Thoughts from Another Country

It’s interesting what happens to a person when they are away from home and have time to think. You get a chance to reflect on your life, your direction and what brought you to where you are today.

Looking back at everything that I did, had and was I find myself feeling two things. One, that I have had great fortune in my life. That God has looked down on me for some reason and gave me a life where I was successful in my job, had many good friends, precious time with my family, my own house and car, a loving husband, happy marriage and my health. Now I have the chance to travel the world and experience things that most people in their entire lives would never even dream of.

But then I realize that a lot of my success was also because of the decisions I’ve made along the way. My success came not from luck alone but from hard work, determination, faith in my abilities, an open mind and the willingness to improve and grow. My house, my car, my possessions and the ability to travel came from years of planning, making hard decisions and sacrifices to reach my financial goals.

When I was 18 years old I sat down and wrote a five year financial plan for myself, determined to have enough money to buy a house by the time I was 23. Did I have to give up a lot in order to achieve that dream? Not really. It just took more disciplined planning. I knew that my end result would be sometime good and that I would have earned it myself. But I also knew that sacrifices were going to be necessary in order to have something bigger in the end.

Now I’m sitting here again envisioning what I want for myself. I have nothing anymore. All my possessions are gone. We’ve sold our house, car, boat and are unemployed. This means that I get a fresh start at life. What do I want to accomplish in my life now? The most joy that I have found hasn’t come from the possessions I’ve owned. In fact, I haven’t felt true freedom until they were all gone.

My desires have changed from one type of success to another. I would like to start my own business when I get home. I would like to be my own boss. I would like to help my husband realize his dreams. I would like to raise some children who have solid values, understand the importance of hard work and determination. I want to allow them to dream and to support those dreams.

I want my kids to find kindness and love in the world, and show love and kindness to the world. When they are old enough I will travel with them so they can put into perspective the quality of their lives, their many blessings and the good fortune of being born and raised in such an advanced, safe and beautiful country with tremendous opportunities.

I want to share with the world the opportunities that await those who want to discover them and take those opportunities to learn something about life and more so about themselves. I will continue to push myself to achieve more, to learn more, to be more, because I want to know what my capacity for life is. Traveling has helped me realize one of my life goals, push myself to overcome fears that I wouldn’t have overcome otherwise, and to appreciate parts of my life that I had taken for granted.

While reading “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill I came across this poem:

I bargained with Life for a penny
And Life would pay no more,
However I begged at evening
When I counted my scanty store.

For Life is a just employer,
He gives you what you ask,
But once you have set the wages,
Why, you must bear the task.

I worked for a menial hire,
Only to learn, dismayed,
That any wage I had asked of Life,
Life would have willingly paid.

This poem reminded me that we have the power to choose where our lives take us. That our dreams and desires can be achieved if only we have the courage to seek and act on them. A person’s determination and vision of their achievements help them to realize those visions as reality, and the only person that stops you from living out those goals, dreams or desires, is yourself.

From someone who’s done it herself, I encourage you to take that leap of faith to realize your dreams if you haven’t already. If you have a dream of doing anything, whether it be to travel the world, write a book, be the next great inventor, learn a new language or simply take the cooking class you have always wanted to try, step up and do it. Life does not wait for us to get our acts together. It’s up to us, and us alone, to take action and get it done.