Normal was every second you wanted to take that easy road, and did not. And from those moments from the normalcy of the day to day, from the very heart of the unspectacular, the extraordinary, is born from this process.

You’ve missed your shot at a promotion. So work harder, put yourself on a pedestal so high that it will be impossible to get past them next time. The past is not telling you know. It’s giving you inside and momentum for the future.

Society will adapt, and conform to you, simply because you didn’t bow down to it. There’s brilliance there, it just needs to be believed in and refined.

When that intersection of real and imaginary blend together, possibilities, multiply. Limitations crumble and fall and failure is no longer an endpoint. It’s an invitation to begin again.

Life becomes simple, and how beautiful simplicity is. It’s shining a spotlight on what matters. It’s clarity. It’s taking control. It’s picking up the clay and molding what you want to mold. It’s opening the door and deciding to walk through.

Think of having a backpack, limited capacity, the things you put in there should provide value on your trip. You’re not going to put things in there that you don’t need, they only way you down, and won’t help you get to your destination.

Vulnerability or safety? Safety, that innate desire to not disrupt or challenge the way things are. Even when you know in your core, there’s more out there. Safety is the wolf in sheep’s clothing. Watching life happen through a window is extremely safe, but it means you’re forfeiting the essence of life in exchange for a front row seat to watch others live it.

Here’s to breathing in that ocean breeze, laughing until your stomach hurts. Here’s to reconnecting with an old friend who you met 40 years ago. Here’s to dreaming like there are no rules and living like there’s no tomorrow, to creating your masterpiece one word, one note, one brushstroke at a time.

I could see the aging as a reminder of life’s impermanence, and realize that I have less time now than I did at 19, and set out to make the most of the moments I have left.

How about taking a look at our own harsh judgment of people? What if they had the chance to be everything but jerks? What would that open up in our lives?