Its Not About the Destination, It's About the Journey...

In my previous post I talked about the satisfaction of achieving your goals. Something that is more important than achieving the goal itself, is the journey you take to get there. On your journey you will have to evaluate yourself; Am I working effectively? Is this helping me to progress to where I need to be? By doing this, you're paving the road to your success and believe me, this road is cluttered with all kinds of obstacles that teach you life lessons. That's why the journey, dare I say, is more important than the goal, the goal is just the reward to show for all your efforts.

One thing to keep in mind, is to stick to your goal if you plan to realistically succeed. Write your goal down so it becomes tangible and understand the reason you want to achieve such goal. If you’re straying away from the ultimate goal, go back and remind yourself why you need to achieve that goal. Actively work towards your goal everyday to get it done. Take for example something as simple as leading a healthier lifestyle, one can’t expect to do a 180° turn on their lifestyle, they have to gradually build their way up to it. Start small, 15 minutes of working out, switching out one or two junk foods and replacing them with a healthier option will get them closer to achieving the goal. You will come across procrastination and obstacles, but that is part of the journey. It's important to choose your goals wisely, remember the post on SMART goals? That's exactly what needs to be done. Set your goals wisely! Make sure they're Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely. No goal is easy, however, if you don’t make your goal SMART it will only make the goal harder to attain.

Every mission you decide to take on, becomes an opportunity for you to grow as a person. When you start your quest you will inevitably gain experiences that will assist you in completing your goal. Sometimes things don't always go as planned and you have obstacles in your way that may make you lose faith in your goal. Use these obstacles to help develop your skill set, to prepare you for the work that lays ahead. The experiences that YOU go through are priceless, you are the only one who has EVER gone through your specific situation. Everything you have ever gone through in life has shaped the person you are today. All of your past life experiences come with you, they help you progress in life. When it comes down to it, all you will have are your moments, they are intimately yours, no one can take them away from you. Unlike materialistic things, they can break, get lost, get stolen or mess up, however, the experiences you gain throughout your life stay with you and play a huge role in your character’s development.

Hard work does not go unnoticed, if you put in a hard day’s work you will see results. The only way to fail at your goal is to sit there and do nothing! As long as you're moving and grooving, towards your goal that is, you'll be on your way. No goal is easy to attain, it takes dedication and determination to get there. When someone get’s a promotion at work, it’s because they have come a long way and have proven that they the experience under their belt. LEVEL UP!

Set SMART goals, write it down! Start working towards your goal everyday, dedicate some time and you’ll eventually get there. Take everything you come across as a learning experience. Life is a rollercoaster ride and you will get dings along the way that will affect your outcome. All experiences are specific to each person, no one can take away anyone’s experiences away. The level of hard work invested in achieving ANY goal will show in the results. Don’t give up, all the work you do will have been for nothing if you don’t see it through till the end. You will never know what lays ahead so it all begins and ends with you!

I Miss You Grandpa

Have you ever taken the time to listen to the elderly about their lives? Could you imagine all of the things that they have seen in their time living on this planet? It's sad to see that younger generations aren't more respectful to the elders. Just the other day, as I was making my way out of church and I was ready to hit the road to grab a bite to eat. I found that people ahead of me were walking slowly. I didn't mind it but I did notice the significant change of pace. I was curious to see what the hold up was when I noticed other people were jumping over the railings to bail out of the slow moving cluster of people. I looked ahead as far as I could, there was an older man whose body was tired and rigid, yet still strong enough to support who I assumed to be his wife. She was short, slow and used a walker for she was incapable of walking without assistance. I took compassion of the old couple and found myself growing less anxious to move past them. Instead I conformed to their pace, in part because it would have been completely rude to pass them up since the walkway was quite narrow and would require me to squeeze past them. In the meantime I began to think to myself, "I wonder how old they were, how long they have been together, and if they knew they were holding up the line, or if they even cared." I don’t get to interact with older folks very often, so this was interesting to experience. The fact that I made the choice to slow down to their pace rather than hurry past them was a perspective changer. While most people thought that waiting was a waste of time, the slowing down gave me the opportunity to appreciate my surroundings. I have been attending this church for 6 years and I have never even noticed the beautiful rose bush at the entrance of the building. If it weren’t for the elderly couple slowing down the crowd, I might not have noticed the gorgeous shrubbery.

Young people don't realize that patience is a virtue. Everything has become so fast paced and advanced, that we have grown accustomed to getting everything in a matter of minutes or seconds which has made our patience grow thin. Take the people at the church who decided to jump the railing, they did not take the time to appreciate the moment and did not think about how the elderly couple felt. Their act of impatience was purely rude, and they can never take back what they did. Respect your elders, they came before you and deserve to be celebrated and honored.Teaching our youth to respect the elderly will set the expectations for future generations. A lot of youngsters these days can be so rude and their disregard for their elders is utterly disgusting. Everyone deserves the same respect regardless of age, race, sex, and gender. We are all human and have been fortunate enough to walk the earth, we should honor that and keep that in mind always. We are only here momentarily, sooner or later we will all depart this cruel world. Growing old is a privilege, not many people get to grow old. Studies have shown that old people are growing rapidly extinct, let’s enjoy them while we can.

My grandfather passed away about a year and a half ago. He was a great musician and played in a band with his sons and his grandchildren. In his younger days he was a busy man. He played in different places around Mexico and taught music to a number of people, some of whom became famous and are still very successful today. My grandfather built a legacy for our family, and it has carried down through the generations. I wish I could have spent more time with him to get to learn more about his life and his travels around Mexico and the US as a musician. As someone who wishes they could have had more opportunities to learn more about their grandfather, I encourage you to be patient with your elders and elders in general. Fortunately I still have my grandmother, however, I don't have the privilege to be with her every day. If I'm lucky, I get to see her at least every OTHER year. My grandma-ma is the only living link I have to my ancestors and I will cherish every moment with her and not take it for granted. Take the time to get to know the elders in your life, they will not always be here. Learn all that you can from your antecedents and cultivate the relationship as much as possible so that when they are gone, you won’t be stuck with the feeling of utter regret and sorrow. When they are gone, they are GONE. There is no turning back the clock because time waits for no one.

Remember this, treat others how you want to be treated. Even though older people are slow to walk, hard of hearing, and some smell funny, they are still people who live, breathe and matter. Anyone who has an impact in our lives will take a piece of us with them when they are gone. When it comes to our grandparents that bond is stronger, because without THEM, WE would not be here. In order to move forward in life it is important to know where you come from. So take the time to learn what you can from them … treasure it, not everyone has that opportunity.

LIVE, LOVE, LAUGH