“How did you do it?”

“It” being the decision to make a drastic career and lifestyle change at my age.

In the midst of your own circumstances, they become normal to you. I forget that an onlooker will have a completely different take on the decisions we’ve made. Opening bread&cup has felt like the right thing for us to do, but not to someone else our age trying to imagine being in our shoes.

We all take risks everyday. Just getting in a car and driving anywhere is a gamble on the belief that everyone that day will follow the rules of the road and stay out of your way. The probabilities might be in your favor, but there still is that chance that you won’t wind up at your destination as planned.

Maybe you are thinking what we thought a few years ago. You have an idea, a little dream you’ve entertained. You’ve posed the “What if…?” question over and over again. You’re wondering if you should grab the dice in hand and toss them down the table to see if your number comes up. But the rules require you have action on the game before you can play. So you want to know if its time to drop your chips on the felt, or just continue to be a spectator.

So as you think it through, consider this question; do others enjoy you enjoying your interest? A yes could mean that you like Dad better when he’s out in the garage working on his cars cause he’s out of the house and out of everyone’s way, but that’s not what I’m asking. Rather, does your interest in the thing about which you are passionate draw others in? Does it make people say, “You need to keep doing that.”

I haven’t played golf in about six years. Though I like the idea of golf, the practicalities of golf did a number on me. The day I gave up the clubs was the day I threw my 3 iron farther from the tee than the distance I hit my ball. It was that point that I knew that this hobby was not doing what it was supposed to be doing, which was providing four hours of leisure and enjoyment with my bros.

But when I’m in the kitchen, I’m a different man than when I’m on the golf course. I think it’s because I feel better about my abilities with a chef knife in my hands than with a putter. And the outcome of my game on your plate is more enjoyable to you than on the drive home with me after a brutal 18.

Someone once told me to find what it is that makes you come alive and go do that, because the world needs more people who are truly alive.

Here’s to waking up to that thought, and living life to the full.