“It’s not the destination that matters, it’s the journey.” Though I’ve heard this phrase time and time again, I constantly find myself trying to speed up the “journey” so I can reach the “destination” in almost every part of my life. Quite honestly… I’ve never been patient enough to enjoy the journey. The journey is uncomfortable, and from it come uncomfortable things – like embarrassment. And disappointment. And fear. And failure. All of which are uncomfortable… all of which can be used either to my advantage or to my disadvantage. I find myself thinking over and over (with a voice of self pity and victimization), “why me?” Dale Carnegie once said, “It isn’t what you have, or who you are, or where you are, or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about it.” This quote (and quotes like it) always stop me dead in my tracks, because they remind me that it’s not my circumstances or situations that determine my state of mind – it is ME. I may not be able to control what is happening around me, but I can control what I think about it. And that, in itself, is a powerful thought.
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failure
Welcome to my little corner of the vast world wide web! This blog is dedicated to the small things that make life beautiful – hot tea on a cold day, short quotes with a big impact, and capturing the details of life through photography. Starting a blog has been a goal of mine for a while now, spurred by my love for writing. Ever since I can remember I have kept a journal detailing the changes, thoughts, and moments of life that I hope to remember, and more importantly, learn from. After all, life is a cycle of failure, change, improvement, and achievement (with achievement sometimes taking the longest to come). As Winston Churchill once said, “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” Courage is what gives us the strength to rise above our failure and beyond our success to continue the work that we have been called to do – to push towards our purpose in life. And sometimes, that purpose is found in the small and somewhat unseen things – in loving the unlovable, in believing in those who have ceased to believe in themselves, in living life with integrity and purpose. I would contend that true purpose in life is found in the details of who we are and in who we believe we can be – and in having the courage to be, as a friend once said, “the most saturated versions of ourselves,” without fear of rejection or failure. That takes true courage… and that, as Churchill believed, is what counts.