I’m celebrating my birthday early this week and want to thank all of you who sent the fantastic cards, emails and presents. Your generous thoughts, prayers and messages mean so much to me. (Whoever sent the 2005 Chateau Petrus Pomeral… you really shouldn’t have.) Also, I would love to share what Tom has planned, but this blog is rated G. Suffice it to say, “What happens in Texas, stays in Texas.”
Each day I strive to wake up a new and different person and on my birthday I like to think I’ve become a lot more than just a year older.
Whoever says you can’t defy gravity as you get older has merely lost sight of who they are and stopped dreaming. I’m not one to be content riding the surface of life. I like to go all in – which my Italian heritage certainly trained me for.
For decades I’ve walked down the aisle and up to the stage to sing our CLNC® national anthem with a ballroom full of excited and exciting future CLNC® consultants. To some (especially the introverts in the audience), I probably looked foolish. And that’s one of my favorite strategies for NOT aging – daring to look foolish.
In 1982 I started my legal nurse consulting business and pioneered the profession because I didn’t want to be shackled by someone else’s boundaries; especially those defined by hospital administrators and doctors. I didn’t want to stay the line. To succeed, I had to be willing to appear foolish along the way and sometimes do things that appeared foolish to other, shall we say “less imaginative,” types. As Sri Sri Ravi Shankar so eloquently wrote: “A fool is somebody who does something very unique, which is not accepted by others. What is wrong with being a fool? What is wrong with standing alone, apart from the crowd? Let the crowd act however it wants. I stand apart from that. I act my way.”
If you are never foolish in your life at least some of the time, you miss your life and the joy in it.
When your birthday comes around I wish for you the gift of defying gravity. Refuse to accept the limits that others define for you – both in your personal life and your legal nurse consulting business.
You CAN have all you’ve ever wanted, if only you dare to occasionally appear foolish to those who steadfastly stay the line. Give yourself the gift of acting and maybe looking foolish. After all, it’s your birthday – they make those silly hats for a reason – to foolishly have loads of fun.
Wherever you are on your birthday, I hope you hear my “Happy Birthday” greeting and this, my birthday message to you.
Happy Birthday whatever day yours is!
P.S. Comment and share how you dare to look foolish.