What’s Working for YOU this Month?

Photo by noahbulgaria; creative commons license.

Rather than what’s not working for you, what IS working for you?

Normally, I try to do a simple assessment every New Moon, but I’m either behind or ahead this month—I’m not sure which yet.  It’s easy to look at all the things we do wrong, whether we do anything to change them or not, but sometimes it’s very valuable to look at what we’re doing right and acknowledge those things so we can continue them.

Some of the things that are working for me, as of this month, include:

1. Refusing to grow old. I’ll be old when I’m 90 (maybe), but not now and I’m not going to beg to be old before then.  I find it annoying when people start “getting old” around 35.  They can be drop-dead gorgeous and in perfect health and suddenly complaining that a muscle strain isn’t healing fast enough, so they must be “getting old.”  I do hate for people in their 40’s to drag their whiny butts into my office and tell me all their aches and pains and how they’re getting old.  Yes, there are occasional pains, strains, and culminations of things ignored when younger, but  take it in stride, folks!  Most of what I see is the result of self-abuse, not age.  Years ago, I had a friend who was almost 20 years older.  She was 50 and as perky as any varsity cheerleader.  Quick-witted, fun, funny, full of life—moreso than anyone I knew in their 20’s, 30’s, or 40’s. She had a great life!  At 51, she convinced herself she was old.  No matter what happened, even things that happened every day to our 30-year-old colleagues, she began to excuse it as “I’m getting old!”  I heard it from her 20 times a day until she became a husk of her former self.  I still see her occasionally and she is and has been an old woman for many years now.  There is nothing physically wrong with her but the way she thinks and carries herself, she is…old.  I stay far from her and don’t let her or anyone else tell me I’m old.  I’m over 40, but I’m not a ripe old age:  I’m just ripe.  And even when I’m 90, I don’t think I’ll be old—instead, I’ll become timeless….

Thank you for reading!  The complete version of this article is now included in Give Your Life Direction.