The more life that I am blessed to live, the more I realize that we make the choices that pave the road for where we are. We have to have a long hard look at the person in the mirror to come to terms with what we do and don’t have in our lives. It’s easy to blame yet it only pushes us further from the change we actually need to thrive rather than just survive.

How do we then get from where we are currently to where we actually want to be? I believe it’s the daily decisions that shape our future lives. We may not see the immediate difference of our small changes but we do feel a sense of peace that we have done something. Showing up to work early rather than late may not seem to have that much of an effect on you but it shows all that you work with a commitment to what you have been tasked with. It also enables you to have more productivity. Going outside and moving may not seem like much but your body tunes in and that slight sweat makes a world of difference. Those daily simple choices add up to allowing you to get to where you actually want to be rather than stuck.

Finding the love of my life took a lot longer than I ever thought it would. I remember being 21 years old and home from my missionary service for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and my friend and his older brother were visiting. Mike the older brother turned to us and said, if you can’t get married in the first year you are home from your mission then there is something seriously wrong with you. That sounded about right to me. I always figured you found the woman of your dreams pretty soon to coming home because that was the next step in life. Fast forward twenty years until I was blessed to kneel across the alter from the love of my life. Twenty years of meeting, dating and courting to prepare me to know what love looked like when I finally found it.

Now that I’ve found the love of my life, what does the rest of our lives look like? Well, that’s completely up to us. We choose where we live and what jobs we have and when to have children and how to raise them and what to do not only on the day to day but also on the long term goals of things. We love to spend time together no matter what we are doing. We love to chase cows on the ranch or relax on the beach. We love creating gardens in whatever yard we have where we live and dream of acres of orchards and vegetables we grow with all of the happiest of animals sharing that with us.

I believe that we find what we are looking for in life. If we believe people are good and kind, you will find that. If you make mistakes and then dust yourself off and get back up then you can succeed. It’s the choice to not stay down that is the tricky part. It’s easy to get stuck in dirt rather than taking that first knee to get up … or is it? I’d venture to say that it’s exponentially harder to stay down than to get back up and it doesn’t take any more courage. It simply takes a smile, a prayer to God and the willingness to jump back up.

Life is exactly what we choose to make of it. I choose to make my life amazing in every single way. I choose to smile every day. I choose to be the best I can at whatever I am doing whether that is building a fence or learning new skills at work or serving a friend in need. Just do your best and keep your chin up and go and do. Be the successful kid your mother sees you as. You only are limited when you limit yourself so stop it. Look in the mirror today and come to grips with it’s nobody’s fault but yours. Take responsibility and then get to work. Change.