What's Stopping You Now?

'When we were small, we blew out the candles on our birthday cake believing that all of our hopes and dreams would become real, and when Jiminy Cricket urged us to wish upon a star, we all tried it, at least once. So when exactly did you stop wishing? When did you start doing the things you had to do instead of the things you wanted to do? When did your dreams get buried under the responsibilities of adulthood? Now you sense that something needs to change, but you're too busy to stop and think about what it is. You long for those forgotten times when each day's accomplishments filled you with joy and excitement, when you embraced life with energy and enthusiasm. When there were a million special days--the first day of school, the night before your fifth birthday, summer vacation, your first kiss--all of these were momentous achievements that made you feel almost giddy inside. But now you sometimes feel as if you're stuck in a great big rut and, as the years go by, the rut keeps getting deeper and deeper. You sense loss, understanding that you were meant to do more...Remember how scared you were to take the training wheels off your bike? Or how much courage it took for that first kiss? Nothing stopped you then. So what's stopping you now?'

--from the introduction to Live What You Love--Notes From an Unusual Life.