A Rat Race is for...Well, Rats

Today I was looking through one of my old journals searching for something that I thought I had written down in great detail, but couldn't find what I was looking for.  However, I did find something very interesting.

July 7, 2004 Wednesday

Don't ever confuse the two: Your life and your work. The second is only a part of the first.  If you win the rat race, you're still a rat.

But you are the only person alive who has sole custody of your life. Your particular life. Your entire life. Not just your life at a desk, or your life on the bus, or in the car, or at the computer. Not just your mind, but the life of your heart. Not just your bank account, but your soul.

It is easier to exist instead of living.

I don't know about you, but I needed some encouragement today.  It was a rough one. I hope that your spirit is lifted, if it is only a little bit.   

There are many things that I can control...

 "There is so much about my fate that I cannot control, but other things do fall under the jurisdiction. I can decide how I spend my time, whom I interact with, ..... I can select what I can read and eat and study. I can choose how I'm going to regard unfortunate circumstances in my life-whether I will see them as curses or opportunities. I can choose my words and the tone of voice in which I speak to others. And most of all, I can choose my thoughts.”

Elizabeth Gilbert