Your Sense of Wonder
If you know me, you know I take new beginnings very seriously. I tend to enter reflections quarterly and take stock of my life and where it is in that moment. Trying to stay on track as much as possible and stay focused. The New Year is always a time when this ‘ritual’ happens in alignment with the rest of the world.
I’m always thrilled to have that global energy focused on improvement and to hear about new goals and aspirations. I typically join in with the fun and tend to have some ambitious goals that align with that year timeline. For example, in 2018 I read 2 books a week and I completed book number 104 on December 30th 2018.
But this New Years is different. I’ve been reflecting much longer than I have before. After all it’s my 4th decade I’ve seen in person (third that I remember) and in the last 2 years I’ve done a lot. I’ve realized manifestation is very powerful and to be very careful with what you align your goals with.
In the last 3 years I’ve traveled to 10+ countries, won international soccer tournaments, interviewed (and declined and accepted ) offers at the biggest tech companies in the world (Amazon, Facebook, Apple, Google, Glassdoor, Uber, Autodesk, Etc) read well over 200 books, generated more ideas that I can keep track of, learned multiple coding languages, seen best friends get married, other best friends get engaged, lived on my own, lived with best friends, climbed Whitney, went backpacking through Canada, bought a car, had a dog be diagnosed with terminal liver failure, manifested living in my ultimate city in California with a 6 minute commute to work, handstands and head stands and completed multiple races including an Ironman.
Yes, but Chris, what is the point of this post then, why should we care?
Well, the point is this, I’ve done a lot and am now old enough to see the power of manifestation first hand. So I now know I have to be very careful with what I focus my life on. Then just today, as I was hiking, it hit me. It really all comes down to one verse from the song I Hope you Dance by ¨Lee Ann Womack¨
I hope you never lose your sense of wonder
You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger
May you never take one single breath for granted
God forbid love ever leave you empty handed
I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean
Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens
Promise me that you’ll give faith a fighting chance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance — Lee Ann Womack
As I was wandering through the hills of the Marin Headlands I was struck with how small I really was. Looking over the expanse and seeing mountain bikers and other hikers look like ants on a hill I was reminded of my childhood. How when you are young you see the world for what it truly is: something beautiful and new to experience, full of wonder and beauty.
Then as you grow, you have experiences. Some of them good, but many of them that harden parts of who you are. You start to build walls and armor and shields to protect yourself. You hide behind a computer screen, or a cell phone, so you don’t have to expose who you are. To interact with people you don’t know. The trust is hard to build and quick to break. The experiences you’ve had in the past are engrained in you are and shape who you are. It the battle of nature vs nurture.
But no matter how you look at it, you become desensitized to the world around you and the experiences you may have sitting in front of you.
Needless to say, this caused me to spiral a bit and think about the past decades as opposed to just the last year. I realized the 90’s were my growth as a human, the 00’s were my coming of age and start of college, then the 10’s were my education and career growth.
But what do I want my 20’s to be?
Now it’s more clear than ever. Based on my past, my passions, what energizes me, and what I’ve stepped into becoming, my 20’s will be focused on helping preserve everyones Sense of Wonder.
How I will go about doing that, is still pending. But if you would have told me in 2010 half the things I would be doing in the next 10 years, I would have laughed at you and said no way. Thats the funny thing about manifestations though, you just need to focus on the why and the rest will work itself out.
So I can tell you a few things I have in mind for my 20’s and urge you to follow along. There will be many more yes moments, more teaching, more creativity, more confidence, and more doing. There will be less negativity, pessimism, procrastination, and walls. I will find more of those moments that take my breath away and less of to argue about. More ways to share inspiration to the world and keep the world in awe of how beautiful the planet is as opposed to hidden behind a screen afraid of who we really are. Ways to inspire confidence in oneself and in doing so inspire the world.
Feel free to follow me at @brokensandalexplorer on Instagram for more photos such as the ones on this post or follow me here for the journey to sense of wonder.
But always remember, when you get the choice to sit it out or dance… I hope you dance…
