It is high up there, isn’t it?  Standing all alone, deciding over and over in your head if you should do something or not do something.  I know…I do it too.  Sometimes, I regret it after I do it, too.  As much as I don’t want to live with failure, I am pretty sure that I could not live with regrets.  I know people who are perfectly happy with living a life like robots.  But the passion in life is in the risk to live life!  I recently read an article about women taking chances later in life and loving every minute of it.  And the chances they took weren’t life altering, but something that allowed them to grow.  Just like with muscles that develop atrophy due to lack of use, our minds and hearts never grow and develop when we don’t use them.  Our minds and hearts are our most valuable assets and yet we never fully give them chances to progress and to grow.  It is like we stop a toddler from growing into a child, a teenager, and adult.  We stop working at making the time we have the MOST it can be.  We think about failure, repercussions, and let others’ opinions matter most than our own.  We allow potential judgments placed on us from the outside world dictate what we really want to do.  Ever been so worried about admitting your weaknesses or failures to others that you end up living a life that we don’t even want to live?  Why? Because we are afraid.  Fear of what to do next…fear of what others will think…fear of all of this negative stuff inside our heads that stops us…cold.  We need to get to a point when we are ok in saying, “Hey, I tried it…loved it…but now I am moving on.”  I never used to look at life as an adventure until someone told me to “Embrace the Journey”…and boy, have I!  The fear that kept me from living life is never something I think about now.  Don’t get me wrong — I am making this up, one day at a time, just like you.  I don’t have any more guarantees than you do.  Have you become stale, like the leftover bread crumbs you feed to the ducks down at the the city pond?  Does the taste in your mouth give you the sense of “morning breath”, where you quickly turn away, trying to hide the shame of the odor?  Are you finding yourself withdrawing from people who love you and you feel like you have nothing to show for your life?  Is that who you are?  Is that who you want to be?  When was the last time you grew?  Not in size or height, but with your heart and mind?  When you learned something (even if it wasn’t what you wanted to learn) and was grateful for that experience?  When was the last time you shared your heart and feelings with someone that left a smile on your face that would not disappear?  We need to feel the rush of being challenged — of trying new things and becoming more than we ever thought possible.  It is the essence of life.  It is TRULY living!  When are you going to stop talking yourself OUT of something and give yourself permission to do it?  You can find an excuse anywhere, any time.  We all have done it.  Yes, me. too.  I need to be inspired and find the same motivation as you do.  We are not alone in that.  But, if you had a chance to LIVE, would you take it?  Should you take it?  Of course!  The only regrets we carry with us are the ones we don’t recover from.  The ones that eat at us, like a tiny fungus that only we notice.  When was the last time you were proud of yourself and found yourself smiling because of something you did?  Me?  Just yesterday, when something I created came in the mail.  When was the last time you gave life every thing you have and stepped out to the ledge and was ready to fly?  That is how I live life now.  I use my mind and heart every chance I get and have grown in ways I never ever thought possible.  I was so afraid of letting people see me for who I am that I now realize that I was missing out.  I cannot go back to being safe, inside the building.  I am going to feel the rush of being “ALL IN” and letting the passion of life guide me.  You in?  You ready to jump?  Some of you may be afraid of heights and never ever make that leap.  But what if you got off the ledge and LOVED the ride?  Let’s starts flying because….  ” I Believe I Can Fly” by R. Kelly

Michelle A. Homme 2013 ©