You Can't Start the Journey at the End.

Greetings Ladies and Gents,

I hope the summertime has continued to treat you all well and that plenty of great experiences have been had along the way. It's no exaggeration to say that we're going to wake up in a few days and find ourselves staring September right in the face. With that in mind, make sure you're doing things that make you happy and not taking any single day for granted. Speaking of that, I thought we'd approach today's post from the idea of not beginning your journey at the end. Let's tackle that topic a bit further.

It seems like with every passing year, we find more and more people trying to make it to a particular finish line before they even really begin the race. What I mean by that is there's this belief that goals and dreams are essentially supposed to be realized overnight, when in reality that's just not going to be the case. Maybe it's the fact that there are so many celebrities, entertainers and entrepreneurs that find relatively quick success in their fields. However, it hasn't seemed to hit home for a lot of others that this isn't going to be the story for everyone. And it shouldn't be.

I've found that one of the most beautiful parts about the life journey is that it holds so many memorable checkpoints to it along the way. In the video game world, a checkpoint is a part of the game where your progress up to that point can be saved before moving on to the next area or destination. The purpose of this feature is so that when you step away from the game, you're able to pick back up where you left off and not lose any of the activities you have already completed. I feel like real life is similar in that way where it is full of your own checkpoints that have to be reached and saved to your memory prior to making it to the final levels of that journey.

Video games are kind of bittersweet for me in that way. While I spend most of the time trying to complete all of the challenges and make it to the end of the story, I find myself pretty sad when I do eventually get to those end credits...especially if it was an amazing game. Before I know it, it's all over. When thinking of life in a comparable manner, it makes me want to slow things down just a bit and take in more of the daily moments. Yes, of course I want to meet all of my personal goals and can't wait to see them through. But at the same time I'm going to value every step and day that leads up to those finish lines, because stressing out on the way just isn't going to make for the best of times.

You're going to want to see all of your dreams and goals come into fruition, as you should. The purpose of today's message is simply to make sure that you're appreciating the checkpoints along the way, making fond memories that'll last, and not getting overly flustered when end goals aren't met tomorrow. Shout out to the goals that you've met up to today, because none of them should be taken lightly or for granted. Find a small(yet significant) win in every day of the journey, and watch how dope it is when they start piling up.