Enjoying Life

One of the things I have been focusing on lately is enjoying life. I am a planner, so I have the tendency to always be looking ahead at what's coming up. Often that is a great skill, but it also tends to get a little overwhelming because I end up looking at too much at once, and become unable to enjoy the NOW because I'm too busy worrying about what is coming up tomorrow or next week or next month. So I spent a lot of time in Ecclesiastes reading about "enjoying life" because of this.

And of course, when you pray about something, funny how God tends to put it in front of you immediately! Well, my first real application of "enjoying life" was when I found myself driving all the way up to Plano (step number one out of my comfort box!) to hang out with a girlfriend's hometeam. Now typically, in a group of strangers, I tend to stay on the sidelines where it's more comfortable. But instead, I found myself striking up conversations with people and telling jokes, with a surprising lack of discomfort. Then as the night went on, they pulled IT out...this video game I'd never heard of before called...Rock Band. Now most people already know what this is because they don't live in the stone age like me, nor do they own solely the original Ninetendo 64 and nothing since then. But in case you don't know, Rock Band is basically a glorified karaoke machine...you can sing along, but you can also play a fake guitar or fake drumset along with the song.
Now normally, in a room full of strangers, I would never do something with so much potential for failure and embarrassment. But to tell the truth...I kinda wanted to play the drums! So when the guy playing finished the song and said "who's next", I heard a strangely familiar voice saying "I want to play!" And with utter shock and a slight amount of fear at the room's full attention suddenly aimed at me, I realized...that was my voice!!
So yes, I played the drums, and yes, I was a total rock star. I busted out 3 songs and didn't even care if I looked silly because dangitt I was having fun. But more importantly, for the first time in months, I felt like ME. I wasn't striving or struggling, pushing or pulling, worrying about what other people think, just being me, and dangitt, I love me! So here's me, being a total rock star...