I Dare You

I was back at my alma mater recently and the University president commented that we are all “on the escalator,” meaning that we are aging at the same rate – time stopping for no one. I immediately recalled a childhood memory watching the The Price is Right with my mom on summer vacation, where the yodeling man crept closer and closer up to the edge of the mountain; if the contestant overbid, the yodeling man fell off the cliff and they lost the game. Not to sound depressing, but eventually we’re all going to fall off the proverbial cliff – and we are never going to know when.

So, in the spirit of seizing the present moment, I dare you to do one thing you’ve always wanted to do. Do you daydream about learning to play the guitar, take a dance class, or finally learn to speak French? Then sign up for the class now. Or, conversely, is there some obligation or relationship wearing you down? If so, think of a gracious way to “shift your weight” and move in a different direction (that reference was for all The Real Thing/Tom Stoppard fans out there).

When you make one small shift, your life inevitably has to move in a different direction. If your life is moving toward something you love, or away from something that drains you, how can you lose? If we’re all ascending the escalator, then I want to arrive at the next floor where there is joy (and maybe a shoe department), not the lost and found, where I discover I lost myself several floors below, too late for me to turn back before I reach the cliff and the game is over.

© Copyright 2016 Ashley Curiel, PsyD, therapist in Beverly Hills, California. All rights reserved.