THE LAST THREE DECADES HAS FLOWN BY! WHAT CAN YOU DO TO MAKE THE NEXT THIRTY YEARS EVEN BETTER?
Bring me back a souvenir the next time you’re around. Now fly because there’s too much here to keep you on the ground. Nik Kershaw from The Sky’s the Limit
Although there are dozens of songs about yearning to go back in time (HERE’S ONE), how many times have you heard someone say, “If I could go back and do it all again, I wouldn’t change a thing“? Every time I hear that I think to myself, wow, are you ever stupid. There are so many things I would change that I’m not quite sure where I would start. For one, I would love to go back and change how I ate thirty years ago. I would certainly train much differently as well. And that’s just for starters.
I’m doing OK at ALMOST FIFTY ONE, but as probably everyone laments at some time or another, had I known then what I know now, things could certainly be better. But that’s how life works; you play the hand you’re dealt, you work hard, pray even harder, and roll with (or battle against) whatever life happens to throw at you.
Whether you attribute it to chance, fate, providence, or plain dumb luck, life is full of twists, turns, and what-might-have-beens. A recent story about Nick Saban, the coach of Alabama’s national champion football team, is the perfect example. The gist of the story was that after winning a national championship for LSU back in 2003 (the Tigers beat the Sooners that my KSU Wildcats had beat like a drum a month earlier in the Big 12 Championship — THANKS DS!), Saban parlayed his rising star into a big money coaching gig with the Miami Dolphins.
It seems that during that period, the Dolphins were looking at signing Drew Brees, the amazing quarterback of the New Orleans Saints, who at the time was with the San Diego Chargers. They didn’t pull the trigger because Brees was coming off of shoulder surgery and the thought was that he would never be the same player — interesting considering the guy is 40 and can still spin it with the best of them.
Although that was a decade and a half ago, Brees is still a stud, while the guys the Dolphins chose in his stead (Dante Culpepper: best known for being the average and oft-injured Q involved in the Vikings cruiseboat sex scandal, Gus Ferotte: best known for injuring his neck head-butting a stadium wall after a touchdown, and Joey Harrington: best known for being a great guy with a not so great lifetime QBR) didn’t exactly burn up the stat sheet or the win column.
The point of this tale was that Coach Saban, whom many would argue is college football’s GOAT (greatest of all time), would not even be in the conversation if Dolphins owner, Wayne Huizenga, had chosen Brees as his quarterback. The thought was that with a good QB, Saban would have won enough games to at the very least be relevant in the NFL, likely never returning to the college ranks. It’s certainly interesting speculation, but don’t we all have stories that we could argue are similar?
In fact, I would argue, AS DID DR. SATURDAY, that some really terrible calls in the second half helped cement Saban’s legacy just as much as the walk-off touchdown pass by freshman sensation, Tua Tagovailoa, on the second play of Alabama’s OT possession. And to top it all off, Saban, who was the defensive backs coach for the Houston Oilers back in 1988, never even planned on going into coaching in the first place. Isn’t it funny how life happens?
I mention 1988 because it was three decades ago (I was 21). Do you know what you were doing thirty years ago today? I do, but it’s a strange story why. I’ve been a fan of James Taylor since my high school days (Mexico, Every Day, Shower the People, Up on a Roof, Her Town Too, Smiling Face, etc), and although I rarely stayed up late enough to watch late night television, thirty years ago I happened to be studying and watching Carson on the evening J.T. happened to be Johnny’s musical guest.
He played Never Die Young — the cover of his brand new album — and I was mesmerized (I went out the next day, bought the cassette, playing it until it eventually fell apart). After recently seeing the video on YouTube, I realized that this happened thirty years ago this evening; February 2 of 1988.
Speaking of music, one of my favorite songs of all time is Nik Kershaw’s 1984 hit, Wouldn’t it be Good —- a song that I used in my post on PROFESSIONAL BURNOUT and what can be done to prevent it. A few years ago Kershaw wrote an incredible song for his nine year old daughter called The Sky’s the Limit that I also embedded below. What’s the point other than I like cool songs?
It’s simple; JESUS’ BROTHER JAMES’ ANALOGY of life essentially being a “vapor” is spot on. The proof is how quickly the past thirty years have flown by. Since both change and the passing of time are inevitable, use the time given you to your advantage. No matter your age or current physical condition, you can improve your health. Like so many people I have worked with over the years, you have the power to change your situation; to turn your life around.
SYMPATHY OR EMPOWERMENT — your doctor can’t do it for you. You can choose to live in the hurts and/or glory of the past (LIKE NAPOLEON’S UNCLE RICO) or you can live in the present, striving to make a difference by touching lives in whatever way(s) you are gifted.
It’s kind of like the late Henry Blackaby said in his book, Experiencing God: How to Live the Full Adventure of Knowing and Doing the Will of God — “We don’t choose what we will do for God; He invites us to join Him where He wants to involve us. Find out where God is at work and join Him.” Just look around, see where God is doing amazing things, and get busy (HERE is an example).
And while I realize that there are many who struggle with painful and even debilitating physical or emotional issues, I believe that God wants us to strive to be as healthy as we can given our individually unique circumstances — to live up to the potential created in us simply because we are created in His image — to do our best to live up to the image that’s imprinted on all of us. And to never stop searching for solutions to those chronic issues. Someone out there has the answers you are looking for — it’s just a matter of making that connection.
There could be any number of things holding you back from reaching your potential. It could be a dead end job. For some of you it might be bad habits. For others it might be laziness. Resolve what it’s going to take for you to reach your goals / dreams / potential, sit down and develop an DEVELOP AN EXIT STRATEGY, and then act on it. My desire is that you leverage the free information in THIS POST to your advantage.
Figure out what steps you need to take to make your health the best it can be and get started — today! Do what you can so that your next thirty years are as good or better than the last thirty (HERE). After all, the sky’s the limit.
