“To live an extraordinary life, you must resist the ordinary.”
-Frank McKinney
“What does an extraordinary life look like to you?” This is one of the questions that mentor/coach/advisor Carrie Wilkerson asks in her audiobook, The Barefoot Executive: The Ultimate Guide for Being Your Own Boss and Achieving Financial Freedom. I have been listening to her book for the last couple of weeks to gain inspiration for the next “chapter” of my life. While I still don’t know exactly what I want to do, I’m much clearer on what I don’t want to do. That’s half of the battle right? 🙂 The one thing that I love the most about this book is that it has helped me to appreciate even more how extraordinary my life is. I am already experiencing the things that make life extraordinary to me.
It’s not that my life is “perfect”. It’s not even that there are not areas that I both want and need to grow in (i.e. fitness and finances, the two areas of growth that I will especially be focusing on this 39th year of life). Rather, it’s that I’m grateful for the life that I have. I get to love and be loved by God, my husband, my kids, family and friends every day. I get to wake up and go to sleep next to a husband who is my best friend, confidante, dream sharer…and many other things. I get to start most days walking my bright, funny boys to school. This is one of my favorite things to do (not so much on rainy days like today, but usually!) before the hustle and bustle of the day begins. Most nights of the week, I get to eat and laugh over dinner with “my guys” and any other friend or family member who happens to stop by. I get to serve the women in the Singles ministry of my church. (The post image is of a small group of the ladies who surprised me with a delicious dinner tonight. As they went around sharing sweet things about me, my heart was full. They inspire me to actually become that woman whom they were talking about 🙂 !)
On top of all that goodness, I have been so fortunate to be able to build a career based on my dreams at every stage of my life. Investment banking was a fun challenge in my single days. Business analysis and sales development were great when I was married without kids. However, the most fulfilling “work” role – the only one that I haven’t gotten bored of after 2 years – has been “Michael and Sean’s mom”. (That’s what my sons’ little school friends call me.) The icing on the cake has been the fact that I have been able to make parenting my business with paid writing assignments, brand work and such. Best of all, I have purposefully been able to work around my family’s schedule. We really like spending as much time together as possible, so this has been a special gift. It’s a joy, not a chore, to be around my husband and kids…well, 95%+ of the time anyway!
You might have noticed that I use the phrase “get to” a lot. What is a “get to” for me might be a burdensome “have to” for someone else. That is why having an “extraordinary life” is such a subjective thing. However, I love my current reality and can honestly say that I wouldn’t trade places with anyone else. (Better the crazy that I know than the crazy that I don’t!) I’m living an extraordinary life and I hope that you feel the same about your life too!
