificent illusion has been sold to mankind that has talked us into a myriad of reasons to defer our happiness to some future date.  How truly insidious is the notion that we should always be waiting for our mythical ship to come in; for our lottery numbers to hit; for some glorious circumstance to arise that catapults us to greatness?  If you have lived any numbers of years, you probably already know the things that turn you on.  In your heart of hearts you know the type of work, that doesn’t feel like work, you promise you will be doing at some later date.  Meanwhile, years pass, dreams fade and a lot of years turn into distant memories of that awesome person you were going to become…  Wow!  Have you ever watched a movie (and movies are good at this) and saw images of the life you would like to live?  You know what I mean, right?  They live in a beautiful house by the lake, sipping wine in the evening as they watch the sunset glimmer off the water in the distance.  And you think, man that could be me “someday…”  Someday, right?  I remember telling a woman once how much I loved San Diego and its eternal sunshine.  She replied, “Why don’t you move here, then?”  I said, “Oh no, I couldn’t do that!”  And her classic response?  “Then, I don’t want to hear it!”  Clear, not nice, but very clear!   You do realize that if you have enough clarity on the picture of how you want things to be, the only thing stopping you from getting there is you.  But, you don’t think you are stopping the process because you are waiting for it to happen in the future.  But in reality, the result is the same.  The future time never comes as it’s always future.  Now is all you got baby, right now!

And here’s something else to put into your mind during all of that time you are staring into the horizon, waiting.  I’ll refer to this as grand, magnificent illusion #2.  Happiness is not something we seek after.  Happiness is our natural state of being, that is once we have gotten rid of all the silly things that block it.  Children are happy…  And, if they aren’t happy it lasts about 3 minutes then they are right back to being happy.  Events don’t make us happy, we decide to be happy during certain events.  Things don’t make us happy, we decide that getting a certain thing will make us happy.  People don’t make us happy, we decide that being around certain people makes us happy.  Happiness is not something to wait for, happiness is a decision we make right now.  Or I should say, we can make right now.  So why on God’s earth wouldn’t we make that decision all of the time?  Because we are waiting for something else to happen (see grand illusion #1)!  We are waiting for the stars to align; waiting for God to give us a sign; we are waiting for the perfect moment, the perfect time, the perfect circumstances…  If you really, really want something, you have to go and get it now!  I recognize that things don’t always happen overnight, but let’s be honest now, they aren’t going to happen any night if you don’t go and get them.

Okay, okay, so I’m with you, folks.  Remember, my assumption is that you are like me!  🙂  I’m a writer (hope you noticed).  Writer’s write, right?!  How often do I take the time (that never feels like time) to write?  Oh maybe about 3% of the time in my life… Why?  Because I’m waiting for something.  I’m waiting to not have to spend so much time at work.  I’m waiting for the perfect Saturday morning.  I’m waiting for the ideal evening when I don’t feel tired.  Ha, you get the point…

So what do you want out of your life?  What really floats your boat?  What do you do, that when you do it, no-one can compare with your work?  What are you good at?  What God-given talent are you presently hiding under a bushel, waiting for the “right” time to get after it?  The time to do it folks is right now.  That ship aint coming in.  Life just doesn’t work that way.  Even that person you knew who seemed to “find” themselves in the midst of tremendous, good fortune, secretly in their heart, saw that day coming so clearly that it had to happen!

Don’t waste another second waiting on happiness.  Decide to be happy now!  Don’t fritter away another moment waiting on doing what you love, do what you love right now!  (I am)  You love what you love for a reason.  Don’t defer doing you for the future day when you can do you, as you will have wasted ‘you’ in the process.  (A mind is a terrible thing to waste..)

So, next time you are “Sitting on the dock of the bay” make sure it’s because you are resting from doing what you love…

Just some good thoughts…