THE IMPORTANCE OF NOW — Roaming With Pups

Now is a funny thing. It is here today and gone tomorrow. As adults, we are patient and cautious and try to make good decisions. We plan for the future. But, if we do too much planning, there are more and more todays gone and fewer tomorrows left. I know this well because I think I spent the better part of a few years contemplating a change in what I was doing with my life. Looking back, I can tell you that you have to trust yourself.

You know in your heart what you want, what makes you happy. The only real struggle should be about how to do those things.

It can seem easier to do the same things all the time. But it certainly is more fun to try new things. As you begin exploring or wandering as we see it, with your first short trips, your point of view will clarify. You will know what feels right. You may feel invigorated, newly creative. You might get inspired to exercise, take up running again, to meet friends for a hike. Perhaps these were the things that you had longed for while sitting at your desk working.

Perhaps this was the direction that you needed to take with your life.

It is essential to listen to yourself. To hear these longings, to honor these dreams. A really revealing exercise is to pretend that you have a million dollars unexpectedly and no longer have to work to earn money. What would you do? How would you live your life. Would you do exactly what you are doing now? Perhaps you would. If that is the case then again, it is wonderful to know that your life is aligned with your dreams for it. That can be very revealing. If you would change everything in your life if you didn’t have to work, then you owe it to yourself to at least walk down that path a bit,

Sometimes we feel stuck in life. It can feel really difficult to live your best life. You have to decide if these are self imposed obstacles that you have created. If so, recognize them and gently kick them to the curb. Push yourself to embrace the possibility of change. Treat yourself kindly in this and any transition. Allow yourself time and take those baby steps. Start a trial run of small trips that don’t require you to commit to any grand changes in your life. If seeing some of the National Parks is on your bucket list then isn’t it better to see a few of them instead of waiting until you have the time or money to see them all?

Make a plan to see one a month. That might require using some PTO days and cutting back on weekly entertainment costs so that you can have the time and the funds to take short trips. Imagine what that year would be like. How great would it be to see the Grand Canyon in March and then Glacier National Park in April. Or, even smaller steps, hiking Griffith Park with friends this weekend and riding your bike on the strand in Hermosa Beach next weekend.

The world has just been through one of the most impactful life altering 3 years with the pandemic. This has caused a reckoning of sorts. It has shown us, like almost nothing else has, that we are fragile-that we have to consider that we are lucky to be healthy.

It is important not to put off the good things in life for later. We don’t know what later will bring.

Grasp the now and at least give it a fighting chance. There are things that happen in life that force us to make changes. When we have to, we can and do adapt. We shouldn’t wait for those moments when life decides for us. Jot down in your journal a 3 day, 3 week and 3 month goal. What do you hope to learn or do in those timeframes. Write them down and then do them! Put as much energy as you can into understanding what you want in life. This way, you can make the important changes happen now.