If you’re waiting for perfect conditions, you’ll miss out.

“It is only possible to live happily ever after on a daily basis” – Margaret Bonanno.

The morning this picture was taken, my brother and I got up at 6am on the last day of our vacation. I was expecting mother nature to smile upon us with a beautiful sunrise to take some killer shots. We got quite the opposite, it was raining and the sun was no where to be found.

I asked, “should we just wait ? Wait until the perfect conditions so we can get a great shot?”

I wanted it to be perfect, only then would I be happy.

Sound familiar?

I coach a lot of really driven, Type A, passionate, go-getting women. We are the types who make shit happen and get shit done. We are used to getting the things we want because we are willing to put in the work. We want results, and we want them now.

Which makes it all the more heartbreaking when we stumble upon a situation in life that isn’t in our control. But we still continue trying. We try and try, we try to scratch and claw our way to the other side of that wall. We will NOT stop until we get to our destination because that is where “happiness” resides.

Once we loose, the 10lbs, then we can be happy. Once we have the baby then we can be happy. Once we find the guy, then we can be happy. Once we get the new career then we can be happy.

Then what? 

Will life be absolutely complete for you when you get that one thing? I highly doubt it. You will find something else to want.

There is nothing wrong with wanting things and setting goals. Where we go wrong is when we are so focused on that “thing” that we loose all other joy and appreciation in our lives. Gratitude is all the rage right now in the self-help world with good reason.

It works.

I’m going to paint with a broad brush here and say as humans, we are all struggling with something right now and we all have something we can be grateful for too. Even within your struggles, stretch yourself to find happiness. While you are on your way to pursuing and reaching your goals, make sure you are showing gratitude for how far you’ve come already. There is something about your life today that was once what you wanted. Don’t forget that.

Start living happily ever after now. Stop wishing your days, weeks, months away waiting for the stars to align. Life isn’t going to wait on you.

P.S. We didn’t wait that day for the conditions to be perfect, and we got a pretty cool picture because of it.