Episode 102. The Best Days of Our Lives

What in life deserves our time and attention and what things don't. I hope that as we consider that question along with other topics on this show, that we can all learn to live our lives just a little more intentionally. This is Seth Roberts. Thanks for joining me on Skipping Stones - “The Best Days of Our Lives.”

You know, a surprisingly hard question for me to answer is.  What would make for the best day ever? So, the quick answer that comes to mind would have to do with some kind of acquisition. Maybe winning the lottery would be the best day ever. That really sounds pretty nice. I'd love to win the lottery or win a new car or get some incredibly expensive thing handed to me.

But when I think about my best days so far, they don't really have much to do with getting new things. When I think about the best days I have ever experienced, first and foremost, I think back to the day my first child was born. I don't know why that was the best day ever for me. It certainly was not the best day for my wife at the time.

I was elated, though I had never been so excited in my life, something that was remarkable, was that I've struggled with getting queasy at the talk of blood pregnancy and the like for my entire life, but on that day, it was completely gone. I even ended up catching my daughter as she was born and I cannot describe how happy I was.

The other incredible day I can remember most vividly was. My high school graduation. It wasn't a major accomplishment per se, but I think it represented something to me similar to when my daughter was born. There was such a palpable excitement that I felt so using my own best days to draw my conclusions.

It seems like our best days have far less to do with acquiring things and more to do with turning points in our lives. Everything changed the day my daughter came into the world. I became a father. It forever changed my life. The excitement around having a child and the impact it had on my life was incredible.

In a good way, though. When I graduated high school, it was like I was sitting on the precipice between my childhood and my adulthood. It was the day I first really tasted the freedom of. What I thought it was like to be an adult. These were not days. I made a bunch of money. They were not the days I had the most fun.

They were days. My life changed directions. I think our best days as well as our worst days are days that have an impact. Those two days changed everything for me. One of those days I became a father and the other in my mind. I essentially became an adult and conversely, some of the worst days I've had had to do with my divorce because similarly, my divorce changed everything, and at the time it felt like my failure to keep it together would ruin my children's lives forever.

The impact of the day exaggerates everything. I once witnessed someone else's worst day when I watched them die in a fatal car crash, and it almost felt like the consequence of that day was pushing out like waves. I could almost feel it, but how much more so when that impactful day is actually affecting you, the best and the worst days are?

They're hinge points. Don't get me wrong. I've had days in my life where I had a big windfall or I had a ton of fun, and they were great. Truly some beautiful memories there, but the biggest days changed everything and opened up the future. But now I worry sometimes that all those best days are behind me, and maybe they are.

But I think the good thing is, is that there are still big changes I can make at different stages in my life. Maybe it isn't such a bad thing that some of those big life changing moments are behind me, because at least it means I took those steps in my life. Also, I have children and there comes a point where I think the changes in my own life will give way to excitement for the changes in my children's lives.

Maybe that's all for the best anyway. It seems natural that there's a time in your life where all the focus and attention is on you, and then there's a time when all of the focus and attention belong to the next generation. Regardless of whether you're working toward big moments in your own lives or your children's or someone else's, there's something to celebrate and prepare for.

It would be sad to live a life that doesn't move toward those milestones. A life where nothing really changes, where we never risk anything, where we avoid responsibility and ultimately let time pass by without ever getting to have those special moments in our lives. The best days of our lives are the ones where the future opens up, or we have one of those turning point days.

The excitement isn't just for the potential, but it's for the challenge that awaits us. Even if the story that unfolds after those moments doesn't always shape up like we dreamed it would, those moments are when our stories begin, and that's a moment to be grateful for. I hope when it's all done and we reach the end of our lives, we can look back and feel like we met those challenges and excelled.

I hope we live up to the excitement we felt on those special days of our life. Maybe even someday when your kids reach those points in their lives when everything changes and their eyes are just totally full of wonder and excitement. You'll be able to share those moments with them. This is Skipping Stones - “The Best Days of Our Lives.”

You can find this podcast anywhere you choose to listen to podcasts. For more information about me, feel free to visit skippingstonessr.com. And if you enjoyed the show, please like or subscribe. If there is a topic you would like me to speak on, please feel free to email me. At info@skippingstonessr.com. New episodes will be released weekly every Monday.