Are you dead and awaiting your burial date?

Some people die at 25 and aren’t buried until 75…~ Benjamin Franklin

I’ll never forget the day that I was sitting on the floor of my home office back in 2007. I was going through a memory box filled with items that went back to kindergarten. God bless my mom for keeping such sweet items. At that time I was contemplating a HUGE shift in my life when I came across a project I had completed in the 8th grade. It was a collage of magazine cutouts. You know the type, similar to a vision board along with a full report attached. I had my dream car pasted on it along with my favorite band that I wanted to meet in person as well as other goals and dreams… many I had achieved and MANY I had not. At this time I was a stay at home mom in Michigan, my daughter was 3 and I had my part time wellness coaching practice that was just starting to slowly immerge from hobby to business.

Something inside me snapped when I saw that 8th grade project!

When did I stop living? When did I stop dreaming? Where did Karie go???

I was only 34… but at that time I saw my surroundings as a prison. I was living in the city I had detested for 18 years and I was still in my stagnate marriage with a man that refused to get counseling or outside help. To make matters worse, the woman I saw in the mirror looking back at me was not the woman I had desired to be. She was overweight, unhealthy, had zero energy and couldn’t even muster up the will to apply some makeup or fix her hair. I would shower and put my wet hair in a ponytail and call it a day…to make matters worse, I completed the look with frumpy velour sweat pant suits. No… not the cute kind either… the kind that hid my unwanted weight gain.
It’s almost a blur what happened after that evening. I had tunnel vision as I filed for a divorce, sold everything I owned and started looking outside of Michigan as to where I would live next. I knew it had to be somewhere warm and sunny. I ended up getting more than I bargained for, in HOT and SUNNY Las Vegas!
Through a series of events I ended up in Vegas and started growing like a weed… starting with my inner healing and then on to outward physical healing. I started to love and appreciate Karie again for who God made her to be and what her mission is here.

I want to ask you… when did you place your dreams on a shelf? When did you tell yourself it was ok to place something that was really important to you on the back burner? Are you telling yourself … I will wait until the kids go to college or until there is enough money saved up. What sort of lies are you building around you that are resulting in that nagging feeling in your gut that is telling you that time is ticking by…and let’s all agree, its going by pretty damn fast!

My wonderful father is a prime example and thank goodness he doesn’t read my blogs. (but just in case- love you daddy!)  My dad resigned the day he had his heart attack, March 1994. He ended up having a 6 by-pass that day and thankfully, 20 years later at the age of 74 he is very active and energetic. (It helps to have a wellness coach for a daughter that ignited him on learning the power behind natural whole foods…wink wink) Sadly…my dad resigned that day- in his heart. Something in him just gave up on his professional dreams at the young age of 54. He was always the “handy man”…he was a carpenter, could remodel your car, home… paint anything and make it look like new, built many homes and the church he used to pastor in. In his mind, his life was over when his physical body let him down. It was and still is very hard to see my dad just resign that this is “as good as it gets” and uses his past heart condition as the excuse to give up. I’m happy that he is still a very active outdoorsman that loves to take long walks through the woods but I hate that his self-confidence diminished that cold winter day back in March 1994.

So why am I sharing all of this with you?

You see, my dad has a long list of opportunities that he talked himself out of …from one investment to another… from one business idea to another. Looking back he sees what could have been and I’m sure he has a lot of regret.

I believe dad still has some serious LIVING to do… in fact I think I need to call him this week to give him a serious kick in the pants. (note to self)

Isn’t it time to blow the dust off of those dreams again? Take a look at what you’ve always wanted to do, become, achieve?

I hear this question almost daily… well Karie, what if this dream I’ve been holding on to doesn’t work out? That’s when I reply, “Well…what if it DOES?”… What will that look like for you when your dreams go from paper to reality?
STOP and think about that for a minute… HOW COOL WOULD THAT BE!?!?
I want you to contact me directly if I hit a nerve today. I want to encourage, empower and SHOW you the way! Nothing gives me greater joy then to lift someone up and point them in the right direction and watch …them….SOAR!

That could be YOU!

Feel free to leave a comment below or contact me directly.

It’s time to breathe NEW LIFE into those dying dreams …and start LIVING a brighter tomorrow! It’s NEVER TOO LATE to start over!!
All my love and bright shining light to you!

Karie Millspaugh
Business and Lifestyle Coach