Consider More

A year ago I lived 70 miles from where I grew up, in southwest Michigan, working for my undergraduate alma mater. Now, 365 days later, my life doesn’t even resemble what it did. I'm 2,200 miles away from my hometown, nestled between the Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean, working with a university system of which I had no previous ties. This massive life change was in the works long before I realized, but it would not have happened if I wasn't willing to consider possibility.

My life last year was good. It was the perfect blend of unfamiliar familiarity. The cities I'd left more than a decade ago had grown and changed, as I had, so it was like being reintroduced to a former love. I was surrounded by childhood friends and making new ones. My job was professionally and personally satisfying. I felt like I was in a groove, a really good groove. I was comfortable...and that's when I started hearing a faint whisper, urging me with the words, "Consider more."

That simple yet powerful prompt led me to ask myself what was missing. I looked around my office and thought, "The only thing missing from my job is international education. I would love to do what I'm doing now for a study abroad program." Giving myself permission to consider more from a career that I was already grateful for allowed me to search for precisely what I wanted. Not a variation, no need to compromise. I didn't need a new job, I was simply considering more.

A casual search on a seemingly random day initiated a huge life change. Yes, insecurity crept in. Fear tried to dominate the conversation. But I was driven by the urge to consider more. I had to consider more than where I was. I had to consider more than insecurity and more than fear. I needed to consider possibility and within one year, what was once just possible became my everyday.

As you look back over 2015, you may feel that the year didn't deliver what you'd hoped. Maybe you didn't deliver. I challenge you to consider more. It only takes one realization to drastically change your life. In 2016, consider more. Consider more than your job. Consider more than comfort. Consider more for your family. Consider more for yourself. Consider more than insecurity. Consider more than fear. Consider possibility. Before you can change your everyday you must first believe that it's possible and if you're willing, it is absolutely possible.

Life Storms

The majority of the country has been put it in its place due to Mother Nature flexing her muscle. Snowfall and dangerously frigid temperatures sent cities to their knees as schools, businesses, and interstates shut down for two days. 2014 is a force and it's only week one.

Intentions are at an all-time high every January. Resolution fever takes over so everyone is eating better, working out, reading more, living in the moment, etc. Resolutions aren't a bad idea. Whatever inspires positive change is beneficial. The problem is that resolutions are hard to sustain if they aren't motivated by more than the flip of the calendar. The reason for the change has to be larger than habitual thought and behavior. Even when motivation is high, circumstances impact the success of a lifestyle change. As 2014 has already proven, circumstances can change drastically and quickly. How will you handle your plans when life doesn't seem to cooperate?

When you decide to make progress, life will not necessarily roll out the red carpet. You may have to push, pull, drag, and kick your way to improvement. This isn't because life is conspiring against you or because you made a wrong choice. At times, we are living out consequences of our past. At times, there are more lessons. At times, life simply happens. Whatever the case, taking your life from good to great is a lifestyle and will require a lifestyle change. It will require commitment, again and again. What is not beneficial is wasting energy convincing yourself that life is being cruel. No matter what is thrown your way, focus your attention on what is in your control. Focus on your decisions, your actions, and the messages you repeat to yourself. When storms come—and they will—adjust, make preparations, stand your ground, and remain committed to your success.

Read last week's post, Stay the Course.

Highlight Experiences

Fourteen years ago I walked up a gangway and ventured out for a 100-day trip around the world. I viewed this unique study abroad program as a once-in-a-lifetime experience because I didn’t think that someone like me—from my neighborhood, with my history, with my financial situation, with no personal example to mirror where I was headed—could live “this way” for life. In fact, at the start of the journey I flirted with feeling like I didn’t deserve to be there and as a result, I didn’t allow myself to consider the possibility that I could achieve such greatness again.

Far too many of us don’t allow ourselves to dream in variations of greatness. That’s why we hear remember-when stories so often. Get a group of people together and suddenly, we are ear-deep in stories that begin with, “Remember that one time...” Trips down memory lane can be entertaining and fun, but they are detrimental if those trips are the only time we feel accomplished, satisfied, or fulfilled.

You may have had a phenomenal childhood and life hasn’t been as kind to you since. It’s possible that your childhood was challenging and your adult life has not been much better. No matter the circumstances please know that you are not limited to one highlight experience. You do not live for that "one time" during high school or college. Living with the belief that your best years have already passed constrains your behavior because it has already constrained your mind. Once you believe that you can’t have better you surrender the will to hope for and to do better.

I will always fondly think back on my study abroad experience. It generously provided me with a comparative look at nine cultures, gifted me with beautiful friendship, helped me discover some truths about myself, opened my mind to the possibility of greatness, and taught me the greatness that exists in the concept of possibility. Even still, when I stepped off of that ship at the end of that voyage, I never conceded that I had reached my quota for highlight experiences. With that greatness fresh in my mind, I carried the desire and hope to create and be open to many more highlight experiences for the rest of my life.

You can still have highlight experiences, but each one of them starts with your thoughts. Discover your self truths. Open your mind to the possibility of greatness. Welcome the greatness that exists in the concept of possibility. Hope is not to be feared.

Expect Greatness

Life can be drastically altered in seconds. Most often we think of drastic alterations as illness, an accident, or the death of a loved one. However, how long does it take for life to change in our favor? How long does it take for us to get that one phone call, message, or letter letting us know that what we hoped for is on the horizon? Life can be drastically altered in seconds, but not only in tragedy and pain. There are times when we are simply moments away from stepping closer to personal fulfillment. 

Expectation requires us to believe in an occurrence that hasn’t happened. It is associated with our ability to imagine. Unfortunately, most either expect negativity or nothing at all. The avoidance of disappointment has hindered many from believing in or expecting greatness. 

Maybe you allowed yourself to believe in a relationship that failed. Maybe you let your hopes run wild for a job that you didn’t get. Maybe you have had hardship after hardship so you refuse to hope for anything better. Disappointment can be painful, devastating, and even embarrassing. However, disappointment does not have to get the last word. Disappointment only wins when we are so fearful of feeling it again that we stop believing. When we refuse to believe that our lives will improve, we give up hope, and giving up hope is dangerous.

If expectation requires imagination why not expect something favorable instead of something to be feared? Life can change in a moment. I challenge you to expect positive change. I challenge you to consider that you are on the brink of the life you seek. I challenge you to use your imagination in your favor by expecting greatness.