slapped in the face

I believe that an ambitious person should have a vision of how he or she wants to live their ideal life. Something to strive for on a daily basis. Something to grade your current point in life against "complete success." And I believe that the vision is different for each of us.

For example, I take my vision from the Scouting roots I learned. I try to "be prepared" and "do a good turn daily." I try and live my life according to the Scout Oath and Law. And I feel that works well for me. It inspires me to be a better person.

However, and I imagine this happens to all of us ambitious folk, sometimes I stray. I lose sight of the vision. I forget or it gets shelved during stressful times. And it's often during those times that I need the vision the most.

When that happens, as it has in the past, I find that my journey back to my vision isn't a wandering or stroll. It's not an accidental re-discovery. Going on without the vision isn't a terrible thing. I don't think it makes one evil - just lost or misdirected. People go about every day without a vision on life.

The hard part is getting it back. In fact I think that re-finding your vision usually takes the form of a slap-in-the-face epiphany. In this last instance, I was so far from my vision that I was completely speechless - something that doesn't come over me often. It doesn't really matter what happened, but just knowing that it did serves as a notice to me to rededicate back to the vision I have.