Its Monday afternoon in Central Indiana, cool to the point of being cold, dreary as it is from November 1 – April 1, and I am finding myself. When I first started on this journey, I would have been depressed and anxiety ridden about this day. I am still stuck in Indiana when I want to be in Florida. I have had no luck selling my business which I saw as an anchor holding me back from achieving my dreams and I would have been totally stressed out by my fears of the future. That is no way to live. When I was spending my whole life stressing about things in the future, I never lived today. I survived each day but I didn’t find the time to enjoy even a few minutes of it because I was projecting myself into a future that no one can predict. I can’t live in the future. If I am living in the future, worried about the future, wanting the future that I desire to hurry up and get here, I completely miss today! If I am not living in the present, how is it even possible to figure out who I am. The only thing that is possible is for me to project who I might be in the future. I want to know who I am today. To figure that out, I have to live in the present moment. So here I am – in the present.
There are customers walking around the second floor of our 120 year old building just outside my office space. I can hear the creaking of the ancient wooden floors. That creaking is somehow comforting to me. I can think of the thousands of feet that have trodden these floors in the past. I can hear these customers talking to each other, exclaiming their delight in the beautiful prom dresses they are searching through. Mom’s and daughters sharing this experience. What a blessing! I’m so glad I am able to provide them this experience! I also hear one of my long time employees helping the girls with their search. What a blessing! This employee was a star athlete and student -the whole package – in high school. Then she got pregnant and delivered her son 3 weeks after her senior prom. This could have been a disaster for some but not for her. She came to us 5 months pregnant seeking a job. I saw in her something special. She has worked for us for over 2 years now. She is going to college full time and will start student teaching in about 9 months. She is raising her son in whom she sees all the glory of God. She loves working with our customers. She is going to leave us in a little over a year so that she can go out into the world and make the world a better place! What a blessing! My greatest achievement is using this business to make the world a better place by helping these girls get through college so that they can be a gift to the world. How blessed am I! Being present in the moment today has made me so grateful for the blessed life I am living. So, who am I? I am blessed.