I am so blessed to have the daughter, the family, the job and the faith that I do. Despite the blessings that are too plentiful to list, I sometimes end up beating myself up and focusing on all of the things I want to accomplish in my life and haven’t yet...and get a little bummed out. My mind wanders to the trips I want to take, the things I want to buy for my daughter. Then I spend time dwelling on the body I don’t yet have, the house I want to build. (A log cabin near Seattle, probably.) I want to learn a different language, cliff jump in Mexico and surf in Australia, just see the world! Driving a race car at 150mph is a must, but that probably won't come before I help run a political campaign or drive from California to New York (and stop at a hundred different places along the way). There’s a book that needs to become a best-seller and a blog that is lacking about a million hits a day that also comes to mind when actively participating in this mini pity-party.
There are even simpler things on the list, such as fall in love and preach a sermon.
In fact, I actually have a bucket list packed full of well over 200 hundred goals. Since formally constructing this list about two years ago, I’ve made maybe ten or eleven measly ticks off of it while adding more than fifty additional items to it. There are days when I fear I’ll not complete half of the goals I desire. That fear only grows when I consider the lack of time and resources I have and match it up against my dismal track record thus far.
And then, when this nearly overwhelming sense of defeat starts to seep in, I tell myself, “Lighten up, dude.” ....which seems to do the trick. It should also go without saying that with my beautiful daughter...well it is pretty darn hard to ever feel like a failure for too long.
Some days I need more encouragement, so I turn to the one thing that always has a way of uplifting my spirits: music.

Sara Bareilles’ “Many the Miles” is one of my favorites….

“I made up my mind when I was a young girl

I’ve been given this one world

I won’t worry it away

But now and again I lose sight of the good life

I get stuck in a low light

But then Love comes in”

There's real magic in music. One song can lead to one small positive action, which leads to another and another, until finally when that feeling of discouragement completely fades away. And that, at least to me, is nothing short of miraculous.