This morning, I met with my running team for a joint workout between the Marathon and Iron Man (Triathlon) teams. Before we got started three things happened:
- A couple who met on the team took their engagement photo with us as their background. I know both of them personally and I love them and their story. I’m honored I could be there to help them capture this special moment.
- My friend Wagner shared the story of how cancer took away his mother too swiftly and too soon. It’s a story I’ve heard too many times in too many ways, but this one gets me every time I hear it. His devotion to his mother and her memory is a beautiful testament to the power of love and family.
- A friend and castmate from the show I’m working on posted about what he’s learning about relationships and love as a result of our work together, and how it is strengthening his marriage.
All. The. Feels. So many feelings. These things just get to me. I’m not gonna lie, I cried. Tears were shed, and some of them were pretty. Most of them were not.
And I don’t mind.
I’m learning too.
After two months of rehearsals for “Once on this Island,” I’m amazed at the depth of connection this cast has for each other, and for their work ethic. I’m honored to be their leading lady.
In exploring the relationships my character has with each of the cast, I have been pushed to explore my own relationships and feelings – about love, about relationships, about family and about the power of choice.
At the heart of it all, we choose.
We have standards and values… a code we live life by. And every day, we make choices that either support those standards, or pull us further away from them.
If you make enough choices away from your stated standards and values, you end up, in essence, changing your standards and values.
We can choose to get up a little earlier to go to the gym, or work on that side project.
We can choose to treat our loved ones with care. To lead by example, to love without judgement and to support in the way its needed.
We can choose to surround ourselves with people who lift us up, challenge us in positive, healthy ways, and make us want to up our own game because they are so darn amazing.
Or we can choose not to. Or to do nothing. Or to let life and circumstances decide for us.
The three people I mentioned earlier all chose. They chose love. They make choices because of love and to honor, support and grow that love. And I know what choice I would make, too.
What would you choose? What standards are you living your life by today, and are you making choices that are consistent with them? I’d love to hear from you…
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