Wishing is a substitute for action

​I have a birthday in a couple of weeks. I don't know how I'll celebrate, but I know I won't be blowing out candles and making a wish.

I read this quote the other day and it's had me thinking about wishing. Brian McLaren said, "Desires, hopes, and dreams inspire action, and that's what makes them different from a wish. Wishing is a substitute for action."

After I read that, I tried to think of a time I blew out the candles on a birthday cake and then went about the business of making that wish come true.

I couldn't think of a time.

I guess that's because what McLaren says is true - wishing is a substitue for action.

I think this year I'll put one candle on the cake (if nothing else, it will make me feel a whole lot younger...🤷‍♂️). Then, when I blow that candle out, I'll commit to doing one thing this next year I've never done before. Something that will move me closer to a dream come true.

I looked up the word 'wish' in the dictionary. The first definition I came to: want something that cannot or probably will not happen.

By that definition, wishing is kind of a negative thing. We wish because we believe we can't possibly make happen what we're wishing for. I think birthday candles should be reserved for celebrating that we've been given another year to make things happen we haven't made happen yet.

I can speak for me - wishing becomes a habit just like everything else. Wishing is easier than taking action. That is until one day you start counting all the candles you've blown out, all the wishes you've made, and you can actual put a number on just how useless wishing is.

I think of all the years I wished I was a writer. Then one day I put 'writing' on my calendar every morning from 5 to 6:30. And I became a writer.

I think of all the years I wished I was healthier. Then one day I started running. Now I'm healthier in too many ways to count.

I think of all the years I wished for more meaningful connections in my life. Then I started telling people about the me who lives inside this life and I was more meaningfully connected.

I think of my friends who got tired of wishing for new careers in their lives and are now actively pursuing them.

I think of my friends who got tired of wishing they felt better during the day and started eating or sleeping or exercising differently.

I think of my friends who got tired of wishing they were happier and started doing the things that make them happy.

I think of me and I think of you and I think of everyone who gets tired of wishing and starts committing.

Because the truth is, when I finish this article, an article I committed to writing before I went to bed last night, I will have accomplished something a couple of thousand blown out birthday cake candles never did.

I will have replaced wishing with action.