How To Be All In

This is your life. You only get one. Crap happens. Loved ones die. Relationships end. The children leave the nest. The life we imagined as a child is not reality. There is separation, loss and disappointment, but good things happen too. We find love and marry. We vacation and see the world. We buy a home and make it ours. We advance in our jobs.

But through all of the good and bad there is something many people do as a coping mechanism. They do what they need to do just to get by.

Don’t just live to get by. That isn’t life at all. Living just to get by is survival.

True living is trying new things, taking some chances, having new kinds of fun, going on a road trip, and setting new goals for yourself. It’s even about setting new boundaries and maybe saying no sometimes even if it might upset whoever is on the receiving end. It’s your life and it’s up to you to live it the way that best supports who you are.

So, with this one life that you and I have been given… are you all in? Are you ALL IN? Do you have the courage to be all in every day, through the good times and the bad crap?

Remember this: You are never too young or too old to begin being ALL IN in this life you have been given.

If you are in your twenties reading this you may think you have years and years and years to step up to the plate and be ALL IN. Or you may be older and think it’s way too late to be ALL IN.

But the truth is that we have no idea how long we have. Tragedies happen to the young. I know. I’ve been a witness to it too often. And the older you are the faster life seems to be flying by.

Be ALL IN every day at every age. There is no one else like you and the world needs the “thing” you have that the rest of us don’t have. Paint that painting, write that book, sing that song, share with the world what you have to give.

No one sees the exact same people that you see every day and those people in your life need you. They need to see your courage (even if it’s scary to show), they need to see your vulnerability (that can be even scarier). They need to see your generosity, which can mean generosity of spirit, emotion, physical energy, money and kindness.

So with this one life you have–today and in all your tomorrow’s be ALL IN.

#smallsteps