In my second week in quarantine, I was thinking about what to do. I came to the recognition that maybe it is time for me to review my life, to stop for a moment, to take a big breath and look inside a little bit, rather than worrying about things I cannot change.
In some ways, I was thankful because I have never had more free, given time to share with my family. Meanwhile, there has never been more need to take care of them in my life. New challenges had to be solved, yet new opportunities appeared to be discovered. Hence, all the circumstances were optimal for my family and me to design a new future for us.
However, everybody was confused and puzzled sitting home, we decided to find a way together to resolve today’s most advantageous issue, the pandemic caused uncertainty in my family. We learned that the only way for us is the way forward. Time was ticking, and there was a lot to do. We knew that our inactivity would have an enormous effect on our future. Therefore, we started to dream big and act to reach our dreams.
“There is no way to stop time, you have to choose the future. Although you are grounded in the past, you must not be grounded by the past. And while tomorrow is coming regardless of what you do, the future comes because of what you do.”
Erwin Raphael Mcmanus
A mindset about leaving everything behind and rush into something uncertain if it is yours to do is another idea of Erwin Raphael Mcmanus’s book called The Last Arrow. In one of my previous posts called “Leave nothing undone“, I wrote about this book, but from another perspective; A book that is worth reading, especially these days. This time my thoughts – inspired by this fantastic book – are about leaving everything behind if it is needed and start to design a new future.
What is lost?
Many things were lost, but I’m not certain of losing anything. Actually, I won several things during my life. Let’s name failure or loss to a learning experience. These unforeseen circumstances allowed me to think differently, to have a different point of view. Who knows? Maybe all of these today’s issues are just parts of a bigger plan or foundation of a late success.
“When you stand in the ashes of failure, you have two choices: you can sit and wallow in your failure and spend your life marked by dust and ashes, or you can get up, dust yourself off, cut the plows to pieces, create an altar, set your past on fire, and create a new future.” What I have left behind? Nothing! What has happened to me is all I’m now. I was raised by my successes and failures as well. Those things are all me. I would say, I sat on fire all the thoughts saying I have ever failed.
Erwin Raphael Mcmanus
It is time to wake up
When I come to milestones like this, I always remind myself that I have to go forward. I have to move forward. Otherwise, I will die in the past! I have to find a way forward; There are no other options; I have to search for opportunities. I have to keep my eyes open to see. Over and above, I have to have the strength to make my own decisions; I have to make my own choices!
I remind myself that I will never fail whatever will happen. The only thing that could happen is a success or gaining more learning experience for late success.
“The most spiritual thing you will do today is to choose. And whether you realize it or not, every choice you make has an effect on your future. In fact, the choices you make are the material from which the future is made.”
Erwin Raphael Mcmanus
Where to start looking at?
We are all different, yet we have all the essential resources looking at. As far as I’m concerned, I read a lot. And these days I have more time to read. There is a lot of talented, and experienced author out there who wrote a bunch of books I can learn from. All of my readings are about happiness, motivation, self-performance, health, fitness, culture, community, success, excitement, interpersonal relationships, spirituality, society, business, and much more. In fact, I try to read about passion and success. I would say I read about my designed future.
All the books I read are basically about creating a positive mindset and self-realization. I learn to be a better and motivated person to start moving towards my dreams. What are my dreams?
I want to be a self-motivated person who has the wisdom to recognize all his opportunities on the fly and use them all for his advantages.
Go ahead, read books that are within your interest is all I can recommend to you to start with. That’s all from my side. Now it is your turn.