Journey vs. Destination: dress rehearsal

It takes a lot of courage to look your life square in the eye and face the truth.

Particularly if you’ve been in denial about the state of your relationships, career, health, finances, self-care, physical environment, spiritual life, emotional well-being, etc.

Or if you’ve deferred truly living by falling into the insidious trap of “life begins when”.

As in, my life will really begin when I lose 20 pounds, get promoted, have enough money, get married, buy a home, have kids, pay down the mortgage, put the kids through college, etc.

This kind of future thinking traps us because the magical milestone invariably keeps changing—and so life as we define it never really begins.

We get the promotion, but then we say life really begins when we get married. We get married, and then we’re waiting to buy a house. We buy the home, and then our focus is on having kids.

Of course, it’s not that any of these desires are misguided. It’s just we need to avoid waiting for life to begin until these things have happened.

Future thinking in the form of “life begins when” is a maze that keeps the present hidden and results in always waiting to live until you get around that next corner…and the next…and the next.

Are you treating your life like a dress rehearsal?