Do you have an "I Wish" list? Not a wish list, but an I wish list--a list of "I wish I had" or "I wish I did" things. Years ago, it probably had a different name for you. Maybe it was your bucket list, or your to-do list that never got to done. Whatever your list looked like or was called, I am going to take a gamble and say that it would be more of a rarity to find a man or woman with their list complete. Hence, the "I Wish" list.
Before I proceed, let me disclaim: The "I Wish" list and the "I regret" list are NOT synonymous, as it pertains to this blog. Sure, everyone wants to relive some glory moment in high school or college and be known forever as the guy who would have hit the buzzer beater in overtime to win state, or spelled "recollect" correctly to win your 5th grade spelling bee, if that's your thing. Unfortunately, Uncle Rico, you missed. Time to move on. Now, let's stop being downers here and get on with the point, shall we? ;) - (the smiley is so that you think I'm nicer than I really am, since we just met and all.)
I knew a guy who could juggle in middle school. No idea how he did it, but he was legit. He could toss under his legs in mid-juggle without even flinching. I saw him throw up 5 bean bags in a talent show once. Now did this talent earn him instant popularity? Nope. Can you imagine some 8th grader walking the halls with a girl on each arm, leading his posse of circus clowns while he's tossing torches into the air? Interesting mental image, but I guarantee you've never ever seen anything like that in your life. Even so, juggling intrigued me. I wanted to learn because it was something I couldn't do. But I never learned.
Years later, I sit here as a 26 year-old no juggler. That's right, I'm Daniel Nix and I don't know how to juggle. (Hi, Daniel!) Do I regret it--no. Do I wish I had learned-sure. But not because I have this deep rooted desire to impress circus clowns. I think I could have learned a lot from juggling. There are certain rules and principles that make a successful juggler--the biggest being focus. My one downfall in juggling is that I forget about the first ball/bag/chainsaw/whatever once the second one hits the air. Now, at age 26, I have a gorgeous wife, beautiful son, fun/stressful at times job, friends, family, house, etc. (including a stinkin awesome Christian rock band)--all of which are dominated by an unshakable faith in Christ--and I am figuratively learning the art of juggling. Even within each single element of my life, there are so many things that demand my undivided attention, and I would not have it any other way. And not only do I want to juggle these things, I want to juggle with integrity (bet they don't teach that principle at juggle camp). I think a big part of having integrity is knowing where and when to focus your attention. If I focus everything I have one single part, another ball is bound to drop. It's juggle science.
Friends, I am going to wrap it up here. Some of you have a million different things going on in your life. Learn balance. If you have too much, lighten your load. There is no shame in pushing the pause button on a few things while you devote time to sift through other stuff. "Wherever you are, be all there"-that's not my quote, and I'm don't have time to google it. If you're curious, be my guest.
Now if you'll excuse me, it's my day off and my son Beckett is starving. Adieu.
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