Heart troubles

My heart gets stuck sometimes.

I can't make sense of something, and I can't move past it.

Life can build you up and it can break you down. And its ability to break you down comes down to how how strong you are mentally, and if you can weather the storm.

I'm sure most of us don't have a dream for ourselves that states: I want to grow up, have a job that pays half of what I need to get by, with a couple of kids and a marginal marriage!

Ever heard a kid say that?

Not that it is a bad dream, because it could be great for someone who has no job, kids on drugs and an abusive marriage.  Someone always has it worse than someone else.

However, if you think of your aspirations from childhood to now; what changed?

I know someone who was at the top of their game as a teenager.  Majorly in demand by the opposite sex, cocky, brilliant and tons of potential and a chip on the shoulder. 

Somehow, over time that chip grew.  Something fed into it.  And the potential diminished.
As time grew, life changed.  And now they are a former shell of who they were.

I hate the word potential, because to me it is a carrot that one can never grab!  I have heard it all my life and it's actually a bad word in my vocabulary.

So what if someone else sees your "possible capability".  It merely means you are not "it" today!
Ouch!

But sometimes.....I can see where that word fits.  And in this case, I use it in hindsight.

How do we live up to our potential and how do we know when we are there?

Honestly, I believe most of us live beneath it because life pushes us down so hard, we can't raise above the cloud cover hovering over us.

Do you have a mission statement for your life?    Does it sound silly to even hear that?

Why shouldn't we?  We'd do it if we had a business.  The business would HAVE to have one in order to exist.  Why don't we put ourselves to the same standards?

As I send my child off to middle school next week, I am sending her off to her own devices.  I got a piece of advice that I just LOVED from a friend (and mother of 3).  She said, "Your daughter needs to know who she is.  And when she goes off to school each day you remind her by saying, 'you know who you are!'" 

And though I am sure that my 11 year old still has her doubts about who she is, she knows who her family is and what our values are.  That is good enough as a road map for making good choices. 

To stay on that path for the rest of your life.....is it possible?

I always remind my members; if you are waiting for things to be easy so you can achieve your goals, good luck with that!  You need to duck and weave in the face of it to get past it and go forward!  If losing weight were easy, we'd all be at the beach in our size 0 bikinis!  (well, the girls, anyways!)

It's hard to be a part of someones life who has "potential" because they have shown it in the past - yet they live so far beneath it - and accept it.  :(   It breaks my heart!

Yet there are so many. 

Life isn't easy, and getting old isn't for sissies!

When we affect ourselves, that is one thing.  But when we affect our families....little minds that look up to us....we have a problem!  And my heart gets stuck.

I don't want to judge others, but when I can't get my mind past it, how do you let it go - respectfully?
Sometimes it is just too hard.  I don't want to be judged, therefore it is easier to just walk away.  Even though it literally hurts. 

Ever say something to someone and they couldn't "hear" you?
Welcome to my world.

Happy Monday!