Every morning when I wake up,  I consider it  a gift — a fresh start, a chance to pick myself up, dust off whatever went wrong yesterday, and begin again.

We often  assume our days will always look the same.  We call routines boring, when in truth they’re the structure that allows us to build a more interesting life.

My own mornings are simple:   Get up. Put the dogs out.  Feed them. Make coffee. Check orders and emails.  And then comes the most important question of the day.

Then what?

That “then what?” is a decision that I get to make every single morning.  Remembering that today is the first day of the rest of my life gives me  the motivation to make it count.

Each day offers the possibility of small magical moments — if we’re willing to notice them.  Yet so often we wait for the “perfect” circumstances to do what we really want. We wait until we “retire,” until we have more money, until we have more time.

But who do you know who suddenly has more time than they used to? We all get the same number of minutes each day.  It’s how we use those minutes that matters.

If life feels flat or uninspiring, consider this day — this very one — as a second chance to try something you’ve always wanted to do.

Not everyone gets a second chance.  Some people never reconcile with a loved one, even though they meant to.  Time ran out before they acted.

If there’s something bothering you, can you resolve it?

And if you didn’t accomplish what you hoped today, don’t be discouraged. Rome wasn’t built in a day, but it wouldn’t have been built at all if someone hadn’t started.

Most of the time, we get another chance tomorrow.  Untl one day, we don’t.

It’s easy to believe there will always be more time — tomorrow, next month, next year.  But opportunities slip through our fingers when we assume they’ll wait for us.

No one lives forever.

I never imagined my time with my husband would end so quickly until it did.  After 63 years together, I assumed we’d have more. But life had other plans. Now it’s up to me to decide how I will spend the rest of my time — however long that may be — because today truly is the first day of the rest of my life.

Some people retire or find themselves alone only to discover they don’t have the health or finances to do what they want.  I’ve been lucky.  I’m well past retirement age and still doing what I love, even if I’m doing it alone.

Each day I open my eyes is a day worth celebrating.  Steve Jobs said it well:

“For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every
morning and asked myself: ‘If today were the last day
of my life, would I want to do  what I am about to do today?’
And whenever the answer has been ‘No’ for too many days
in a row, I know I need to change something.”

But, let me ask you?

What do you really want to do?

What are you waiting for?

When you’re sitting in a rocking chair someday , what will you wish you had done?

What do you do when you’re already successful, when you already have a meaningful  life, but you’re ready to do something different?

How do you figure out what that is? How do you move forward with confidence and courage and EVOLVE your life instead of sticking with what’s known and familiar?

I hope you’ll take some time this week to think about what lies ahead for you.

I used to walk into the forest behind my house and sit under a huge old alligator juniper tree for my thinking time.  Circumstances have changed, so now I sit in my comfortable recliner with my dogs asleep at my feet in winter or in my outside swing looking at the sky through the leaves of the oak trees in summer.

Wherever your thinking place is, go there — and consider:

• What do you want more of?
• What do you want less of?
• What do you want to stop, start, or change?
• What is something NEW you want to try that you’ve never done before?
• What would make this a year you look back on with a smile?

The good news is that trying something new doesn’t require a dramatic life overhaul. You don’t need to quit your responsibilities or travel the world. You don’t even need to leave home.

New can happen in small moments — a few minutes here, a few minutes there.

As Marcel Proust said, “Real discovery lies not in seeking new landscapes, but in developing new eyes.”

Ask yourself, “What would I be glad I did — even if it failed?”

Then do whatever will make this a happy rest of the year, in the truest sense of the word.

Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the
same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller,
Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci and Albert
Einstein.” — Life’s Little Instruction Book

 

Today is the first day of the rest of your life.

It’s up to you — and you alone — what you will do with it.  As for me, I plan to make it the best it can possibly be. What about you?

·