Lukewarm?

Are you lukewarm? Tepid? Just those words alone speak of mediocrity. Of acceptance, not excellence. How exciting does lukewarm sound? “I really feel like a nice, lukewarm shower,” BLEH! Well I woke up thinking about these words the night before last…by the way, why does that ALWAYS have to happen at 4:00 in the morning? If you feel like you’re just stuck with going through the motions, then it’s time to pull your head out and go for it! Whether in your relationships, your job, your faith, being a mediocre fence sitter isn’t the way to go through life! The Bible speaks very clearly about choosing a side, not sitting on the fence, being lukewarm men or women. Are you?

Frankly, I think all of us are from time to time (maybe even all the time in some parts of our lives). We allow fears, insecurities and ill conceived “what will they think of me” perceptions to rob us of excellence in our lives. Why? Well, to start with, because we’re human. And, we do suck some times at things we might like to do (trust me, I’ve heard myself singing in the shower…SOOO bad!), so I’m not advocating that you should step out your comfort zone and suddenly decide you’re going to finally try out bull riding or something (bull riding? Really Rick?). But what I am saying is explore what you feel passionately about, because I think we pursue too little passion in our lives. We too often suppress passion out of ‘sanity’ or ‘reality’ or a whole myriad of excuses and justifications as to WHY we can’t. I’m suggesting we can.

Life is so incredibly short. I’ve unfortunately witnessed too many early deaths in my family and I still, decades later, grieve for my lost loved ones and feel bad for all they’ve missed out on. That’s why I’ve chosen to try and at least be aware of not living a tepid life. I want to pursue my passions. This is one reason Poor Richards (my esoteric dream of some day running a fantastic restaurant) exists. I’ve self taught my way to becoming a very accomplished chef (thanks all you people who post on You Tube…it’s crazy how easy it is to learn stuff on there! Editors note: be careful what you try outside of your abilities…I did that with plumbing here at my place and now I know I suck for sure at that!) and feel passionately about getting even better.

What do you feel passionate about? What do you WISH you would be doing, yet you hold yourself back on for the most logical (at least in your own mind) of reasons? Well, STOP! Passion doesn’t mean you suddenly become some sort of adrenaline junkie or something, but it does mean that you boldly step out from your comfy confines you’ve constrained yourself to and live your life by pursuing your dreams. By the way, when you do this, learn to walk before you run. I don’t want to be responsible for breaking up marriages by hearing about sudden urges to quit jobs to try and get good enough to make the PGA Tour or something (ummm, I’ll write about that later, thanks to the SHB for bringing me back to earth. Editors note: for those of you who missed my first post, SHB refers to my smoking hot babe wife of almost 30 years, Julie).

God wants to bring Joy into our lives. To me, joy equals passion. I want to encourage you to live a more full life by feeling and pursuing passion. In business, your relationships, your faith and in those things you’ve always wanted to do. When you pursue things passionately, great things will happen! That I can promise. How do I know? Well, you’re reading the musings of a guy who was gripped with the greatest amount of shyness and insecurity a person could ever feel. One day, as I was sitting in my dorm room as a freshman at UCLA, I finally had my first epiphany, that I was just pissed at myself for this paralysis of fears that consumed me. I turned the right way on that fork in the road, met the SHB and now I’m writing mindless gibberish for the world to see. It’s also what has driven me to be a serial entrepreneur (fancy word for a person that does fricken EVERYTHING to make your company’s dreams come true!) who’s hell bent on changing his little corner of the business world…and I will!

So, as you prepare for the harvest to come, start with an honest and frank look at whether or not your passions are matching up with what you’re actually doing day to day. If they’re not, then welcome to lukewarms ville. How do you like Tepid city? Decide today that you’re not going there anymore and start changing! How? First, pray about it as you take stock of where you are and ask God to reveal to you what you should pursue (remember, He wants you to have Joy in your life and I think having a foundation of faith at the center of your life is the key to gaining confidence to chase your passions). Second, unless you are a hermit, have a heart to heart with your significant other. They are part of your life and therefore are part of your passionate pursuit. Plus, they need to pursue their passions too! So, talk it through and make a plan TOGETHER. Trust me, when you do, your relationship will be much better too! Third, don’t tell too many others about your passion (that’s when ALL of the naysayers do just that, naysay!), but pursue these things for you! And fourth, Google and You Tube like crazy, because you can learn just about anything…fast! And, in our instant gratification society, this will fit right in! Finally, don’t give up if your first painting masterpiece looks like crap, or that first gourmet meal is universally hated by your loved ones, because one of the greatest attributes of passion is that it is so transcendent that you will keep pushing on and pursing until you master it!

Keep chasing your dreams!