It's 9AM
I don’t say thank you enough.
Or I say it and I don’t feel heard.
Because of how much I appreciate you being here.
How much it helps.
Sometimes I say things in these dailies that resonate.
And you respond with stories, with anecdotes, with life lessons of your own.
I read them all, and although I don’t comment as much as I should, I hear you.
The stuff you say sinks in.
I try to stay busy, most of all because I have to, and also because there is a lot to be done.
I hit a half century milestone a few years ago, which means I’ve only got about 51 of my 104 years left on this spinning blue ball.
Unless we improve nanobots and/or downloading the mind into robot bodies, in which case, I’ve got infinity or until the warranty runs out!
But I’ve been thinking about the next fifty years.
Staying healthy.
Staying fit.
And all the things I failed to accomplish in my first fifty, or tried and failed or never took the chance to do.
A long list of goals, dreams and aspirations that went into desk drawers or dark recesses of my mind to be locked away and forgotten.
Big dreams, big goals, big ambitions.
Some of them I’ve shared with you.
Even if it’s in a backwards sort of way.
I’ve talked about things I’ve done, and how proud I am of both the winning and losing parts of life that have made me who I am.
Like winning an award for filmmaking, making a few deals for scripts and then quitting that race to start another.
In my mind, it made perfect sense to come back to Arkansas to raise a family and start two small businesses at almost the same time.
It would give me cash flow to go back to Los Angeles to pitch stories, and work the phones and still “make it” in the film business.
I could even have the businesses cover the bills while I made a film in Arkansas.
All easy and simple and a good plan.
Except…
Most small businesses need lots of attention, and mine were no exception.
And small kids require a lot of attention even if Dad has big ambition and big plans.
Plus kids and businesses are expensive, so sometimes it became a matter of who gets paid first.
Time and money.
The two enemies of any plan.
Which became a theme.
Rebuilding and flipping houses.
Owning and selling small businesses for profit.
Learning and growing and planning and sometimes failing.
Sometimes succeeding.
You know… life.
And now, looking at the whole lot of life I’ve got stretched in front of me, AND reading some of the plans you guys have is a great reminder.
There is time.
Time to build, time to make, time to save and rehab and time to keep growing and going.
Plenty of time, even if the day to day seems too stuffed with too much.
A decade to save a dying town.
A decade to make a movie a year.
A decade to build and sell a business.
Even less to get fit(ter) to run across the country, and bike back.
To get a van, turn it into a boondock camper and make the four “Great American Road Trips” to see all the spots in all fifty states.
A lot of time for joy, and peace and time to do things, along with lots of time to do nothing.
How many books could you read in a decade?
One a week times 10 is 520 books.
That is a lot of mental adventure and time spent with imaginary friends in your head.
So much time to get after it and get it done.
This is the lesson you have taught me.
Don’t get so caught up missing the forest because you’re hunting for trees.
Just take the path and take the steps and keep going.
Do all the things, just do one a week toward each big goal, and one a day toward the stay fit and healthy goal.
Something I’ve said before, but haven’t always acted upon.
Better to do 1% on a consistent basis than try to knock out a lot every now and then.
Three miles a day is better than trying to pack in a long slow twelve on a weekend with baseball and travel and yard work and just recovering from the week.
Be More Consistent and show up.
Thank you for Reminding me.
Would you do anything different in your past?
Check out this Action from Yesterday!
AND
The Machine Stops (free)
To Kill a Fae (The Dragon Portal Book 1) (free)
The Stalking Dead (Gang of Ghouls Book 1) (free)
Absent Pity (An Amber Young FBI Suspense Thriller—Book 1)
I would make one HUGE change. I would have gone to college. Gone to law school. I didn’t. Thought I should get married and have kids. What a huge mistake I made. The kids are grown and have moved on. I am left dirt poor and alone at 68. No one wants to hire an old woman.
No. Both the good and bad things I have done in my past have made me the person I am today, so if I changed any of them, I would not be who I am; and I rather like who I am.