The choices that add up

I went out to cheer on a friend who was running a 50-mile race.

I cried. Why?

Because I know that for my friend to run 50 miles today, he needed to make hundreds of choices on hundreds of other days–choices about eating, resting, and training, and choices about his priorities, and choices about not quitting any time when he most wanted to give up. I was so stinking proud.

The Choices That Add Up

If you can say that your life is any different today than it was a year ago, it’s because of the choices that you made, one at a time, to do something differently.

That’s incredibly simple, and incredibly profound.

If you have always wanted to be __________ (a runner? a writer? fluent in a language? an amazing lover? compassionate? a world traveler? financially free?) then it starts with choices.

One choice, stacked beside another choice, stacked beside another–choices add up.

It can feel powerless or overwhelming to think of a big life change that you want to make, and particularly without a plan for change, you might wonder how you’re going to work with the fear that arises, how to stay motivated, how to reconnect with what inspired you to make a change, and–I love how Brene Brown says it–how to quit with the constant cycles of “how to,” and look (courageously) at what gets in the way.

We don’t need new years, or new seasons, or a Monday to roll around before we can make a change. The choices that add up are available, now.

We only need this choice, right here and right now. Then, when the next opportunity arises, we need that choice, right there and right then.

Together, they knit the fabric of our lives.

Where do you want to be, in a year? What are the choices that add up over that year, to get you where you want to go?