Today, I turn thirty-four. It seems
that after thirty, time just goes faster and faster. At sixteen, I remembered
wishing I was eighteen. At eighteen, I wanted to be twenty-one. At twenty-one,
I wanted to be twenty-five. Once thirty hit, I remembered thinking about all
the things I wanted to accomplish by that age; some of them I achieved, but a
lot of them fell short. I thought I’d be rich and married to a beautiful wife;
I thought I’d have a boy and a girl, a big house and a couple nice cars. I
thought I’d have a flourishing business with multiple streams of income flowing
from several different real estate investments. I thought I’d be “playing
hopscotch around the world” with my family, going on speaking tours like
Anthony Robbins, encouraging people worldwide to change their lives, and
motivating employees from Fortune 500 companies to encourage healthy corporate
environments. I thought it would happen by now, but it didn't.
Four years have passed since my thirtieth birthday,
and I don’t have a wife or kids, I don’t have a big house with nice cars, I
don’t have a flourishing business with multiple streams of income, I don’t have
any real estate investments, and I’m not going on any speaking tours around the
world.
I’m thirty-four years old today, and what have I got?
I have peace. I have love. I have joy. I have (some)
wisdom. I have revelation. I have direction. I have faith. I have friends. I
have family. I have command of the English language. I have health. I have
(some) money. I have a place to call home. I (still) have dreams. I have
goals. I have ambitions. I have a calling. I have a destiny.
For some people, life goes exactly according to plan.
For many of us, however, we are not making what we thought we'd be making,
doing the job we are currently doing, at the age we currently are. For many of
us, life has been so unpredictable and uncontrollable that we have allowed our
poor life-planning strategies, measly goal-setting skills, and bad habits get
the best of us.
At thirty-four, I want to catch up with the goals
that have eluded me. I want to be a better goal-setter. I want to be a
reliable accountability partner. I want to re-commit myself to birthing
the dreams inside of me, and I want to finally have my date with destiny.
At thirty-four, I believe I will.
