Swimming Downstream
Living the life of your dreams is like being in the flow…literally. Have you ever been swimming in a river? Take a minute and picture heading out into the river of your choice. If you head out and swim upstream you will get an excellent workout and depending on how fast the water is moving you downstream the scenery will never change. You paddle like crazy but go absolutely nowhere. Kind of like life, paddle like crazy but the scene on shore never changes…plus, every now and then a log comes along or other debris and bonks you on the head. Kind of like life.
But when you clarify your dreams and live them out loud it is like floating downstream. It still helps to paddle but you move with ease and the river provides you rocks and branches and other amazing things but you are relaxed and focused so you can inspect the objects/opportunities as they approach. If the objects are not part of your dream or plan you can easily push them out of the way and continue on your journey or you can climb on and check it out for awhile to get a different view of your surroundings. If it is not what you thought and it is not part of your clarified life plan you can easily slip right back into the water and float along to the next opportunity.
That’s a wonderful simile. It reminded me of the river I travel to annually in the summer. It’s waters are a constant 72 degrees because it is a giant spring at it’s head.
The other thing you learn about swimming against the current is that it wears you out fast.
It does wear you out fast and leaves you feeling frustrated and overwhelmed.
The more I define how I want my life to be, what I want to be doing and where I want to be the more the right people and projects come my way.
I love the quote often used in the business world “People don’t plan to fail, they fail to plan” this is so true for life as well as business.