What now?

OK so you are of age and you can have or do anything you want to do, great! Have at it! What comes next? When you are young and under the constraint of your parents, school officials and seemingly anyone older than you, there were a lot of things you watched people do and oh how you longed to be their age and do anything you wanted to do. Then you finished school, went on to higher education and became employed. What constrains you now? Is it lack of money, a morals clause in your work contract, lack of someone to be your partner in crime, or maybe you are really out from under all those things that bind and have done it all, now that you have done all those things what is next? What price are you paying for doing and being all you ever wanted to do or be? You prayed for that dream job and now you have it, what you didn’t know was that it wouldn’t be as glamorous in reality as it was on paper, or the slick ads put out to lure you into that position made it look, or that with power comes isolation and making unpopular decisions, you have become that tyrant of a boss you hated when you were in a lower position on the office totem pole. Now you have the money to do things you always wanted to do but if you take the time off to do them someone else will swoop in and do your job better than you and you will find yourself replaced. Everything comes with a price. If you want to have a beautiful body with rippling muscles, abs to die for with no fat sheathing them the price is hours in the gym every day, eating exactly the right diet at the same time every day, taking hands full of supplements and the dedication to get it all done plus getting a full night of sleep every night, wow that alone is a full time job! To have a models figure it is sheer starvation; beautiful skin, staying out of the sun and don’t forget the time and money spent on having the perfect wardrobe. If you want to be smart and make good grades, or impress your employer you must study and apply yourself there is no one that will prefer you and make all your obstacles go away it is by the sweat of your own brow that it will get done. You have arrived, you have everything you always wanted, is it all you thought it would be?  If you work hard will you always get what you set out to attain? If you read the Ecclesiastical writer you see that, even though he was the richest man of that day, he had a dim view of the world, 9:11 reads: I have observed something else under the sun. The fastest runner doesn’t always win the race, and the strongest warrior doesn’t always win the battle. The wise sometimes go hungry, and the skillful are not necessarily wealthy. And those who are educated don’t always lead successful lives. It is all decided by chance, by being in the right place at the right time. But you must keep on keeping on to attain your goals! 1 Corinthians 9:24-25 You’ve all been to the stadium and seen the athlete’s race. Everyone runs; one wins. Run to win. All good athletes train hard. They do it for a gold medal that tarnishes and fades. You’re after one that’s gold eternally.

I have found that in this life there are times that you strive hard to achieve a goal but when you get it you find that it isn’t everything you had thought it would be, if that happens to you take the advice I took from an old Armenian prophet, just square your shoulders and start all over again!