Lessons Learned

Day 31. Writing about and intentionally “living” Proverbs over the last two months has been quite an eye opening experience that has helped me in so many ways. When I first started this process, I was extremely apprehensive. I had no idea what I was going or write about or even how to begin. All I knew was that I had to do it. Some days the words flowed effortlessly, other days the struggle was real. Some days caused me to take a deep look inside myself and some days it was all I could do just to look outside the covers of my comfy bed. Although there have been many lessons, none have had more impact on me than the importance of setting an intention then committing to follow it through.

There are so many times in our lives, at least in mine, where we have an idea or get a “gut” feeling to do or say something but we don’t. Maybe we get scared, feel like it’s none of our business or just simply tell ourselves that we will do it tomorrow. For whatever reason, when we don’t take action, the results are the same, we rob ourselves of the gifts along the way.

Attempting to read, decipher and act according to Proverbs, turned out to be an extremely difficult task. The teachings in Proverbs aren’t always clear, you truly have to search for understanding. Then, even when you think you “get it”,  you read something else, written by an expert, that makes it pretty clear that you truly have no clue. Though, quite often I felt lost, reading Proverbs daily helped me to clarify who I am, who I was and who I want to be. Through the process I learned that I LOVE waking up at 4:30 (except for the few days after we “spring forward” with daylight savings or that I stay up too late while destroying my son’s confidence with a beat down of NHL 2017 on xBox).Waking up at 4:30 provides me with a tranquility that I find impossible to achieve in the middle of a busy day. I found it to be a great time to “connect” both mentally and spiritually. I found that by starting my day at 4:30, I get more done. I remember eating lunch one day at 12:30 and realizing that I had already put in a full 8 hours of work. It is still so shocking and different than what I was used to, that I literally just counted out the hours on my fingers to make sure that I am doing the math right! I learned that when I wake a up with a set intention, like writing, nothing gets in the way of me completing my task. In addition, when the task is finished, many times before most people even wake up, I feel accomplished. Those feelings of accomplishment then spill over throughout the remainder of my day, providing me with positive energy and a self confidence that I can do what I say I am going to do.

Through this process I also learned that if you want to do something, you should just do it and not worry about what anyone else thinks. Because as Dr. Seuss once said, “those that mind don’t matter and those that matter, don’t mind”. The problem with living your life worried about what other people think is that at the end of the day, the only person who will die with your regrets is you.

With this in mind, I’ve decided to take a break from blogging about Proverbs. Though I will continue to read, do my best to understand and “live” the wisdom daily, I believe that God used Proverbs as a springboard to help me complete a project that has been on my heart for a long time.

I don’t think that it is coincidence that the lessons I learned over the last 60 days through writing about Proverbs, were exactly the things that I needed to learn in order to see my project through to its fruition.

Proverbs 31 are the sayings of King Lemuel. These sayings come directly from his mother. As I read through the verses, I couldn’t help but reflect upon all the amazing women that have been a part of my life. From my mother, one of kindest, most selfless and unconditionally loving people I know, to the powerhouse women business partners in my life, I have been surrounded by incredible women role models.

To all of you, especially you Mom, I am extremely grateful.

Proverbs 31:25 She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.

Have a great day!

Kevin

PS- Should you worry that you won’t be hearing from me (LOL), rest your worried little head because nothing could be further from the truth 😉