Look Forward To Something

One thing I've learned from my kids is that I cannot tell them anything exciting before bed time. If they would be doing an exciting activity on the next day, I cannot tell them the night before, otherwise they would either have trouble sleeping or would get up really early. All that excitement pumps them up with too much adrenaline, and the more adrenaline you have, the less you could rest.

When you look forward to something, your moods and your energy would heighten! Have you ever worked on a project deep into the middle of the night and you have to force yourself to stop? That's because you were looking forward to completing your project. The anticipation gave you so much energy that sleeping and eating didn't even appeal to you.

Whenever I start writing on something, I won't eat or sleep. One time back in high school, I went to the library to research something for history class. I had to write a history paper, and when it comes to writing...man...somebody needs to hold me back! I will write, and write, and write, and write for hours. I won't care to eat or drink anything, or take any pee breaks. Once I get going, it would be hard for me to stop. I didn't eat anything for that whole day while I was at the library. I think I ate ONE meal that entire day.

But, if I had nothing to look forward to, well, I'd just be sluggish, tired, and cranky. The only thing I'd be looking forward to is sleep!

When we were kids, there was always something we looked forward to. Whether a school field trip, or visiting a relative, or getting a new toy (or video game), or playing with friends, or going to someone's birthday party, we were always looking forward to something. Maybe that is why we had so much energy as children!

But as we get older, we don't look forward to many things. Work, bills, car issues, house issues, kids driving you crazy, spouse getting on your nerves, etc. These things don't excite us. Yes, we love our family and appreciate life, but man, it's like after you've become an adult, all you do is work, pay bills, take care of the kids, sleep, wake up, and repeat. After awhile, life gets mundane. If you have kids, you watch them being excited for everything while you're slumped over on the couch watching television, because it's one of the few things you look forward to.

Well, it's time to make some changes. It's time to start new projects, to have new pursuits, to finally look forward to something. When there is something that excites you, your energy will just go through the roof! No more being a slave to coffee. You just might rush out the house forgetting to eat breakfast and to drink your coffee.

And you know what? When you're excited about something, your family could actually be excited for you and encourage you to pursue whatever it is that has gotten you pumped up. One time, my wife and I had a goal for me to write a book and sell 80,000 copies of it in hopes that it would help us get a house. My daughter learned of our goals and got excited about it, too. She even wanted to write a book herself. 

But I had periods where I got excited about nothing! Life was just the same ol' same ol'. I found myself always tired, lacking appetite, and loving sleep. I loved my God, my wife, my kids, my church, so it's not as if my lack of excitement had anything to do with these things. It's just that I had no personal pursuits. All I could think of was how to survive, how to make a business, how to get a job, how to keep myself from asking my mother for money, etc., etc. When those thoughts weigh down on you, well, you just don't get excited about things anymore.

And guess what happens to those around you? When you lack passion in your life, you don't act very lovingly to those you live with -- and you'd be teaching your kids to not get excited for anything. Why should they look forward to anything when they see you looking forward to nothing else but work and bills?

Let's go back to my example of wanting to write a book and selling 80,000 copies. My excitement spelled over to my daughter, who wanted to also write a book. My son, well, he's not too big on writing. However, he can easily get excited about anything, so if somebody in the family is excited about something, he would be excited for it, too. Your excitement could be so contagious that it would inspire those around you to pursue something exciting of their own.

As tempting as it may be, don't live life passively.While the responsibility of being an adult could weigh heavily on you, don't let it crush you. Don't just look forward to Fridays, or going to the club, or racking up paid vacation days. Look forward to something deeper, something that just hypes you up so much that sleeping would seem undesirable.

The day you started asking for coffee was the day you've stopped being excited. Your energy comes from two glands that sit on top of your kidneys, called your adrenal glands. They produce epinephrine (adrenaline), and this chemical jacks you up and makes you do things that you've never done before. If that epinephrine is not flowing through your veins, then you've lost passion. You'd always be fatigue. You would never get a good night's rest, you will always be trying different energy drinks, coffee would be your friend, and you just might eventually go to the doctor for what you think is clinical depression.

Find something that excites you and pursue it. Get that energy back up again. The more times you get excited, the less times you'd be complaining about not having enough energy.