When “Being Awesome” really counts

Just be Awesome
by Jen Rouse
The Short Years

So here is my goal for the year: just be awesome.

And so you don’t think I’m horribly egotistical, let me explain my thought process.

“Just be awesome” is shorthand for my bigger goal of being intentional about my life. My version of a WWJD bracelet, if you will.

Sign courtesy of my moms’ group: our meeting today was about dreams for the new year, and we all had the chance to make these beautiful signs.
I mean, we all know this: life is what you make it. We all have choices, all the time, about how we spend our days. We all get the same amount of hours in each day, and some people do great things with them, and others just sit by.

By great things, I don’t necessarily mean big things. Traveling the world is a great thing. So is taking the time to  build real relationships with your own handful of neighbors in your own little town. Having a really successful career is a great thing. So is doing a really, really, killer job at whatever non-dream-job you might find yourself in.

Basically, I don’t want to live my life half-heartedly.

So many times I make the choice to skip things that I know I really should be doing. Things that would benefit me in the long run. Because they would take effort, and I’m tired, and I just want a chance to relax.

Complacency, fear, and laziness are always there, whispering to me that it’s okay to give up, to give in, to not try. And that’s what my “just be awesome” goal is about. Saying no to those voices, and yes to the ones that encourage me to aim higher. My awesome life will look different from your awesome life, but we can both feel it in our bones when we’re doing a lazy job of living our own lives–when we’re not actually being the awesome people that we want to be.

We all just get one shot at life. I may not succeed at doing great big things or great little things, but at the end of the day, the end of this year, at the end of my life, I don’t want it to be because I didn’t bother to try.

So here’s to 2012. It’s going to be awesome.


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