The definition of celebration is, “to mark (something, such as an anniversary) by festivities or other deviation from routine.” I love festivities.
If your routine is to live in love with the work you do, you won’t have to concern yourself too often with deviating from that routine because you love it. Routine becomes celebration.
This morning at Starbucks, I asked if they had a multi-grain or wheat bagel. The barista said, “Yeah, we have a Sprouted Grain Vegan Bagel.” I responded, “That bagel sounds like a New Year’s resolution.”
January 1 is probably the worst day of the year that you can go to they gym. If you own a gym, it’s probably your favorite day of the year. The whole room is crowded with folks that have intentions (a word developed in the depths of Hell) to lead more healthy and active lifestyles. Within a few weeks, those intentions have fizzled out and I no longer have to wait in line to get on the StairMaster. Good news for me, but what about everyone that gave up on themselves? Why do so many set themselves up to not follow through with things that will better their lives? The short answer is that they don’t believe in the things they want to believe in.
I work in a business that demands me to get on the phone and make a lot of calls. In my late teens and early twenties, I worked in a pizza shop for almost ten years. To this day, when I hear a landline ring, my skin crawls. I 100% believe in speaking life, but I also believe in speaking truth. Here’s the truth: I hate talking on the phone. Maybe that’s the Millennial in me or maybe the thousands of calls I fielded from people that wanted to know how many wings came in a dozen… I would rather throw my phone out of the car window than answer it when someone just interrupted the music I was listening to (Yes, I realize throwing the phone out of the window would also interrupt my jams… you’re probably the person wondering how many wings are in a dozen… it’s 12. You’re welcome.)
Hopefully that’s illustrated how much I don’t love talking on the phone. If I do this uncomfortable thing that I really don’t like, kind of like climbing a StairMaster for 40 minutes, the end-result will be that I’m closer to my goals. I also feel incredibly better after doing what I didn’t want to do but knew I had to do. It’s easy to believe in the things that lie just beyond the field of struggle, which are our dreams, but to get there we also have to believe in the field of struggle. We have to believe there is absolutely no easy other way to get to those dreams.
It seems that I’ve figured out how to go to the gym every day, especially on days that I don’t feel like going (which are all of them), so the next step is getting on a phone to make more calls. And that’s what I’m going to do. That’s my intention, at least.
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