Don't Vacation at the Garbage Dump

Here's the deal...Nobody is perfect, nary a single one of us.  Whether you are a homeless bum on the streets or the President of the United States, we all need a little work (ESPECIALLY if you are the President of the United States). So we can sit around and wallow in our shortcomings...or we can do something to improve our circumstances and our character.

If you want to lose weight, change careers, learn a new skill, be more mindful, eat healthier, be a better parent, keep a clean house, get out of debt...it doesn't matter.  Make a plan and draw your lines.  Set goals and boundaries.  And do something...anything...just don't stay where you are.

But I promise that as you are chugging along on your path to a happier, healthier, better you, you will get side-tracked.  Somewhere along the way, your train is going to jump the rails.  You are going to lose focus and make mistakes.  You're going to come across obstacles and maybe need to take a detour.  You might even get stuck in traffic, slogged down by the boring routine of everyday life.

When this happens, don't just throw up your hands in frustration.  You can't just pound on the steering wheel of life and decide to pull over and set up camp where you are.  You have to pick up that train you where driving, dust that sucker off, and get it back on the rails.

Because if you where headed to the beach and accidentally took a wrong turn ending up at the garbage dump, you wouldn't decide to vacation there.  You wouldn't get all grumpy and turn around to head for home because you got just a little bit side-tracked.  You would turn around, get back on the highway and head for the beach.

So when it happens (and it will probably happen often if you are anything like me), pull out that map or stop at the next 7-11 and ask for some directions, and head on out after your hopes and dreams.  Because the beach is a whole heck of a lot nicer place to vacation than the garbage dump (even though there may be a lot of sea gulls hanging around).  It smells a lot nicer, too.