Where's My Happy Ending?

I like happy endings. Don't you?

That being said - I DON'T like movies with sad endings.

I hate them.

I mentioned in today's podcast a movie that I saw when I was in college. That just came to me as I was recording the podcast and now, I've been able to do a little more research and find out some of the missing details. The name of the movie was "The Champ" (I got that right!) and it came out in 1979 (I was right in the time frame too!). It starred Jon Voight, Faye Dunaway and Ricky Schroder (at a very young age). You can "google" the phrase, "movie The Champ" and you can even watch a clip that is almost 10 minutes long of this heart-wrenching scene in which the boxer (Voit) is knocked out in the ring and dies in the dressing room while his little boy (Schroder) screams at him to wake up. One of the saddest endings to a movie I've ever scene - and I hated it!

((Correction - I went back and watched this clip after typing this article, and the movie is even sadder than I remember. Here's the correction - the Champ did NOT get knocked out - he actually won the fight - HAPPY ENDING - and then dies in the dressing room with his little boy at his side as described above. This even emphasizes in a more powerful way my thoughts on the ups and downs we go through in our lives!))

I didn't mention this one, but I remember sobbing my eyes out when I was a kid at the end of the movie, "Old Yeller". Do you remember that one?

So, again, I HATE SAD ENDINGS to movies!

And yes, I watched another movie yesterday that had one of these sad endings - "Marley & Me". Have you seen it? If you haven't, then skip this blog because I am going to give away the ending.

The thing is - when I first saw this movie advertised before it's release in theaters, I already knew what the ending would be. I didn't know the HOW, but I knew what would happen. I just had a feeling about it.

And sure enough - I was right....the dog (Marley) dies. And, yes, I had tears streaming down my face. You see, I LOVE DOGS and I especially LOVE Labrador Retrievers. I've had several!

My first one was right after I got married in 1982 and his name was "Champ". He was the runt of the litter (just like Marley) and he was a wonderful dog. Our next one was "Sugar", a female who was also a wonderful dog and was so good with our kids, just as Champ was - that's just the way "Labs" are! When I recorded the podcast I left one of my Labs out - "Studley"! That's right, that is what his name was and he lived up to the name when he was a pup. He was tragically killed after we only had him for about a month - but he was a special dog. Then there was "Rocky" who was a MASSIVE dog when he was full grown and finally there was "Smokey".

You don't have to be a dog lover to enjoy that movie and to be moved to tears. If you love ANY animal, you will be touched by this story.

But, after watching the movie, I told my wife, "I would have much rather preferred for that movie to have a happy ending!"

Life is that way isn't it? Things don't go the way we had planned and we may scream at the top of our voice, "WHERE'S MY HAPPY ENDING?"

Perhaps it is a marriage that went bad.
Perhaps it is a job that was lost.
Perhaps it is the death of a loved one.
Perhaps it is your own failing health.

Whatever it may be - I do believe we can all relate to this idea.

If you had the ability, how would you script your life? How would you script the ending?

This is a fairly difficult topic to discuss because while there are many things in our life that we CANNOT control, there are also many things in our life that we CAN (and should) control!

One example I gave in the podcast was that of my wife's heart attack. I had no control over that happening - it was out of my control! However, it did turn out with a happy ending (thank you, Lord!) and she is still with me. Here's the thing - I DO have control over what I do with my time with her now. I've been given more time with her and now I am more committed than ever to take advantage of each and every day with her - THAT is within my control.

It is also within my control to allow that incident to impact my life in other ways and with other people.

Now, I'll be honest with you. If it had not turned out this way - if she had died - I do not know what I would have done. You see, I'll be the first one to acknowledge that it is easy for me to say these things - and yes, I believe them and attempt to live them every day - and I know it would be hard to keep my focus on them in such a difficult time.

But, I do know this - I have my "positive thoughts bank" continuously restocked and I believe that this would, indeed, come to play in such a tragic event.

There are things we CAN control and there are things we CANNOT control so here is the question for us to consider over the next few days:
- What will we/you do in response to the things that you cannot control?
- What will we/you do with those things that we can control?

Life doesn't always have happy endings as much as we wish otherwise. But we can still have some control as to the impact and our response.

Be thinking about that as we continue these thoughts in my next podcast and blog and...until then...

"Make it an AWESOME day! (Who else is going to do it for you?)"

Mike

It's NEVER Too Late!

I apologize for not getting this up yesterday- things are really busy and I just didn't get it done. Simple as that!

Do you ever have days like that? Sure you do! So again (I try to find points in just about everything I put on here so here is another one!), remember that, even though you may not get something done at exactly the right time - keep working and get it done! That doesn't make you a failure! (That being said, it doesn't work that way on the job, does it? If you have guidelines and deadlines - discipline yourself to get it done!).

Now, to the point of the message from Monday's podcast - "It's NEVER Too Late!".

Over the weekend I finally watched the movie, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" - the movie that starred Brad Pitt as a man that was born old and, as the years went by, got younger. This is an interesting movie with a lot of good points in it and I would recommend it for your viewing pleasure.

I could probably spend a whole month talking about different things from the movie - but I won't! Instead I wanted to share one main thought that I came away with from this movie and it's a thought that was shared near the end. Here it is:

"It's never too late to start over and, actually, it's never too early."

Do you agree? Do you live your life in agreement with that statement? You see, it's one thing to SAY that we agree and then it's a different thing altogether as to whether or not we believe it to the point of LIVING our lives in accordance to that stated belief.

For many of us - we give up too soon. We tend to place great emphasis on the number that signifies our age. You may say, "Well, I'm 40 years old - it's too late for me to do __________ (fill in the blank)".

Really? Is it really too late?

"I've messed up and, at my age, I'll never be able to recover from that mistake."

Really? Do you really not have the ability to recover? Think about that.

Now, let me say this. Sure, I understand that, financially, someone could mess up and lose their life savings and, yes, not be able to recover what was saved over a lifetime. But even in a situation such as that - will you just give up and cease to live? NO!

Do you really know anyone that lives a life free of mistakes? I can answer that for you with certainty - NO, YOU DON'T!

So, the question is not, "IF" I will make a mistake - but "WHEN" and "WHAT".

"WHEN I make a mistake - even a big one - WHAT will I do about it?"

This is key to our living of life.

For those of us that are "older" (what does that mean anyway?) this is so important to grasp! IT'S NEVER TOO LATE!

For example, I'm 49 years old (will turn 50 on November 3) and I am working on taking my life in a whole new direction. Is it scary - YES! Do I have my doubts at time - YES! But is it too late for me to do so - NO!

Remember my phrase that I came up with months ago and that I use regularly - "As long as there is breath there is hope!"

This is true!

Do you need to go back to school and take some courses? IT'S NEVER TOO LATE!
Do you need to change your path on saving for your financial future? IT'S NEVER TOO LATE!
Do you need to change your attitude and mindset? IT'S NEVER TOO LATE!

Let's stop using this as an excuse and LIVE the day (TODAY) that we have been given!

And, on the other hand - IT'S NEVER TOO EARLY!

My goodness - if I had known then what I know now....

How many of us could say this? Probably all of us.

So, all I can do now is say this to those that are younger - NOW IS THE TIME TO LIVE AND TRY NEW THINGS! When you are younger - you have the ability and the opportunity to do so with much more time to "recover" or take a different approach. Don't be afraid to follow your passion and see where it takes you. If you mess up or discover that it is not the path you want to follow after all - IT'S NEVER TOO EARLY TO START OVER!


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Now, on a somewhat different train of thought -- I am still amazed at how things work. I have shared with you how I am behind on my reading of SUCCESS magazine. And, yet, it seems that I am reading what I am supposed to be reading at this time. Do you know what I mean?

Interestingly, it also seems to be working that way with some of the movies that I have been watching lately. The one I mentioned in this article along with "Marley & Me" that I begin to discuss in my podcast for Tuesday and that I will center my next blog article around.

These things seem to be "intertwined" - and for a purpose!

Pay attention to the "little things" in your life and see if you don't find the same thing. I do believe that if you will open up your mind to these things that you, too, will see a "pattern" that works together for things that YOU NEED TO HEAR and/or SEE for you life right now!

Think about it...open your eyes....see and learn.


Until next time, friends -

"Make it an AWESOME day! (Who else is going to do it for you?)"


Mike