Jacques Cousteau once said, “If you have the opportunity to lead an extraordinary life, you have no right to keep it to yourself.”
Notice the words he used. He didn’t say, “if you have the opportunity to live an extraordinary life.” He didn’t say, “the opportunity to have an extraordinary life.” Heck, he didn’t even say “follow an extraordinary life.” He said, “the opportunity to lead an extraordinary life.” You are not an observer of your life, and you are most definitely not a follower. Life is not something you fall into–it’s something you design, create, and lead your way into.
And for the record, we all have that opportunity.
Recently I was speaking at an event for Headstart professionals – amazing people. These people work with some amazing, and dare I say, some challenging children, and they give them all of their heart. These professionals would no sooner let these children live down to their circumstances then leap off a cliff! Instead, they see the extraordinary within each of these children, their potential, their passion, their possibility… and yet very few of these amazing people, when asked, felt like their lives were truly extraordinary. In the course of our time together, we discovered that they were not giving to themselves what they give every day to the children they work with. They teach these children that they matter, that their lives have value and potential…that they are extraordinary, not just for what they’ve done, but for who they are, and yet do not see themselves that same way. They all/we all have the right and the opportunity to lead an extraordinary life. And we have no right to keep it from ourselves or to ourselves.
Not only is your extraordinary life a gift to yourself, it gives permission to those around you to see and believe their life is equally as extraordinary.
I dare you, Go. Lead An Extraordinary Life!
