EPL #4: Swim Swim Swim!

"I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life, as by the obstacles overcome whilst trying to succeed." ~ Booker T. Washington

And now for Day 4, Richard from Texas strikes again. Julia Roberts was at the (I just realized I don't know what it was called.....I should have paid more attention in philosophy class in college) place in India where she studied meditation. She was sulking and complaining about how she didn't feel spiritual and she was having a difficult time.

Richard looked at her and said, "If you want to get to the castle, you have to swim through the moat."

I think that's something it's pretty easy to forget in life. Sometimes we feel like we should have the things we want right now......but guess what? Life doesn't owe us anything. We (and by we I mean most people...clearly there are exceptions....think Paris Hilton) have to work in order to end up where we want to be.

Take Cousin Kevin for example. It's easy for me to sit here at twenty something and envy Cousin Kevin. See, his life consists basically of him sitting on his porch, drinking a beer, smoking meat and watching his cows in the field. (Okay, MAYBE it's not quite that luxurious....but whatever). I would LOVE for that to be my life---the thought of not having to put on my heels and sit in front of a computer all day, but instead to be outside with my own animals on my own land all day? That would be the castle for me!

But....what I sometimes forget is that Cousin Kevin isn't twenty something. He's old. And when he was twenty something, he was working his butt off....not sitting on the front porch. He paid his dues....he swam through the moat. As much as I would like to fast forward to the castle, the moat has to come first.

So....I figure we might as well make the best of it. So I'm doing my best to enjoy my swim in the moat, while still having big dreams about reaching that castle!