I was looking for an evocative quote on the topic of change for one of the chapters in my upcoming book SOMEDAY Is Not a Day in the Week.

I found it in this, “I didn’t change. I just woke up.” (BTW, it’s attributed to that ubiquitous philosopher – Anonymous.)

That’s what I did on my Year by the Water. I woke up.

I woke up to the fact that:

* the clock is ticking. Not in a morbid way, in a motivating way.

* working, working, working is a prescription for regrets.

* change is not hard. A life we love is often one small change away.

* fun is not a four-letter word.

* we’ll never be lonely – as long as we pay attention.

* connection is the North Star and Holy Grail of my life.

* I’d been living neck-up for years – and it was time to come to my senses.

* magic unfolds when we leave room for whims.

* it’s time to stop ordering pasta we don’t want.

* many of us are driving into hurricanes – because we said we would.

* courage is just trusting we can figure things out.

* Paulo Coelho is right, “One day we’re going to wake up and there won’t be any time left to do the things we’ve always wanted to do.”

We’ll never regret doing more of what puts the light on in our eyes – we’ll only regret not doing it sooner.