Getting Ahead

Mark Twain said, "The secret to getting ahead is getting started." I think what sometimes prevents us from accomplishing things is that we focus too much on the end result or the long road to get there. Anything good that happens started with a small beginning. A brick house with the first brick, a road with the first pour of asphalt, a person from a tiny place in a mother's womb. It is getting started that sometimes requires the most courage, but once it gets going, the grace is there.

It's funny....the things we feared often never happen and the things we expect to go well often go awry. This means, while it is good to plan, we have to be open to life just happening, for those can bring about some of the greatest gifts. Who would want to live in a world with no surprises? That would be extremely boring. Our favorite stories are the ones that we could not predict and that twisted along the road to bring a satisfactory conclusion. The way to get ahead is by taking the first step. 

First steps can be terrifying...but also exhilarating. Life becomes a great adventure and as one friend once told me "life is a canvas to paint on not a tightrope to walk on." I think what we will regret most at the end of our days is not areas where we might have failed, but all the moments that we didn't try or didn't take a leap of faith. You don't want to always wonder what something would have been like if only you had taken the first step. 

If there is something in your life that you have been pushing away, but feel really drawn to do, then muster up courage and go for it. It's the unknown that holds the most opportunity for possibility.