Ordinary to Extraordinary
By Elisa Rowland
Okay. It’s officially Summer. It’s a million degrees outside. Kids are out of school (when do they go back again?) The beaches are packed, and I wonder why I live on the beach if I can’t even get TO the beach during the summer months. Time flies so quickly. It seems like school just started and, before I blinked, the kids grew up, graduated and moved on (and out, if we’re lucky! OK, who am I fooling? Three of our four kids are still on our payroll and we will officially graduate them all from college by 2020. YAY!). Can you relate?
For my kids, summer signals more relaxed schedules, and no deadlines or studies. For me, it means getting used to their newfound freedom and stocking the pantry for an army. (Is it just me, or does it look like locusts have swarmed just hours after I’ve stocked my fridge and pantry?) It means I hardly know what to do with myself. When they are home, I find myself wanting to be in their space (I’m not sure they share my enthusiasm here — they are teenagers, after all!) Working from home is more of a challenge for me, because I would rather pick up and do something with them than complete my To Do List. And then I get the Guilties because I’m not accomplishing anything, business and home tasks pile up, and the teens are headed out the door to hang with their peeps. (See ya, Mom!)
So, this Summer, I’m focusing on five areas to design my best life now.
Evaluate. I’m making a list of the areas in my life and what’s good and what needs fixed. Nothing like a good once-over to figure out where my joy comes from and where life is sucking the joy out of me. Writing it all down on paper in a “Bug List” seems to help me see it for what it really is — usually a bunch of little things that stress me out mixed in with a lot of emotional garbage! It’s so much easier to sort through it all and see what really needs addressed when it’s on paper. When is the last time you wrote down all the “stuff” that bothers you?
Celebrate. I’m celebrating the great things. Whether it’s the blooms in the garden, the people in my life, a new habit I’ve started and am sticking with (the personal trainer, for example. I originally hired her just to help develop a plan for me and ended up hiring her to work me over — I mean, work me out — each week and have found that I LIKE it. Who knew?), I’m trying to be purposeful in acknowledging and celebrating them all. Besides a birthday, what have you celebrated recently? Life is a special occasion! Celebrate today.
Re-create. For all the things I want to change up or do over on my Bug List, I’m making plans and setting dates on my calendar to make them happen. When I look at the long list, it seems overwhelming and make me think I should put it down and take a nap instead. Breaking it into smaller tasks and then deciding when I want to do each of them makes it so much easier and, dare I say, almost exciting to accomplish. I’m even going to give myself a gold star for each one I do! How would you feel about redesigning your life and taking the steps to do it? Awesome, huh?
Investigate. Who is that woman I see in the mirror each day? She’s a scary thing first thing in the morning but cleans up well. She wants to make a difference in her community and in the lives of others. But how? It’s exciting to investigate my talents, skills, and abilities and investigate how those can be used for mutual benefit. Where can you plug in and be blessed as a result of giving? The more we pour into others, the more richly we are blessed.
Be great! It’s a decision. Anyone can be average, but to be great you have to decide to be different. A cut above. More excellent. You have to want more and strive more to be great. I don’t know about you, but I’ve decided to lighten my load and quit trying to fit my square peg into a round hole. I’m different and unique, and you are, too. We were not created to be ordinary. We were created to be extraordinary!
Will you join me in making summer 2015 the beginning of your best life now? And who knows? We just might change the world in the process!
I want to know about you! Let me know what you are committed to changing in this season of your life.
