A Proactive Vs a Reactive Life

Regardless of any faith, there are some fundamental truths in the universe that help us succeed as we maneuver through life.  We only get one life (well, unless you believe in reincarnation).  We only get a small measure of time while we occupy some space on this big blue planet. We have to share that space with about 7 billion other people, animals, and other forms of life, but we only have one drop in the bucket of eternity to do something with the life we’ve been given. I’ve already been here forty-seven years and I’ve a learned a few things in my short time.  However, there is still so much to know. I often seek the wisdom of those who’ve come before, as I try to enjoy the present, to leave a legacy for future inhabitants. One of those bits of wisdom …its wiser to set a plan, count the costs, and then work toward a goal to achieve success – be proactive, than it is to live life by the seat of your pants dodging everything life throws at us  - being reactive.

Maybe it’s just because I’m an A-type personality that deceives herself into believing she has somewhat control over her life.  While, I am well aware that LIFE will always throw things at us that we didn’t see, didn’t plan, or happen to us beyond our control, I believe with my whole heart we have complete control over how we respond and allow those surprises or offenses to affect us. I believe in a higher power that I can’t even begin to understand with the limited knowledge and wisdom I possess, but I have faith nonetheless that Power within me and through me also affects me in many ways. But in everything else …my failure or success is ALL within my power, and responsibility of that failure or success lay with me - the buck stops here. Proactive is taking responsibility. Reactive is making excuses.

In my experience, I’ve obtained many, many successes.  None of them were just given to me. None of them came free.  ALL of them costs me time, energy, money, focus, and sacrifice to make them happen.  ALL of them. I was proactive. My failures in life also have a re-occurring trait, they were things I ‘reacted’ to either financially, physically, or emotionally. They were decisions made without planning, thought, or were even contrary to what I knew was right, productive, or beneficial.  They were ignorant decisions made in the heat of the moment, because I desired them, wanted them, or ignored the warning bells to have them.  I was reactive.   

If we build without planning, then plan to build again, and again, and again, following failure, after failure, after failure, reacting to every change in the wind.

Till next time,

~T.L. Gray

Failures or Cowards?

What is a failure really?  Does not being able to complete a task that we dare to accomplish translate as a failure?  When a relationship breaks down and we separate is that also a failure? 

I have my different definition for failure, or else I still have yet to find the correct correlating word. Failure to me is simply being too afraid to try. Allowing an opportunity to pass, that’s failure. Having tried something and it fall apart or tear to pieces isn’t failure - that’s understanding and discovering how something doesn’t work.

When it comes to relationships I watch so many people build emotional walls because they’re afraid of failure. Having had a relationship that didn’t work, they believe themselves proverbial failures. But they’re not. They’re simply cowards. I don’t want to be a coward.

I know this fear because I face it every day. I don’t want to build the same walls. I do want to protect myself from the pain that comes from a broken relationship, but not at the cost of isolation.  I want to run. I want to hide. I want to believe I’m better off not loving in the first place than taking the risk of loving again and getting hurt even more than I am now. That’s the easy thing. It’s not what winners do, it’s what failures do.

I’ve made a lot of mistakes, but I’ve never failed. I’ve had things fall apart, situations cost me everything, relationships tear me to pieces, but I’ve always tried – again and again and again and again until I discover what works. I face things that scare me. I risk everything for my dreams. I don’t just talk about doing things… I do them. I may complain and whine and cry and pitch a fit in the middle of my fear, but I still jump, I still leap, and I still take the gamble. I may not be showered in riches or exude what the world defines as success, but I’m a winner because I have the courage to try – again and again and again.

E.E. Cummings says, “It takes courage to grow up and turn out to be who you really are.”

John Wooden says, “Success is never final, failure is never fatal. It is courage that counts.”

Mark Twain says, “With courage, you will dare to take risks, have the strength to be passionate, and the wisdom to be humble. Courage is the foundation of integrity.”

Albert Einstein says, “You never fail until you stop trying.”

Cormac McCarthy says, “Long before the morning, I knew that what I was seeking to discover was a thing I’d always known, that all courage was a thing of constancy. That it is always himself that the coward abandoned first. After this all other betrayals comes easy.”

This quote moves me most, because I’ve seen it in action too many times. We often think our betrayals are of the other person, but what we don’t often realize is that we’ve first betrayed ourselves. The secrets, the lies, the guilt, the shame, it all comes after we’ve betrayed ourselves.  This is what I fear most, that I will betray ME, that I will let ME down, that I will fail ME, that I will allow a coward to come into my life and drag me down into failure. It is for this purpose I continue to try and have become particular who I allow into my life - because I deserve the best, I deserve success, I deserve love, and I deserve happiness. I deserve to be with a winner. As long as I keep seeking these things and never stop, I’m not a failure. Finding or not finding isn’t the prize, the measure of success, or where living is done – but life, character, courage and success are found in the process.

I’m not a coward; therefore I am not a failure.

Till next time,

~T.L. Gray