Magical Mondays

It is somewhat dreary Monday morning here in central Indiana. While I may not be feeling so magical right now, the sparks are clearly there. It's been 8 weeks since I lost my full-time gig within Corporate America. I have spent 19 years of my life chained to a desk, metaphorically speaking, and I'm so very tired of it. I have come to the conclusion (finally), that I do not want to continue spending eight, nine, 10 or more hours per day sitting in an office doing something that truly only benefits someone else. After years of wanderlust and "back-burner" desire, I believe that it is finally time to go into business for myself. Sure I keep searching for and applying for another full-time gig, but that's not where my heart is at all.  Just ask my wife, or any of my friends, and they'd be able to tell you that almost in a heartbeat.


During the past year I've been dabbling in the travel planning business. It has been frustrating at times, but lots of fun and rewarding as well. Most importantly, it's given me a real sense of doing something for myself. Make or break, it's up to me. If I don't keep at it, nothing will come of it. The successes and failures will be mine. I get it, and through it all, I've been preparing myself mentally and emotionally for that responsibility. It won't be easy, but then nothing that is truly worthwhile is all that easy, is it?


During the past two months since those shackles were first removed from my wrists and I was laid off from work, I have felt such a weight lifted from my shoulders. Sure I still need to provide for my family, but through it all, I feel that I have really been given an enormous gift as well. In hindsight I should have left my last job three or four years ago of my own free will, but self-doubt and fear of the unknown kept me tied to it. This is a chance to truly start fresh, and to make the 2nd half of my life whatever I want it to be. I want it to be magical for myself and my family - because I really want to enjoy what I'm doing, but I also want it to be something that can a make a difference. Something that will allow for time that was craved-for, but not allowed-for in my last situation. Time to get out and do some good for the community, and in other countries through short-term missions with my church. Something that I can do anywhere I happen to be thanks to technology. Is it all a pipe dream? Perhaps. But those dreams are part of what make our lives magical in the first place. If we don't dream, and reach for those dreams - we're nothing.


I'm doing my homework. Meeting with experts. Planning. Praying. Preparing to make a new life out of the current rubble. There will be challenges, but nothing is impossible. As one of my favorite songs says, "It doesn't matter what you've heard, impossible's not a word, it's just a reason for someone not to try."