Permission granted!

Quit waiting for permission to be a badass!

I spent years of my life waiting to be anointed, to be “ready” to start making awesome things happen. I thought – when I hit a certain age, when I get this title, when, when, when…I woke up one day in my early 30s and realized that day would never come unless I grabbed it! I got real frustrated and started to blame everyone and everything around me. I would hope someone else would take initiative for this or that to happen, then get mad when the person of the day didn’t understand me…might have been my boss, my wife, my brother, my co-worker, etc.

But I knew one thing, I was tired of the path I was on. I realized life was passing by quickly. In small doses, I could taste the fruit of regret. I looked at my life 10, 20, even 30 years down the road and didn’t like where I was headed. I began to try things. I failed many times over. There were moments along the way where I almost lost my self, my faith, even my family.

It hasn’t gotten easier. I’m presented with challenges each day from the moment I wake up. Negative thoughts flood my mind, only to be absolved by conscious moments to soak in gratitude. The stakes are higher with three children and nearing completion of another decade of life.

If it were just for the challenges I would fold. Thankfully there is hope to fill the sails. When I focus on gratitude I see that I am not alone. I can appreciate that my imperfections have been perfectly placed at this point in my life to give me what I need to move forward, to struggle, to learn, and to grow.

In this next decade I’m certain I will fail more times and in bigger ways than I did in this past decade. But I’m also certain I will press on fueled by hope and gratitude, guided by a plan and purpose that is made stronger with each storm.