What would you do right now, if you could do anything? What do you think it would take to get you there? Courage? Financial Independence? Support from family or others?
For some of you, hearing this question immediately made you think “new job.” (or new Jay Oh Bee) Maybe your thoughts immediately went toward a new career. For others of you, your thoughts immediately went to travel…some may have immediately thought, “I would homeschool my kiddos, or live on a farm, or sail around the world…” (which is actually becoming more of our dream, and I guess that fits into the travel part.)
One time, I asked someone this question, and their answer was, “If I could do anything, I would win the lottery.” I’m not sure that that was really the direction that I was trying to go with this question, but I guess it works? Kinda? Maybe? I guess that their thought process was that if I could win the lottery, I could do anything I want; which, actually brought me back to my original question.
There’s a website, quora.com, where people post random questions and random people answer them. Someone posted this same question, “What would you do if you could do anything?” It was fun and quite entertaining reading through all the answers. One person, named Natasha, gave 37 answers to the question, so I guess that means that there really doesn’t have to be just one answer. Some of what she said was this: [I would] give myself unlimited money (which I think is kinda clever; I never thought of it this way – giving myself an unlimited amount of something, like money. We can definitely do a lot of anything with unlimited money or resources. It’s kind of a new way of thinking about “doing anything.”). She goes on to say that with all the money she would be able to “buy all the clothes, buy all the music, buy all the stuff, (Hence the reason she needs all the money). She would buy a pocket dimension to put everything in to (I guess she would need someplace to store all that stuff, yeah? Wow! This is causing me anxiety just thinking about all that stuff that she wants to buy, create a place for, and store). She mentions that if she could do anything, she would “make her pets get along; then she says that she would buy a parrot, buy a horse, and buy chickens.” I don’t know if these are the animals or pets that she says that she wants to get along or if she has a houseful of pets already, but after buying all the animals, she would “hire someone to clean up after her pets.” So, basically, she wants all the stuff with none of the responsibility of taking care of it. Well, I’d say that sounds about right.
So, another guy answers the question and says, “In this world, where people are alone and lost even though they have people surrounding them at every point of time, I plan to have a cafe/restaurant/bookstore/hang-out location where no one ever walks out alone. A place which allows new people in a city to connect with other people in the city. Get to know someone in the city. To avoid the feeling of alienation in a new place. Each visitor could type a few lines (because people judge handwriting, he says) about him/her self and anyone in search of like-minded people could choose to meet anyone from amongst those descriptions or add theirs there.”
My immediate reaction to reading this was, “Isn’t this just a building version of Tinder?” And, his VERY next line was,
“No, it would not be a brick and mortar version of Tinder.” It was totally freaky and as if he was literally answering the question in my own head!
One person said that they “would learn how to speak French.” Now, I can kinda get on board with that, but I think there are apps for that that make that pretty easy these days too.
Another said that they would “exile themselves to a lonely island and bring nothing except a shovel, a fishing rod, a multi-tool, and a heavy-duty tarp…” Um, I think that you can do that without having to put it into the “if I can do anything” category.
So. these are clearly not the answers that I was hoping for, and I think that I find them humorous more than anything.
I do want to share a couple more though. One guy answered that he “would travel to the most dangerous parts of Chicago and Detroit in order to share the stories of gang members.” Now THAT would take some real courage! This one really intrigued me though. I think there’s a small part of me that would love to be able to do something like that too. I love talking with people about their stories. I love finding out where they came from and what got them to where they are…and the why behind it. I think that I would just love knowing that I had the courage to go somewhere and do something like that too.
So, while preparing for this episode, I asked my husband what he would do if he could do anything, and his answer at the moment was, “I would go get new glasses.” Clearly, that was NOT the answer that I was looking for either or thought he would give or even the direction that I thought he would go in, but after a little chuckle and a little coaxing for him to give me a real answer, he quickly changed it to, “I would go to the Bahamas and charter a sailboat.” Now THAT was a good answer to me because I would for real do the same!
Really, the only thing stopping us now is the fact that I’m a little scared of all the preparation that it would take in order to make that happen. The actual event, itself, is nowhere near as overwhelming and scary to me as getting everything in order just to go on that long and ah-maze-ing trip. BUT, we are currently taking applications for house-sitters… Ha-ha! Just kidding! But, I think that’s what it would take because I am not emotionally ready to SELL everything in order to SAIL everything.
In reality, though, that’s really all it would take in order for us to go on that trip. When I think about it, it seems like it really wouldn’t be much to get us there. Sometimes, I think that if I wait until I am “emotionally ready” to go, I will never go.
I think that when we originally started thinking about traveling, we would often think in terms of when our boys were a little older. Maybe that was an excuse, but it always seemed that when the boys were older, it would be easier. Now that the boys are older, we think, “…if the boys were younger…” because now, we have college to prepare for and all the fun that goes along with them just being a teenager that we don’t want them to miss out on. Had they missed out on other stuff in their earlier childhood, they may not have noticed or missed that as much as the stuff they may miss out on during their teenage years.
When it really comes down to it, I hear that the only thing that’s holding us back is fear. That’s it…FEAR! Every excuse that I have used so far has been based on fear, and I totally realize that!
So, see! Just because I have a podcast, encouraging you to create the life that you love to live doesn’t mean that I am already there myself. If you listened to my last episode, you will know that this actually ties into that whole concept as well.
However, we aren’t completely shying away from our dreams. We’ve had other dreams that we have recently taken steps toward, and it’s been absolutely amazing! My husband has left the day-to-day routine of brick-n-mortar and has started contracting for live event production, and he absolutely LOVES it! It took a lot to get him to this decision – like God literally pushing him into this direction; which totally lines up with my husband’s favorite verse, Ephesians 3:20, “God can do anything, you know – far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it ‘not by pushing us around but by working within us,’ His Spirit deeply and gently within us.”
So, that thing that we immediately think of when we think, “If I could do anything, I would ____________.” If that is something that God has put inside of us, then why would He not gently push us toward that dream? Some people think that if that dream is not directly “ministry” related, then it’s not from God, and that’s not true at all! We have no idea who is being affected or changed because we, ourselves, followed our dream.
We watch YouTube a lot – like a whole LOT! Ans, in fact, we probably watch YouTube more than any other form of entertainment out there. We have a few people who we follow regularly, and they totally inspire us. Whether it’s an inspiration on a better way to clean our house, cooking inspiration, house maintenance, or even sailing inspiration. Some people who we watch more than anyone are sailing around the world on a catamaran right now. I would consider what they do as a ministry to those who desire to do the same or just have a desire to do something big and need to see someone else who has already gone before them and done it. Sometimes, I think that we get caught up that we are only in the ministry to others if we work at church or are involved in some kind of “church” organization, but that is simply not true at all. We can all be ministers in some way or another to those around us who need inspiration.
God tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:11 to “…encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” We can encourage and uplift others just by being a simple inspiration in what we are doing right where we are.
So, right where I am right now, I want to inspire you that if God has given you a dream, know that He will help you see it through. But, He’s not going to completely do it for you. You need to do your part and take your steps toward that goal or dream, and God will open doors that you never knew could be opened. He will provide opportunities for you to become the person you inspire to be because that’s what he wants for you! God put that dream or vision in your heart for a reason, and it’s also His desire to see it through with you, and yes, I said, “WITH you” because He’s not going to give you a dream; then leave you hanging in order for you to figure it all out yourself! He really doesn’t work that way.
You do have to do the work though. He may open doors and provide opportunities for you that can only be divine opportunities, but you have to put in your part of the work. You have to go for it. Take the leap. Make the most of every opportunity that is given to you. Seize the day…
So, today, I want to encourage you to take that step toward your “anything” goal. Seek out an opportunity that gets you one step closer to your “if I could do anything” dream. One tiny step closer is still closer. 1% closer is still closer. A ½ of a percent closer is still closer. Once you start making a move; then another move; then another move, the closer and closer you get. Then, eventually, you realize that you have made great progress, and the ball gets rolling faster and faster to where you finally arrive in a moment that you never thought would ever get here.
I’d like to point out that most of the “if I could do anything” dreams are actually not that unobtainable. We just make them unobtainable in our heads. If we think it, it must be a reality, when in reality that thought is just based on fear.
I’d love to hear what your answer would be or is to the “If I could do anything, I would…” question. Leave me a comment and tell me what it is.
And, as always thank you for listening to today’s episode of TEA of Life Podcast. I hope that I was able to inspire you at least a little, to start or continue progress toward your dreams. I love you, and I can’t wait till we talk again!
