Life Lessons from My Mom - Wake Up!

My birthday is tomorrow.  I have an annual ritual that I begin a few days before my birthday where I look at my life and review where I am.  I decide what is working, what needs more work and what is not working.  I also use this time to think about how I want my life to be different for the coming year.  Often I daydream about my perfect life and how I would live it if it could all come true.  

Yesterday, I was thinking about turning 55 and all the things I have yet to accomplish.  When I started to spend too much time just dreaming about it, I could hear my mom's familiar saying in my head, "Nothing comes to a sleeper but a dream."  I could hear her screaming "Wake up Debbie!" 

My mom had a thing about using time wisely and she was not afraid of hard work to make her dreams come true.  She wasn't one to wallow too long about things that weren't going right.  Mom was always devising a plan to get something that she wanted. She worked a full-time job and many others on the side. She would work 8 hours and then come home and press ladies' hair to make extra money.  She sold her famous yeast rolls to make sure she had money to go on trips with the church or get something for us.  No matter how much was involved, Mom found the time to do the things she thought were important.  

I talk to many parents and they tell me how their teenagers spend most of the day sleeping.  Others tell me how their college age children don't have tuition for the coming year yet they spend most of the productive time of the day sleeping or laying around daydreaming about what they wish they had. That would never happen in my mom's house.  She made sure we got up early and were actively engaged in something productive. 

When I was younger I thought it was not fair to spend the summer getting up so early and having to work on school work even when school was not in session.  As the years went by, I learned the value of making plans and staying ahead of the game when I was working toward something I wanted. 

After five decades of wisdom from my mom, I have realized how much of who I am came from listening to her and following through with the advice she gave me.  If you are reading this and realizing that you have done way to much dreaming and not enough doing to realize your dreams, WAKE UP! IT'S NOT TOO LATE! Start now by making every day count.  Do whatever you need to do to get where you want to be.  Let me know how you are doing.  

DJ