Are you ready for a wild ride?

Last weekend I took a roadtrip with my girlfriend and her two boys. As our trip began I turned to them and said with some enthusiasm…

“Are you ready for a wild ride; a crazy adventure?!? You in?”

They sheepishly responded and eventually agreed that they were on board.

Little did we know, the weekend WAS an adventure.

• We had too many donuts for lunch.
• We built an enormous wall at LegoLand with every supersized Lego brick available to us.
• Everyone attacked me in a surprise (pretend) snowball fight in the hotel room at 7am.
• I accidentally drained the car battery, allowing us the time to throw a football around and have a scavenger hunt while we waited for a jump.
• The boys and I raced across the Coca-Cola museum lawn in beautiful, spring-like weather.
• My girlfriend and I had a beautiful talk while the boys slept on the drive back home.

That weekend we expected an adventure and clearly made one happen. And I learned this important lesson: YOU EXPERIENCE WHAT YOU EXPECT. If I expect my day to be dull, dreary and a disappointment — guess what kind of day it will be? A dull, dreary, not fun day.

I had my share of not fun days this year. My divorce was finalized, time with my son was drastically reduced, and I struggled with feelings of inadequacy and loneliness. I expected hard, not fun days and that’s exactly what I got.

But over the past 3 months my approach to life has shifted. Today, I am ready for an adventure. I worry less when my plans get detoured. I embrace risk. I am more vulnerable with everyone around me. And I am enjoying being myself more and more — striving to live simply, love boldly and do work that matters.

Now I wake up ready for a wild ride, a crazy adventure full of love, challenges, detours and laughter… and that’s exactly what I’ve experienced. Let’s see what tomorrow brings.

“Life is what you make it. Always has been, always will be.”

― Eleanor Roosevelt