Eager Beaver

Most, if not all, people have something they truly desire or want. It can be their drive in life, their sole motivation, or simply a goal they feel is necessary to arrive at contentment. With this in mind, have you ever been so desperate so eager to attain this end that you often fall victim to the same mistakes over and over in your efforts to get it? As you may have guessed, I have and this post is about that very thing.


To use an analogy, which I hope will help illustrate my point let us look at this goal as a business venture. Now you really want to be successful at this business venture, and in order to get there you make certain key investments, plans and partnerships. Sometimes your investment might fail, sometimes the plan is flawed, and sometimes you collaborate with the wrong people. Each time you make an effort to be successful at the venture you learn a little bit more about what works and what did not. (Insert science fair project flashback here). With each failure, you sense success as getting closer and closer. You with me so far...? Okay now what if it occurs to you that success is not getting closer but in reality, you are so eager to attain this goal that you are ignoring signs that this business venture will never come to fruition.

Sucks does it not? Not trying to be negative, cynical and realistic perhaps, but not negative. How do you know when your eagerness is blinding you to the truth that your efforts are completely futile? When do you cut your losses and choose a new endeavor? Is that even possible? If this is truly something that drives and motivates you then there is very little chance you will retire your pursuits of this "ultimate goal". I even played myself one time believing I would take a break from pursuing this venture only to later realize I was once again investing, planning, and partnering. Always the eager beaver when will I finish building this Damn and be able to rest happy?

God's Big Plans or Big Game?

You ever hear the expression: "if you ever want to make God laugh, tell him what you have planned." The point is to instruct people that whomever or whatever your Supreme being may be, they have the master plan for you and they know what is best suited for you. This may come in the forms of: challenges, opportunities, tragedies, achievements, losses, and gains. Ultimately, the point is to inform you, yes of course live your life to the best of your ability, but do not be surprised when things go off course and change leading you down a different path.

Often we, as humans, will set goals, benchmarks, dates, and timelines for the important things in our life. This can be as simple as what time to get to work or as complicated as to career and retirement choices. In the grand scheme of things, the more complicated plans we have are usually the ones that are interfered with in some shape, way or form. The issue is how we interpret this interruption and thus how we deal with it. For example, you promise yourself to find a job in federal government within 3 months. However, after 3 months you get a job offer from a non-profit, do you take it or wait for the federal job? Or perhaps you promised yourself you would never date another lawyer, but then you come upon someone who is great, treats you right, and is very honest. Two weeks later you discover they are a lawyer or plan to go to law school. Do you end it because of your plan, or do you go for it on the chance the greater power has something better in mind for you?

Even if you decide that this new job, new person, new opportunity is something that was unplanned and is perhaps the higher power creating a new path in your life; you then have to decided why it has been put in your life. See let us not forget that while we are given gifts, we are also gifted with hurdles and challenges. Could this job opportunity or new person actually be a test? Perhaps God simply wants to see how determined you are to meet your set goals. It is very possible that while working at the nonprofit company you not only are underpaid for the work and benefit you provide for the community, but you miss out on the federal job, and end up quitting to again look for a federal job within another 3 months. It is very possible that this new person who turns out to be of a type you never want to date again, begins lying to you a little while into the relationship and does all the things you were trying to avoid.

Unfortunately, we can never know these things up front. As you know my blog never really provides answers, and this one may even make you question more of these instances in your life. (Sorry in advance). However, I do always state my personal belief. When these things happen to me, I take a deep breath, look up to the sky, and say one thing: "You better not be playing me because I am not trying to go through this again." I never receive an answer but I feel better knowing I have voiced my concerns, and plan to proceed with caution.