Getting Back on Track

Whew - what a summer! Beginning this blog was a good idea back when I did it - and it's still a good idea...I've just lost my momentum in keeping it updated. As mentioned previously this has been one busy year for our family. I AM getting myself back on track this September! This is my month!!

My daughter, Meghan was married to Lucas in July. It was a beautiful wedding and fabulous reception! We couldn't have asked for more! My son, Alex has started his college career at Ole Miss. We moved him into his dorm on August 21st (and was that a scary experience! Dorm built in 1961 - need I say more??) and he began classes on August 25th. He seems to be settling in well...my phone is not ringing NEARLY as often as I would like! While I am fully aware that these life events are normal and the expected path - my heart is sure heavy with the changes. Life today is very different from life "yesterday" and is forever changed.

Last week I attended Keller Williams' MegaLeadership Camp and MCA Masterminds in Austin, TX. I've attended these events annually since being in my current position - so 3 years in a row. I have to say - this year - was VERY timely for me. My emotions were raw and the bulk of this event dealt with mindset and succeeding in the real estate business during a shifting market.

My life has been shifting - talk about a shifting market!? It doesn't hit home more than that! I came away with some great information, support, new tools, new friends AND a fresh new outlook!

Patrick McGowan reviewed the book The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. I've not read the book - but I have ordered it and will read it when it comes in! The premise I took away from what Patrick shared was - live NOW! As we left, Patrick gave us a handout - it's a letter he wrote to all the MCA's in attendance with a story that was originally shared with him by his father (over 2 decades ago). He shared that whenever life gets hard - he pulls it out and reads it. It reminds him to find joy in each and every day. "The Station itself isn't the reward in life. Rather, the reward is in the path we followed to reach The Station."

The Station
by Robert Hastings

Tucked away in our subconscious minds is a vision - an idyllic vision in which we see ourselves on a long journey that spans an entire continent. We're traveling by train and, from the windows we drink in the passing scenes of cars on nearby highways, of children waving at crossings, of row upon row of cotton and corn and wheat, of flatlands and valleys, of city skyline and village halls.

But uppermost in our conscious minds is our final destination - for at a certain hour and on a given day, our train will pull into the station with bells ringing, flags waving, and bands playing. And once that day comes, our lives will fit together like a completed jigsaw puzzle. So, Restlessly, we pace the aisles, and count the miles, peering ahead, cursing the minutes for loitering, waiting, waiting, for the station.

"Yes, when we reach the station that will be it," we cry. "When we're eighteen! When we buy that new 450 SL Mercedes! When we put the last kid through college! When we win that promotion! When we pay off the mortgage! When we retire!" Yes, from that day on, like the hero and heroines of a child's fairy tale, we will live happily ever after.

Sooner or later, however, we must realize there is no station, no one place to arrive at once and for all. The journey is the joy.

The station is an illusion - it constantly outdistances us. Yesterday's a memory; tomorrow's a dream. Yesterday belongs to history; tomorrow belongs to God. Yesterday's a fading sunset; tomorrow a faint sunrise. So, shut the door on yesterday and throw the key away, for only today is there light enough to live and love. It isn't the burdens of today that drive men mad. Rather, it's regret over yesterday and fear of tomorrow. Regret and fear are the twin thieves who rob us of that Golden Treasure we call today, this tiny strip of light between the two nights.

So stop pacing the aisles and counting the miles. Instead, swim more rivers, climb more mountains, kiss more babies, count more stars. Laugh more and cry less. Go barefoot more often. Eat more ice cream. Ride more merry go rounds. Watch more sunsets. Life must be lived as we go along. The station will come soon enough.

Live well,

Jan