All you have in your life is right now.  This is your life happening; right now, in this moment.  What will you choose to do with it?

It’s so easy to get caught up worrying about what happened in the past, or what might happen in the future, that it’s easy to for get that while you’re worrying, your life is happening.  There is so much to worry about.  Relationships, family issues, money, work; all of these things weigh on our minds so much of the time.  It becomes a problem when worrying about the future, or the past, interferes with your enjoyment of the present.

I’m not saying that your shouldn’t plan for the future, or think about what major life decisions you need to make.  Life doesn’t just fall perfectly into place.  It does require a bit of planning to come together the way you want it to.  What I’m saying is that you can look at your future, and make your choices and plans, and then let it go and live in the now.

Once you’ve made your choices, don’t spend all your time worrying about how they will work out.  Spend your time choosing to enjoy today, because today is all you actually have.  You can’t go back and change the past, and you can’t live in the future.  All you can do is live this moment, right now.  This day, right now.  This is your life, and it’s happening right now.  How will you choose to live it?

Whether what happened to you in the past was good or bad, it’s time to let it go and move on with your life.

So many people spend so much time fixated on what happened to them in the past.  People look back to what they feel were the best days in their life, and they feel that life would be so much better today if they could get those days back.  Others look back at the pain and suffering they went through, and all they can think is how much better life would be today if those things hadn’t happened.

Whether it was good or bad, our past is what brought us to our present, and our present is all we’ve got.  Your life is happening today, so live in it today.

I’m not saying to forget what happened to you before.  I believe that it’s important to remember your past, so that you can understand your present, and so that you can learn lessons from the past, both good and bad.

If you made some bad choices in the past, learn the lessons from them so you don’t make the same bad choices again.  If bad things were done to you by other people, think about how you can use those bad experiences to be a better, stronger person today.  Can you take your hurt and find a way to help other people today?  Are you making sure that you aren’t hurting someone else the same way that someone hurt you?

If things were great in the past, think about what choices you can make today to get back some of those good times.  It may not be possible.  You’re never going to get back to going to the state championships in high school.  But what you can do is be glad that you had that experience, because it helped to shape who you are today.

Every experience we have in our lives shapes us.  But what a lot of people don’t realize is that we get to choose how those experiences shape us.  We can choose to be bitter and angry at someone hurting us, or we can choose to learn and grow.  We can choose to mourn the loss of the “good old days” or we can choose to be happy that we were lucky enough to have those great experiences, and carry that happiness with us today.

Each of us gets to make that choice, and we get to make it every single day.  What will you choose?

If you’re not willing to do things that make you uncomfortable, your life is not going to get better.  Emily started running cross country this year, and I was a little discouraged at how she was obviously not pushing herself during practice.  At the first meet, she finished close to last place, and on the drive home, she told me that she was not happy with her performance.

As I explained to her then, and during every practice run and meet since then, you have to get comfortable being uncomfortable.  If you only do the things that are easy, you never get to experience the sense of satisfaction that comes from pushing yourself to do something that you didn’t think you could accomplish, then accomplishing it.  You don’t need to win a trophy, or finish in the top 3, but you should know when you finish that you did your own personal best.

Mariah decided last year that she wanted to audition for the winter musical.  Standing up in front of a room full of strangers and reading some lines and singing would be nerve-racking for just about anyone.  But she did it, and she got a part in the chorus, and she had a fantastic experience.  Because she was willing to do something that was uncomfortable, she got to have a great new experience.

We all have things that we are naturally good at, and sometimes it’s easy to fall back on those things, rather than push ourselves.  You can get through life this way, but I feel that you miss so much enjoyment if that’s what you do.  When you challenge yourself, and you accept a level of discomfort as part of the process, you will end up with incredible new experiences and new accomplishments.

These are things that no one can ever take away from you.  Once you’ve completed a race, or acted in a play, you own that experience.  It is yours forever.  And that is something to feel good about.