What my high school essays can teach you about love and life.
Being an adult is really hard. Sure, it comes with perks, but I often find myself wishing there were a better manual for this life.
My brother-in-law presented me with a folder he found in their files that had a handful of my writings and essays from my senior year of high school. Don’t ask me why it was there, but somehow it had made its way back to me.
At first I brushed it off and didn’t even really want to read what was inside.
You see, as an adult I had started to compare myself to other writers and believe that I’m not saying anything meaningful and definitely not as eloquently as others.
And, I know I am not the only one who has played the comparison game and lost.
Ask anyone in my family or close circle, and they’ll tell you how much
I love to write.
I started journaling when I was ten to help me work through all the changes in my life after my grandpa died and we moved to a new home across town. I can still remember getting so frustrated that my hand couldn’t write as fast as my mind wanted it to in order to relieve the thoughts and emotions that would spill out of me. Praise God for the computer now.
Before there was running- my primary means of dealing with my emotions through my teens and twenties, there was writing.
Why do we adults so easily discard the very things that bring us joy and relief?
Of course, we have responsibilities and kids and pets….etc. etc. so we kill our joy and desires on the alter of I should and I must.
What occurred to me as I read those old essays is that I didn’t even think about whether I was good or not when I was writing back then. I did it because I loved it and somehow it seemed to love me back. And it was assigned.
I see people give up on exercise so often for mane of the same reasons.
“I don’t have time”
“My energy is completely spent on my job, my kids, and everything else on my plate”
“Exercise is too painful now that I have X,Y,Z going on with my health”
“Why bother, it isn’t going to change anything anyway”
This sort of thinking really is death to our souls.
Albert Einstein once said, “The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once.”
I take this to mean that there is a time for everything.
There’s nothing like the loss of a loved one to help put life in perspective.
This past week we lost our sweet 12-year old dog Cherry. She was a beautiful dog and a precious soul. She had terrible separation anxiety and was often pretty naughty when we were away- especially as she got more and more sick.
But she LOVED her people.
Cherry of all “people” reminded me that life is meant to be spent on the things we love most, regardless of the outcome.
Who cares if no one ever reads this? Who cares what you look like at the gym?
What if my writing sucks? What if you are a terrible dancer but you do it anyway because you like it?
The gift of being an adult is that we get to make a choice.
How will you choose to make the changes necessary to put your loves first?
The work I do with clients is something else I really love. I’d be happy to spend some time talking with you about how you can shift your time and priorities to get back some of the joy you long for in your life. Here’s a link to schedule now.
Blessings of joy and health to you,
- Nicole Irlbeck
Founder of Restoration Fitness
nicole@restorationfitness.net
P.S. If you still haven’t had a chance to register to join my 5-day Health Revolution challenge, I HIGHLY encourage you to sign up now. These 5 videos are jammed with so much inspiration and focus on how you can get your energy, food, and fitness aligned with your life. Click here to join