Who hasn’t heard this before?  It came in my fortune cookie last night as I was eating dinner with our oldest son.  Another son is nervous about making next year’s show choir group and I encouraged him to try for a solo and he said every time he does, he chokes.  Who hasn’t done that too?  I think it is interesting how we go from not caring what anyone else thinks, to caring more about what others think, back to not caring again.  But we all go there at one time or another.  Some don’t stay very long in the second stage and others continue to live there, long after they should.  My middle son is very comfortable with who he is and we are always very proud of him, just as we are of the other two.  If you don’t try something, you cannot gain anything.  Don’t expect anything else to change unless you do.  I still am surprised when unexpected moments capture my attention and I usually come back later to reflect on them and wonder why that needed to happen.  I couldn’t stop smiling most of the afternoon yesterday, but I really could not decide why.  I can’t remember doing anything significant that brought joy to me all of a sudden, so I was confused.  But something I said or did made a difference in my life and therefore I have gained everything.  Even something I didn’t know existed.  Try something new today.  Even if you fail or it doesn’t work out the way you think it should, find something you learned from that anyway.  Doing that is not always easy because it might mean you have to look at things a little differently.  Maybe that is EXACTLY what the lesson was to begin with anyway.  In the end, that might be what you gained.

Michelle Homme 2012 ©