So I have a question for you today,
What makes your heart race?
I don't mean, you're out of shape and running up a flight of stairs type of heart pounding. I mean, what excites you? What makes you feel alive? What are you passionate about?
Last week I had an experience I've never had before. I arrived at the mall, at 9:08 and the mall opened at 10:00. See I thought the mall opened at 9:00 and when I got there and all the stores were closed I figured nope it must open at 9:30. Wrong again. So I was almost a whole hour early for the mall. So I picked up a coffee and sat down in one of the sitting areas in the mall and just relaxed.
It was a really cool thing to see life start to happen. First thing I saw was a group of seniors sitting drinking coffee together and talking about a golf experience they had. A little while later a young woman and a man sat down and the man was going through an interview with her. (I hope she received the job). After awhile I got bored so I got up and moved to the food court and continued to drink my coffee. I saw employees come in late, other employees come in telling stories about their weekend camping trip. And before long the mall was bustling with crowds of people and the stores were open for business.
It got me thinking. It reminded me of slowly waking. Your morning starts out slow, maybe with a good stretch and before long your body is energized and ready to attack the day with enthusiasm. (For some this process goes much slower than for others). But this got me thinking about life on a much larger scheme than day to day waking.
Sometimes I just feel like I'm kind of sleeping through life and I need to awake and realize what goes on around me. Sometimes I find myself just going through the motions of life never fully engaging. But it's the things that make your heart race and get you excited about life that wake you up.
So again I ask you, what is it that makes your heart race?
For me, traveling. That moment when you're sitting on the airplane about to take off and it accelerates at a very rapid rate. You're pushed against the back of your seat and although I love to fly there is still this small part of me praying that we safely take off and get in the air. That moment, for me, awakens my very being, as I prepare for my next adventure in another place, I'm full of anticipation, nerves, and excitement. In that moment I am fully alive.
Another thing that gets my heart racing is, the possibility of changing the world. The potential that is inside me, and many others to do something drastic and completely change the world. I'm serious. The dream I carry with me has the potential to not only impact the community I am in, but the country and world that surrounds it. When I get thinking about the lives that could be impacted my heart jumps, I get butterflies and everything in me wants to change the world NOW. Not in five years, not when I graduate from college, but now.
I had this thought while I was at the mall. See I love to travel so my brain used a travel analogy. Imagine life is a train. We all have the ability to get on the train and travel to new places, experience new things and really enjoy the travel experience. OR we have the option to stay at the train station. Standing on the platform with the train doors open ready for us to get in a go, yet never taking that step. Instead fear, insecurity and uncertainty stops us. It stops from ever truly living. It stops us from experiencing the real reason we were at the train station. We aren't at the train station to watch trains come and go, we're at the train station to get on a train and go for a ride.
Like train rides, life has it's ups and downs, the tracks can be rough. But there are also those moments where it's smooth riding, and when you look out the window at the view and you know beyond a shadow of a doubt you're right where you're supposed to be.
See the things that excite us and get our heart racing is what directs to which train we're supposed to be on. But we can get excited about something, and still never get on the train.
So my question now is:
Are you sitting at the train stop or are you on your way to somewhere incredible?
The opportunity to go and do something awesome with your life is there, you just have to decide if what you hope for is greater than what you fear.
-A
