I'm in the process of organizing materials for a free Success Circle focused on helping people "feel the power of taking positive action." In thinking about where I should begin, I realized that, after we graduate from high school or college, start a career, get married and have kids, most of us don't have any idea what we want to do between those milestone events and our final milestone on earth — death.

I'm one of those people, too. As a Baby Boomer, I always had a goal in mind: world peace, women's liberation, civil rights, etc. Now I have the luxury of not having to "do" anything but "be" my authentic self and I'm struggling a bit.

Who am I? Am I my job title, my marital status, my polical party, my race, my religion, my gender, my sexual preference? In acutality, I'm all those things and much more. I'm also all the beliefs I have about myself — too short, too tall, top outgoing, too quiet, too smart, too dumb, too competitive, not assertive enough. Who hung those labels on me, are they still accurate and why am I still holding on to them. How are they serving me? What destination are they keeping me from reaching?
 
Am I willing to change? On my inward journey, I discovered that the answer depends upon the amount of joy and statisfaction I am experiencing. In truth, it's really about how much pain I'm in. If the pain is great enough, I'll consider changing. If the pain is "tolerable", I'll just stay the course.

Who do I want to be? I have free will. I can choose to limit myself by labels or I can expand by being open to possiblities. If I choose to stay the way I am, I can't complain that it's somebody else's fault because I weigh more than I want to, my office contains an avalanche of paper or I'm still angry about what a friend said or didn't say — years ago. I made the choice, so I own the consequences.

If I choose to question my current beliefs and "try something new," I'll be creating short-term anxiety so I can achieve a long-term goal, being the best JP Stein I can be.