The Commitment

When I was a young man,

I thought there was very

little I couldn't do if I just

set my mind to it and plowed

straight ahead. And in fact,

there were many things that

I could do and actually did

by simply setting my mind to

it and plowing straight ahead.

But eventually, I started to

realize that the things I was

getting done were not really

hard or challenging to do after

all. And as I got older, these

so-called achievements gave

little satisfaction, which caused

a great wave of self-doubt to

settle in - self-doubt that ate

away at my soul as I began

to approach middle age. Yet I

knew I had to find an answer to

this growing malaise or I would

spend the rest of my life wondering

what I could have done that was

meaningful and worthwhile. That

made a contribution to the world

in some way. That rose above the

mediocre and the mundane in the

overall scheme of things taking

place in the world. Thus I knew

the first step in this grand new

undertaking of mine would be

The Commitment - a solemn

oath to never settle for less than

I am capable of. Since then, I've

continued along that far more

rewarding path as I've reached

old age. But I learned a great deal

from that young man so long ago.

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Thanks for reading. Copyright Terry Mansfield. All rights reserved.