Are You Having Fun Yet?

Are you having fun yet? Are you excited about what tomorrow will bring, or are you like most; eagerly waiting for the weekend before your fun arrives? I should clarify…are you having fun with your life? If not, why not?

Just about fifteen years ago, I realized one of my childhood dreams by opening my own equestrian facility dubbed, Reignbow Ridge Equestrian Center. I had the privilege of caring and maintaining the care and training of over thirty horses on my 54-acre property. I had great clients who entrusted me with the boarding of their horses, had many more to train and compete, and had my own very talented string of show jumping horses.

I literally worked from sun up to sun down, seven days a week; and loved every minute of it. A self-proclaimed workaholic, I was totally in my element. There’s always plenty of work to do on a working horse farm, and my equestrian residents kept me busy for sure!

It wasn’t more than a year later when I started training with one of my idols of Grand Prix Show Jumping. Mark Leone was someone whom I’d admired for years.

We worked together for about six months, with me continuing to operate Reignbow Ridge, and trailering up to his Ri-Arm Farm, about two and a half hours away once or twice a week for training.

One day Mark and his business manager took me out to lunch and invited me to come up to Ri-Arm to be the farm’s manager. Being asked to work at and manage Ri-Arm was an honor and a privilege that I looked forward to with great anticipation.

Once I was there, it was a flurry of activity; learning my job, continuing my coaching with Mark on a more intensive level, and preparing myself for the success that this job was catapulting me into.

One night, as I lay awake tossing and turning waiting for elusive sleep to come, I was overcome by a sense of incompleteness. I’d worked so hard for the opportunities that had presented themselves to me, yet I was astonished to realize that though I finally had everything I’d ever dreamed of, I felt somehow unsatisfied.

I felt selfish and undeserving of such opportunities. I was ashamed of my dissatisfaction, and I prayed that somehow, those feelings would be rectified.

The night kept my secret, and I continued on with my work at Ri-Arm. I honed my riding skills and successfully fulfilled my managerial obligations, and I loved it…truly loved it; but the occasional nighttime nagging remained, leaving an emptiness that no matter how hard I tried, refused to be sated.

It wasn’t but a few months later when a car accident would end my career; and life as I’d known it. I sustained a traumatic brain injury and was forced to relearn to read, write, walk and talk all over again. My athlete training and mentality was my saving grace during this most difficult time, and I used it to turn my tragedy around.

During my recovery, I was partnered with a service dog, who made independent, daily living possible. I soon discovered a huge gap of misunderstanding that existed in regards to service dog access, and the benefits that they provide for their partners with varying types of disabilities.

At first, I viewed the stumbling blocks of access denial as barriers; things that were unfairly put into place to impede my desperate attempt at rebuilding a new life. But once I was able to squash my defeatist attitude and replace it with a positive one, recalling and using my athlete training, I started to see my stumbling blocks in a new light.

I realized that all access denials had one common denominator---lack of education. And so, I set out on a new mission to educate and inspire others to recognize the similarities in persons with disabilities, instead of focusing on the differences.

In 1999, I founded Canine and Abled, Inc. What started out as a small, local program has since turned into an award-winning educational program that has taken me to amazing places where I’ve met amazing people, and have been provided opportunities that can only be described as, amazing.

It was soon after I started delivering my program that I was asked to start presenting motivational speeches. I balked at first, not sure that I could provide such a service. I pondered on it, and then faced my fear knowing that incredible opportunities tend to lie beyond what we fear. I was right.

From the moment I stepped on that stage to deliver my first motivational speech, I realized that I would never be the same. The words and inflections magically appeared, and I felt a surge of an indescribable joy bubbling up; spilling out into what the audience described as “incredible.”

What my audience didn’t know was that I’d found my true calling that evening, right there, up on that stage. The empty spot that I’d felt in my room at Ri-Arm was finally filled. It was a feeling I’d never forget…one that I would pursue and reduplicate in order to experience again and again.

Am I having fun yet? You bet I am! I’m excited about my life, and I can’t wait to see what else is in store for me. I am thankful that I recalled my athlete training and didn’t miss my golden opportunity for my new speaking career by burying my head in the sand.

Find your joy. Life is for living, but sometimes when we’re busy making plans for living, we forget to enjoy it.

Success is elusive if you're spending all of your time chasing it. Success isn't the bottom line, big houses, nice cars or stature. Many people who have all those things are ultimately unhappy. Why? Because they are looking for happiness in all the wrong things!  In order to be happy, truly happy; we need to find the thing that we are designed for.

I have three very distinctly different dogs; each innately designed and bred for specific characteristics. My dogs have each been specifically chosen to suit my personal needs and the needs of my Canine and Abled program.

Dawson is a Collie. He loves to "herd" things, and keep things in line. He has a bright, fun-loving personality and loves everyone. He has been instinctively designed to work. Because of this trait, he would never have been happy being a pet dog; one without a "job" to fulfil the desire and need to work that was bred into him.

Gracie is our Canine and Abed mascot. She is a Shih-tzu/Bichon mix who, in accordance to her breed characteristics, is smart, sweet, affectionate, and clownish. She's our "funny little dog" and adds comic relief to our stage show. She loves to do tricks, make people laugh, visit patients, and delight everyone with her effervescent personality and whole-body-tail wagging. She lives to sit in your lap and just "be", and is always up for a good time. Gracie would never be happy being a working dog. Her bubbly personality that is so cherished in her current, appropriate role, would be squashed by forcing her to do something that wasn't natural to her.

Nadja is an all-black German Shepherd Dog. Her family has a long history of working dogs. Her relatives have excelled in police, therapy and service work. While she is a very beautiful girl, she would not be satisfied being primped and primed, or being dressed in frilly doggie haute like a dog like Gracie would. Nadja loves and NEEDS to work. Her desire for a job is nearly insane; and her zest and zeal for working is apparent. Nadja's exceptional intelligence, high energy, and intense work drive dictate that she be kept busy utilizing her innate talents. Keeping her from having a job that honors those traits would be as cruel as starving her.

Are you being starved? Are your talents being squashed by a job you hate, a relationship that doesn't honor your innate traits? Are you stuck in a position in life where you feel as though "something" is missing; when it appears as though you have everything you've ever wanted?

Turning to the talents that are ours and ours alone; and utilizing them to the benefit of ourselves and others is a true gift that is waiting to be tapped. To do any less is a huge disservice to yourself.

Find your happiness from within and create true success.

How will you know you have arrived? When you find yourself wanting to share the journey of your happiness, and hear yourself asking others, "Are you having fun yet?"