Just before starting Grad School to become an Elementary School Teacher, I decided to take a trip to visit friends in Boston. I booked my flight on Priceline using the “name my price” feature. I fully expected to be booked on an early morning flight, but was delighted to get afternoon flights both ways. After a fun few days, I woke up the morning I was meant to return home and prepared to pack up. My best friend, who had gone to work shortly before, called us unexpectedly and told us to turn on the television. We turned on the TV just as the second plane crashed into the World Trade Center. That United Airlines flight from Boston to Los Angeles was the same airline and itinerary I was booked on later that afternoon. I so easily could have been on that earlier flight.
But someone or something had a different plan for me…
Flash Forward a few years…I was driving home late at night and got a little lost. I was waiting at a red light to get back on the freeway to get back on course. One second I was staring at the red light and the next second I was across the intersection! The driver in the van behind me had lost consciousness and crashed into me. Thankfully, we both walked away with only minor injuries. Being the believer that I am in “all things happen as they’re meant to”, I looked for the meaning. There was no reason that I should have been at that intersection. It was a complete fluke. But I firmly believe that I was there for a reason. Had me and my car not been there to stop that van, he may have collided with something or someone else and someone may have died.
Flash Forward a few more years… I had left the teaching profession, tried my hand at a couple of Office Administration positions, and finally took the time to consider my next career path. I had decided on Life Coaching and had started a Certification Course with one of the requirements being peer coaching. I was on a call with my Peer Client and suddenly felt struck by a moment of absolute clarity and understanding. Never before in my life had I felt so surely that I was exactly where I was meant to be, doing exactly what I was put on this Earth to do. I had found my Calling.
Flash Forward a few more years to the 20 year Anniversary of 9/11. I was reflecting on my life, as I do every year at that time, and I was angry with myself. I was still 100% confident in my calling, but I still had yet to start the business and have steady clients. I had been saved on that day 20 years earlier, and I didn’t feel like I was holding up my end of the bargain. But all of the events of my life had led me to the knowledge that I have no control over much of what happens TO me or FOR me in this life, good or bad. I only have control over how I accept and respond to it all. Dwelling on the past and beating myself up over past decisions or events are just a waste of time. I can’t change the past. I can only learn from it and move forward. This massively useful realization has led to my personal motto - “We are where we are. Where do we go from here?” Every time I start to fall back into old habits of dwelling on the past or wishing I had done things differently, I say that motto to myself and it puts me back into the mindset of moving forward and taking action. The rest is just noise that steals my joy and distracts me from living my most authentic and joyful life.
So I made a promise to myself. I committed to finding the tools and support needed to make my dream a reality and stop wasting my time and my talents, so I could finally start helping people to make the world a better place.
I know where I am and I know where I want to go from here! Do you?
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