Wisdom for Life

If you've got everything figured out in your life, and everything is exactly as it should be, you can skip this week's email! It isn't for you.

If instead you're reading this email and you keep having the thought of "I just wish I could fix ______ in my life", then this is a short reflection for you.

It's a clever phrase, but it's also true. If you don't aim for improvement, you won't naturally improve. That's not how the world works (unfortunately). Instead, anything worth doing is going to require some effort.

But sometimes, that effort can feel like a mountain that is too tall to climb, right? So, the only way forward is to break up what needs to be done into small, manageable chunks, and then focus on the thing in front of you. Depending on what you're trying to implement, it could feel strange or unfamiliar.

•  Giving financially to charitable organizations can feel weird the first time you do it.

•  Intentionally building a new friendship (especially as an adult) can feel weird the first time you do it.

•  Beginning a new exercise habit can feel weird (or worse, cause soreness) the first time you do it.

But the good news is that nothing is normal until it is. Suddenly, if you stick with it long enough, that new habit you were trying to form won't be new anymore, and it will just be something you do.

I'll leave you with this quote from Justin Whitmel Earley in his recent book "The Body Teaches the Soul":

"You can't think yourself out of a pattern you didn't think yourself into. You practiced yourself into it, so you have to practice your way out."

Thanks for reading,
Jack O'Connor, CFP®