"Time to Set Sail"

On a recent vacation to beautiful Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, I was on an early morning scouting mission with my partner, third-grader-to-be Shannon Schmitt. She’s the daughter of dear friends – like a niece to me – and we were first to awaken and were “checking out” where the gym, coffee shop, pool, game room and other “stuff” was located at the resort where our families spent the weekend.

After completing our reconnaissance mission, as we neared our villa where everybody else was still sleeping, I jokingly said to this darling girl: “It was like we were advance scouts sent to explore the new world, like Christopher Columbus.” With that, she quickly broke into, what kids her age have learned in studying that famous voyage, “In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.”

By now we were just steps from our villa’s back porch. Shannon’s mother was standing there, wondering where in the heck we had been – I forgot to check in with the mother hen before departing! After apologizing, my thoughts quickly went back to Shannon’s perfect recital of the poem about Columbus’ journey and the guts he displayed in sailing off into the history books.

Whenever presenting Run to Daylight, as the Comeback Coach, I encourage others to not allow fear and self doubt get in the way of their dreams and goals. I challenge them to put fear and self doubt aside and allow wonderment and courage to win.”

Well, Columbus certainly walked that talk didn’t he? At the time, many Europeans called him crazy. The world was flat, the journey doomed for failure. Columbus didn’t listen to the negatoids, instead was inspired by the positrons saying, “You can do this!”

My gosh, if Columbus could muster the courage to sail off into the unknown, surely we can tap into the same power to begin, say, that long-delayed exercise program? Maybe it’s a quit smoking campaign or addressing the elephant sitting in the middle of the room concerning our important relationships – personal and professional – can’t we?

This week, let’s remember this about change and the guts required to make it happen: “be wary of longing for someone you once were when life is calling you to somebody you’ve never been.”

Where’s it time to depart the safe, but perhaps unhealthy and unproductive harbor, and sail toward the great unknown that is the undiscovered potential that lies within you to become superior to your former self at home, work or community?