Hurricane Katrina Lessons Learned...

OK, I don't so much mean success but LIFE has taught me a few things since Hurricane Katrina. I thought I'd pass along these pearls of wisdom to you, seeing as you never know when you might be stuck with teh aftermath of a major natural disaster.

We are finally selling our house (we go to act of sale February 17th) and this is causing me to reflect on some of the things I've learned in the past few months. Here goes:

First, contractors do not take you seriously when you answer the door wearing pigtails. I'm assuming this is also true for men.

Second, just because a realtor answers the phone days after a natural disaster, it doesn't mean he is going to aggressively sell your house. That's why we fired him and hired a bulldog. And within two weeks: house sold.

Third, quick decisions can be correct decisions if you follow your intuition. Our decision to pack up and move west to Colorado was a pretty quick one, and my family was concerned that we were being too rash. One of my friends laughingly said I was overreacting - to move from 9 feet below sea level to an area over a mile high. In any case, we were following our gut, which has never (and I mean NEVER) steered me wrong. Without a doubt, moving to Colorado was the best move for us.

Finally, there is no glory in "sticking it out" if it's not getting you where you want to go. For example, if we had decided to stay in New Orleans just because we felt guilty moving away, we would be creating a state of resistence, which would result in resentment and probably misery. Now, I'm not knocking the folks who've decided to stay in New Orleans and rebuild, especially if that's where they really wanted to be.

On the other hand, if you are only staying there because you don't feel you have any other options, well, that's just no good at all! It breaks my heart to hear people say things like "well, myjob pays pretty good, so I guess I have to stay." Even though they may hate their job! This life is so short, there's really no point in doing anything other that what you REALLY want to do.

Here's your Q of the day:
What is it that you really want to do? Are you moving toward that, or making excuses why it will never happen? Are you willing to go for what you want, or are you content to watch other people live their dreams?