"When and If Only's"

“When I lose 20 lbs., then I’ll volunteer more.”

“When the kids leave home, then I’ll take up singing again.”

“When I retire, then I’ll travel.”

“If only I had a different job, I’d be appreciated.”

“If only I had a group of friends to do things with, then I’d go to that event.”

When…then…if….

How often do we make statements like these?  

Statements that don’t motivate us in any way, shape, or form?

The “if only’s” creep into our thought life and permeate into our soul.  They even push away our ability to truly be happy where we are and with whom we are. We “wait” for a day that might never come. We wait for ourselves to BE something that maybe, we were never meant to be.

We wait. We wish. We want. 

The hesitation to embark on personal ambitions or journeys comes from an internal desire to have everything perfect and to “be” perfect first.

Think about that. Ouch, right?

Why can’t we love ourselves right where we are AMIDST the waiting? Why can’t we enjoy the surroundings we are in, UNTIL we get to different ones?

We are so good at disappointing ourselves. We wait until we think all of our ‘ducks are in are a row’….and often, they never are.

If you wait for your children to leave home before you do certain things, your health may be gone by then. If you wait to do something fun before you lose weight, you may miss it altogether.

We need to engage in life as we are – NOW.  

Be imperfect – but be happy knowing that you aren’t hesitating because of standards that you may not ever meet.  

We can still dream. We can still want. But we need to know that the status of things may not ever change, and we will be OKAY if they don’t.

Don’t hesitate to be who you want to be anymore.  Don’t waste any more of your days on “if only’s’ or “when’s.”

Enjoy your life. All of it.  Enjoy the people in it. Enjoy the possibilities. Enjoy yourself.

Looking for “better” might be a great growing experience and something positive that can happen for you and I. But let’s just make sure we’re not missing out on the here and now in the process.