Thoughts on My Birthday

Today is my birthday.

I am 45 years old.

This is not a big fat round number.

And yet,

This particular birthday has the pungent smell of “half time.”

It doesn’t take much to get your ol’ pal MF to reflect on how to live a good and wise life.

So here’s a birthday reflection this year:

There is no later.

There is no time coming when things will finally be in order.

There is no time coming to finally curl up by the fire with a mug of hot chocolate and get around to reading those books.

There is no time coming when you’ll finally have enough money to be totally at ease,

Or finally have made enough impact that your legacy is secured,

Or finally free of the obligations preventing you from doing what you really want.

Later is not coming.

There is only a parade of messy nows.

BUT

We do get to decide how to spend our nows.

And therein lies all our power.

I don’t always nail this.

I still find myself fantasizing about Future Mark drinking champagne with his family and friends on a yacht in the Mediterranean as the sun glints off the sea, with picturesque European villas dotting the cliffside in the distance.

While I’m pretty happy as I write this…

I can’t help but imagine I’ll be REALLY happy then.

And you know what?

I fully expect I’ll have that yacht experience.

And it WILL be cool.

But it won’t be the end all be all. I’ll still have challenges. I’ll still have unmet aspirations. I’ll still carry silent longings for LATER.

But later is not coming.

Not only that,

But when the future does come,

I’m going to look back with pangs of emotion, longing for NOW.

This moment that’s already slipping away…

So I’ll be gentle with my Later-loving brain,

And enjoy typing this digital letter to you here in the present,,

While the snow whirls outside my window and my daughter baby-babbles in her mystery language to her Disney princess Lego.

It’s nice to stop and reflect as you go,

Mark

PS My birthday wish is for you to plug into our community of gym owners.

MF Signature BFU 2

And to do so in-person!

Our upcoming Unicorn Society retreat in Toronto March 21st-22nd is all about Marketing & Sales.

If you’re a gym owner looking for:

  • A steadier flow of weekly leads
  • Better conversion for leads into members
  • More qualified prospects who value your services
  • An active member count that keeps increasing
  • Increasing revenue month over month

… you’ll want to join us.

We only have a few non-member spots left.

If you want to learn more, reply “TORONTO” and I’ll get you the rest of the details.

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