I think I live a good life, as do some of you.  Hopefully, most of you believe that you are living a good life, but that leaves me with one question…am I living a life that should be great?  Not because I want fame or fortune, but because I can give more of myself to those around me to make their lives better.  For a very long time, I always believed that nothing I ever did mattered to those around me.  Not because I needed to see proof, but I just never thought that by me giving more of myself to the world, that the world would be better or changed because I gave myself away.  I know that I impact those people who I care most about…my husband and my sons and by being a part of their lives, I am teaching our sons to be wonderful, caring, responsible young men.  I know I speak for my husband as well, but we are very proud of each of them as they find their niche and take it to the highest they can.  But do they do that?  Live our lives the highest or the greatest way we know how?  I would bet that the majority of us do not.  We do what we have to and anything else is extra and sometimes, we just don’t have that “extra” to give to ourselves, let alone anyone else.  How many hands are up saying, “That’s me!”?  We all have “stuff” in our lives that make our lives chaotic at times and we can choose to let it rule us or we can rule it.  I have seen people who don’t have much to live with, but they carry hope with them and that alone can make anyone have faith in living a good life vs living a great life.  I am in a place now where I can give more to those that I want to give more and I also choose to give less to those that give me less.  We need to take stock of who and what is in our lives that prevent us or hold us back from living a great life.  We all deserve “the fairy tale” and nothing less.  But it doesn’t just come to us, we have to give it away and then it comes back to us, and maybe not in the ways that we expect it.  Be the listening ear to a friend who needs to vent.  Be the surprise when you remember someone’s birthday.  Be the phone call that takes everything else away, if even for a few minutes.  Yes, the motto for the state of Nebraska is “living the good life”, but I believe it would mean more if it was “living the great life”.  If you are living a great life, then you are living to your maximum potential and are giving life all you have to give.  I did not do that for a very long time and missed out on many things and people who I can never get back.  That is the lesson I must learn over and over.  It is never too late to start living your great life, but you do have to start.  It Starts Today!

Michelle Homme 2012 ©