The Power of the Dash

This week at dinner a good friend of mine told me something a pastor shared with his congregation. He said, “Everybody should take a trip to a cemetery and look around. Look down at a tombstone. Don’t look at the years. Instead notice what’s in between those years.

Look at the dash. That dash is your life.”

If you’re like me, this may at first feel humbling. Next, invigorating. The GOOD NEWS is we’re still above ground and what we do with our dash is still our choice!

Nobody is going to remember you or what you did long after you’re gone. The question is are you having fun? Are you enjoying your dash? As we end not just another year — but another decade — I’ve reflected on my last few decades and what each has been for me.

By the end of ‘89 I’d ended my chapter as a child. I left home for college and began my journey as a young adult.

By the end of ‘99 I’d found my partner, the man I knew I’d spend my life with.

In ‘09 I’d completed birthing the last of the three souls I knew I was to bring into the world.

As I end 2019 I’m grateful for the freedom and abundance I’ve created over the last decade doing the work I’m called to and that I love.

Now I wonder. One day, in 2029 when I look back at this next decade what will it have been about for me? What do I want it to be about?

I know I have all I need (or can figure out how to get it when I want). I don’t need to spend my years amassing wealth. Money doesn’t make me happy. It’s not that. What’s clear to me is I want to crack my heart wide open and be brave, vulnerable and committed to using my creative mind, along with the talent, experience, resources, and support I’ve been given to help others struggle less personally and professionally.

I want to make a massive difference in the world for as long as I’m here. I want to do as much as I can to end suffering. In short, when I look back at this next decade, I want it to be about contribution. If I’m honest with myself, I know it’s not completely altruistic. I always feel good when I’m connected and giving. That’s because the frequency is the same for both.

This I know for sure...I want ‘living a life that matters’ to be included in my “dash.”

So to do this I know, I'll have to more consistently drop my made up rules, be exposed, take risks, release the struggle, be 100% responsible and follow through on my commitments.

I am deciding now. I’m ready.

Because if you’re like me, you’ve had that moment when it hits you like a ton of bricks that this “dash” is oh so temporary. No more planning for the future. No more playing it safe. No more hedging. No more refining. This is not a dress rehearsal. It’s game time. And it’s now.

I also realize I don’t want to be rocking in a chair with a blanket on my lap, realizing I’d dashed through my Dash. In the last 60 days of this decade I vow to be more present than I’ve ever been. More awake. More grateful. More bold. Do the things I’ve been talking about. Yes, pastor, we’re here for a blip of time — a dash — but I believe that if we do our dash ‘right’, once is enough.

Dedicated to helping you live your extraordinary Dash.

~ Rita

xo

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