The Voyage Begins

"Challenge yourself today to step out of your comfort zone, and be bold! To love fully and to give of yourself without reservation!"  ~Delilah


"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
~Mark Twain


     Delilah posted this as her status on her facebook page this morning.  I have to say that I really like the message here.  I think too often we are satisfied to stay where we are comfortable.  We like things to stay the same, don't rock the boat, stay in the harbor where it is safe.  Where the winds of change cannot catch in the sails of life.  If we stay in the safe harbor too long we begin to grow crusty with the barnacles of fear.  We also cannot learn to manage the storms that life often throws our way.  That cannot be good.  I have written about change a lot over the last year.  I have learned in my life to be flexible and to try and roll with the waves and face the storms head on.  It's not an easy thing to do, but when you look back it's an amazing sight to see where you came from
     This year I am turning 50.  When I think about that I wonder, where in the world has time gone?  What  really, have I accomplished in my adult life, other than nursing school and being a parent?  The sad truth is not a lot.  I have been on a "journey" for the last few months.  I haven't talked a lot about it because I didn't know where it was going to lead me.  Tomorrow that journey will end and a new one will begin.  To be honest, I'm a little hesitant to talk about it, but I want to honor my friend Delilah and one of my favorite authors Mark Twain and be true to what was spoken to me this morning.  So here goes...
     Back in October shortly before leaving on my vacation I decided that my life was all wrong.  Almost every decision I had made in my adult life benefited me somehow.  When I looked back at how fast the last ten years had gone and what had transpired over those years I was ashamed.  I was ashamed at how I lived my life.  I was living in the "Wendi Universe" where I was at the center and everything else and everyone else revolved around me.  I didn't feel good about that at all.  So I decided, as my good friend Dr. Michelle Watson would say, to "change the dance."  I had heard Delilah mention the book The Purpose Driven Life, by Rick Warren on her radio show, and what a wonderful book it was.  So I went to Amazon.com and downloaded it onto my kindle and iPad.  I also picked up the journal that goes with it, and thus began my journey.  Early on I also figured out that one of the reasons why I was living the way I was living was because I was afraid, so I also started reading Fearless by Max Lucado.  I actually looked at that book when I picked up the journal and decided that it would be a worthy accompaniment.  I also knew that in addition to finding some purpose in my life I needed to make some changes in how I thought about others.  I had also looked at book called One Simple Act by Debbie Macomber in which she speaks to taking small steps in becoming a more generous person by highlighting what people that she has met throughout her life have done.  So I had my work cut out for me.
     Don't get the wrong idea here.  As I write this I'm thinking "Whoa Sister!  This sounds bad! What in the world were you doing?" The answer is that my situation probably wasn't as bad as it could have been, had I not stopped to think about my actions.  I think a little self-reflection every now and again is a really good thing.  We can avoid a world of trouble by putting on the brakes in our lives and looking at the direction our actions are taking us.  I have taken my time on this journey.  I have stopped and started, spent time pondering some of the lessons that each book had to teach me.  I've journaled  A LOT, and some things I've hinted at right here in my blog.  What I have learned on this journey is that everyone is put on this earth to accomplish something, and that we must do so without fear and with a generous heart.  It doesn't matter what Higher Power you believe in, the message is universal. Tomorrow I finish up the journey of "purpose," and begin the "journey of discovery."  
     I will be stepping out of my comfort zone tomorrow to begin an amazing voyage, where I am not at  the center, but I will be putting others at the center of this journey.  It will be my purpose to do all I can to take the many blessings that I have been given and share them with the world around me without reservation.  I don't know where this will take me, but I know that it will be worth all that I have put into it just getting ready.  Mr. Twain & Delilah, I am throwing off those bowlines at about 5:00 tomorrow morning and setting sail into the rest of my life.   I'm hoping for a gentle wind to lead me out to sea to meet and discover the "something" that I will accomplish.  Cheers!