The month of October for me is like New Years. The main reason is October is my birthday month, and I do a lot of reflection and forecasting for the "new year". For me, the new year starts October 25th not January 1st. October 25th is my time to renew, revisit and rework old commitments, goals and dreams. This is a time for blessings-- where I am in life and where I am headed. This is a time to remember what I have gone through this immediate past year as a time to be thankful that I'm either out of the storm, on my way out of the storm or about to enter into a storm. This is also a time to celebrate accomplishments, family, friends and life all around.
With that being said, I look for inspirational quotes/themes as a guideline or main idea on how I aspire to live my life for the next year or even for a longer period of time. When I was in my most recent difficult times, I usually quote Jeremiah 29:11(NIV), which states, "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future." This is still a great theme and it's not going away. Nevertheless, I want to capture something new. I want to capture the spirit of the verse from Jeremiah with a push that tells me to challenge my own status quo. Thereby, my new inspirational quote I found comes from Mark Twain.
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bow lines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
This is the essence of what running in this half marathon, raising money on behalf of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and moving from the comforts of NYC and the BK to the Big Easy is all about. Not being disappointed by the things that I didn't do in 20 plus years from now. Even if it doesn't end the way I hope, the point of is that I made a 100% effort and gave it my all. Have I had things that didn't end the way I wanted them to? Yes, ma'am/sir. Have I wanted to bury my face in the sand because of embarrassing moments? Triple times yes. So, when I feel like choices, experiences, ideas and challenges are totally out of my comfort zone, I must remember the Mark Twain quote. I know my close friends will hold me to it the next time they invite me to the club or something, and they feel they have to drag me kicking, screaming and ranting about how going to this particular club will decrease my social benefit investments and put me on the negative-sloping economic benefit curve by partaking in this present club experience.(LOL!!! Yeah, Spelman education via the economics department at its finest. . .)
Nevertheless, I believe a year of carpe diem will not only give me something to share/talk about currently but also when I get to the proverbial age of 95 (It's my "old" person age.) I will definitely have something to laugh about with my family. I can only imagine the time when I have my grand children and dare-I-say great grand children around me I get to say, "Child, you don't know what your grandma use to do back in her 30s. You wouldn't believe me if I told you anyway, but let me tell you this. They didn't call me fine as the perfect bottle of smooth Shiraz, sweet Riesling and down-home moonshine for nothing . . . ;) I have always said I'm like fine wine and cheese, I get better with age. . ."
Cheers!!!
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