Have you ever stared in the mirror and not recognized the person staring back? Has time gone by so quickly that you blink and it seems a dozen years have passed? If you answered yes to either one of those questions, I understand how you feel.
I have been trying to process what I want my next set of goals to look like. What do I want to accomplish in 2023? So, I have been taking to myself in the mirror. The face I see is older than I feel. Where has the time gone?
Don’t misunderstand me. I like the guy in the mirror very much. He is an older and wiser version than I had in the past. He is more driven and sure of himself. He is also more…what is the word I am looking for? Different. He is different than I expected him to be.
When I was young I wanted to sing and write music. That was my plan for the future. So, I practiced and got better and got a full scholarship to sing in college. I was young and creative. I was carefree and arrogant. I knew the future would work out. I had no idea how, but I had faith that it would.
During the second semester of my Sophomore year I began to grow discontent. I didn’t like who I was becoming. I felt like I was floating through life and didn’t have a clear focus.
That all changed the summer after my Sophomore year. I started a wonderful relationship with an awesome woman. God put her in my life at the perfect time. It didn’t take me long to shift gears and ask for her hand in marriage. She said yes in September of 1998 and we married the following January. We will celebrate anniversary number 24 in a couple of weeks.
Becoming her husband helped focus me. Having a partner does that. I still had dreams, but I also had real world things that needed to be done. It took some years of struggle, but I figured out what I was good at. I have been working to get better at it ever since.
I am not the same man I was 24 years ago. I thank God for that quite often. I have grown and matured. But, I am still not done. I want to keep the evolution going. I must continue to grow and improve.
I may not recognize the guy in the mirror all the time, but I sure like him. It is time to keep moving forward and see what he does next.
David Willis 