When we were young, we were ready to take on the world.
It showed in the simplest of ways.
How many of us remember playing “Hide-n-seek”, where we would take turns being “it” and would search for our friends as they tried to hide from us. As we counted to 10 or 25 (or 100 in my neighborhood), we opened our eyes and started yelling as loud as we could,
“Ready or not…here I come!”
And we sought out every good hiding place we could think of, looking for our friends.
Without even realizing it, we had set any fears to the side and chose to take on the task at hand. We accepted that the searching would be hard and even frustrating at times. We understood that it would take time and that we couldn’t catch everyone before they became safe by touching “home base.”
But we did it anyway. We knew what the stakes were. We understood the rules. We couldn’t wait to run after friends and watch their faces light up and fill the air with laughter as we tagged them.
What happened to that kind of excitement when living our lives?
Did we get so lost in adulthood that fear became our ruler instead of letting enthusiasm lead the way?
When we are young, we can’t wait to grow up and do things that only grown ups get to do and yet when we are grown up, we just want to go back and be a kid again.
It seems we have forgotten to take some of the practices from childhood into our adult years.
Look what it has gotten us.
No wonder we feel overwhelmed, tired, and unhappy. We mosey through life as if it were just some thing to be seen as we let it pass us by. We allow doubt and fear to dictate the steps — which usually means we don’t take any. We stay at our “home base” and never venture out. Not too far anyway. Our way of life seems more like “Peek-a-boo” where we quickly retreat once we have been seen.
When was the last time you ran at life? I mean, charged at it, with everything you have? Leaving yourself open to everything that comes to hurt you and yet striking back at those same things, just to prove that you won’t cave?
When was the last time you yelled, “Geronimo!” as you challenged yourself in ways you never imagined? When living fully became the only speed you know?
Talking ourselves out of being ready is our biggest downfall and creates a domino effect that is difficult to recover from. We need to set aside everything else and just get into that moment. The one where going “All in!” is a frame of mind, not a fluke. When we choose to give life everything we have and not let it scare us away with intimidation, we take control of our lives.
We choose how we want this to play out.
We dedicate ourselves to living nothing short of an extraordinary life — full of mistakes and successes. Playing it safe doesn’t give us those opportunities.
We have to leave the security of our “home base.” We have to stop counting. We have to stop living afraid. We have to push the pedal to the metal and go at life full throttle.
We have to greet the world with,
“Ready or not…here I come!”
Michelle A. Homme 2015 ©
