It’s Friday, April 26th. My alarm goes off at 4:30 AM, and I rise out of bed rather easily because this isn’t my first time getting up before the sun peaks above the horizon. I throw on my Aldi work t-shirt, a pair of beat up black jeans, and make sure my hair is tied back and I am relatively alert. Then I put on a podcast and go to make breakfast.
I don’t leave for work until 5:45 AM, where I arrive and immediately get the power jack and begin to put out the palettes of new shipments: grocery, meat (as a vegan, can I just say “ew”?), produce, and special items. On a typical day, it’s not even open time at nine and I have already clocked about 10,000 steps. Then I am on register duty or in charge of back stock, take a small thirty minute break somewhere in there, and about 2:00 PM I am out for the day.
I leave, shower and eat lunch (because lifting boxes and walking nonstop has literally made me constantly hungry now), and then I pick a destination. Sometimes it’s Starbucks, where I sit and catch up on work, and other times it is a good ol’ thrift store or the beach, because I nearly always carry a fold-able chair and beach towel in my trunk of my Lexus.
I finish up with business meetings and everything a little before six and head home to eat and relax. I spend some time watching a show or just checking over everything I did that day, and what I have to do on Saturday, and then I lay down and wind down with a book. And then it’s bedtime, and I wake up and do it all over again the next day.
Welcome to my new normal.
If there’s anything that I’ve been reminded of upon moving home, it’s that nothing ever works out exactly like we plan. But that’s totally fine that it doesn’t work out like we want it to. As long as we put in the hours and the effort, we’ll see success at the end of the road and in all the little things we do along the way.
I also have to admit that starting over was a lot more work than I anticipated beforehand. Should I have prepared more? Definitely. Did that hurt me in the end? I would argue no, because in all the little challenges that came up–buying a car, having to buy an entirely new cell phone, and being paycheck-less for a good month–I encountered many mental push-ups that showed me where I can be stronger.
The truth is, being a person of strength is a choice, not a character trait. We can work on being better each and every day, if we just make the choice to. Everything in life that proves to be difficult stems from the mindset we carry. And if you look at every obstacle as a challenge, not a hindrance, your future world will be much different than if you thought the opposite. So choose to see the potential, not the barriers ahead.
Life isn’t about whether or not we can survive, but whether or not we choose to move forward. Push ourselves. Put in the mental push-ups. Accept that things will not always be the same. Sometimes it is new and uncomfortable but it’s the uncomfortable moments that will make you better and stronger. If you never leave your comfort zone and do the mental push-ups, you’ll forever live a life of mediocrity, when in fact, we all are destined for so much more. All it takes is a choice and the question is not if you can do it, but when will you do it?
