Find your spark and go for it

Once I was 10-years-old. Do you remember what it felt like before the first day of school in elementary school? The tense feeling in your stomach as you lay in bed wondering what your friends spent their summer doing. Whether your class had picked up some new kids… whether you’d be picked to play kickball on the playground. I’ll never have that feeling again, a lot of you will never have that feeling again.

Do not let this discourage you. That feeling will never be forgotten for a reason. We had something exciting to look forward to… something that had our bodies and mind so involved it kept us up all night. While I do not experience that often anymore, I find that when I do I am generally in a better mood. I have things going for me, work is paying off or plans are falling into place. Do you feel like this too, what does age and wisdom do to this feeling?

Growing up we are told to chase our dreams. This is one of the only ways I get that feeling these days. I bet the people I look up to most in our community feel this chasing their dreams. I have an older friend who’s dream was to open up a restaurant and make some of the best BBQ around, and he did. I bet he got that feeling from elementary school once or twice along the way. My little sister has known as a kid that basketball was her dream. I’m going to go out on a limb and say she has experienced this feeling as well.

If you feel like you have lost touch with this feeling I encourage you to find it. There are many ways you can do this. Try making a new friend, one that is just a little bit outside of your normal comfort level. If you put in just a little bit of effort, it can increase your ability to see yourself differently. This could help you break up a cycle that is stopping you from progressing. You can also try finding new hobbies, or developing current ones. The old saying ‘practice makes perfect’ fits well here. Find your spark and chase it, you never know what you might achieve.

I hope to have these feelings throughout my entire life. I hope I’ll have things exciting enough to give me that tense, gut-wrenching feeling of the night before the first day of school. Whether it be job opportunities, family moments, or just the feeling of accomplishing something good. I hope we all find things like this to motivate us. There is no limit to what we might be able to do.