Why Not You?

Yesterday I read a quote that really struck something in me.

“Today I want you to ask yourself this one question, “Why not you?” Why not you to do something for work that you love? Why not you to have a healthy body? Why not you to have healthy love? Why not you to be, have, or do anything you have ever dreamed?! We are so quick to think others are deserving over ourselves. The truth is that we are all deserving. SO WHY NOT YOU?” --Jillian Michaels

I found this quote online and while Jillian Michaels is credited with saying it, I understand that you never really know where anything comes from online.

But it really made me start thinking, “Why not ME?” Why can’t I do the things I want to do? Why can’t I pursue something I’m passionate about? Why have I spent the better part of my life creating dreams only to turn around and stuff them in a box? Dreams that I’ve been waiting for someone else to magically discover and turn them into a reality for me? I mean really, do I honestly expect that I will ever see my goals realized if I never take myself seriously enough to do something about them?

Why am I not out there going after the things that I want? Why am I not out there living a life that is worth living and full of purpose? I’ve often said that I really wanted to find that part of life that I am passionate about, but honestly, I’ve never worked all that hard at finding it. It’s always been much easier and much safer just to sit back and come up with a million excuses why it won’t work and find a million other things to occupy my mind and take my focus off of what I want for my life.

I often say that I can’t get a quiet moment to collect my thoughts and direct my focus. But the truth is that I’ve never made myself a priority. Before anyone gets in my face about how selfish I really am, notice that I’m not saying I don’t know how to be selfish. I certainly know to put my petty wants and needs over others some times. There are many days when I want what I want, I want things done my way or no way and I don’t really care what other people want. I try not to make that my everyday routine, but it happens nonetheless.

What I mean is making myself and my needs a priority over all of the other garbage in my mind and in my life. My perfect example yesterday was how I spent two precious (alone) hours flipping television channels and never even watched a thing, when I could have been doing exactly what I’m talking about. I didn’t need the mindless down time. I wasn’t worn out and needing to zone out for a while. I was lazy and didn’t even want to use my brain enough to do something, anything of value.

Today hasn’t been a whole lot more productive until the last hour or so. I am at least working on it now and so far I’m pleased with the bit of progress I’ve made. I have laced up my running shoes, checked a few things off my to-do list and have plans to take a nice mind clearing run in a couple of hours. I even signed up for a three mile run happening in a couple of months to help motivate me to get back out there. Have to start somewhere right?

So today’s not all bad. I’m hoping for more of the same tomorrow.