The day you've been waiting for has finally arrived. And is it actually everything you thought it would be? Did it live up to the fantastical version of reality you had created in your head?

Does anything ever live up to that reality?

And yet you continue to hope beyond reasonable sanity that each new experience, each new relationship, each new anything will be THE thing that turns your desperate need for your life to have meaning into the truth of the matter.

"This time things will be different."

How many times have you told yourself that?

Is it ever actually different? Or is it just the same tired story playing out in a different context?

Sure - let's ride it out one more time. But let's not be surprised when the reality of what you've been hoping for without actually taking any meaningful steps towards is a shadow of the expected fulfillment you had built up in your head.

And when it all inevitably comes crashing down yet again, how about next time instead of saying "I hope next time will be different" we take a good hard look in the mirror and say "Next time, I will be different."

Because real fulfillment doesn't come from the perfect relationship, or the perfect job, or the perfect set of friends, or the perfect whatever because none of those things exist.

Nothing is perfect. Nothing will ever be perfect.

And hell - most of your life isn't even within your control.

But there is something that is. Every day you have a choice. You can choose to wake up and and hope that your life will be different, or you can choose to be different. You can choose to show up to your job differently, or to your relationships differently.

You can choose to treat yourself differently than life has treated you.

When you wake up tomorrow - ask yourself: what am I choosing today?