What happened to your Baby Boomer mojo?
When you rolled out of bed this morning were you ready to tackle the day or wish you could crawl back into bed? Are you pessimistic or optimistic about the future? Are you the victim of circumstances or the master of your own fate?
Answers to those questions indicate whether or not you’ve lost your mojo. Here’s a definition of mojo: “a power that may seem magical and that allows someone to be very effective, successful, etc.”
Do you remember when this definition applied to you? As a young Baby Boomer you had a certain optimism, energy, and belief in yourself. No life challenge seemed unconquerable. Your mojo fired on all cylinders.
But then life happened. You’ve been beat up. Your body isn’t as strong or reliant. Too many times you’ve drawn the short straw. The decades piled up and the dreams started to die. Good bye mojo.
One of the principles in the ReFIRE process focuses on the word ENERGIZED. Part of becoming energized means getting your mojo back. If you are going to make this chapter of life productive you need every drop of energy.
Here’s 3 ways to get back your Baby Boomer mojo.
First, say goodbye to yesterday.
Nothing kills mojo like hanging on to the past. By the time you start thinking about retirement you’ve had a ton of hurts and disappointments. If you hang on to them, the accumulated weight becomes staggering. As the past junk accumulates it can cripple you.
Think of the morbidly obese person who carries around an extra 100 pounds. How much energy does he have? A person like that huffs and puffs through life, struggling to survive. If he can drop the weight, life changes. Energy is restored.
The same is true if you carry around the accumulated weight of the past. It robs your energy. It forces you to huff and puff through life; struggling to survive.
If you want to get your mojo back, dump the past. Let it go. Refuse to cling to the garbage of the yesterday. Write out all the crap from the past and set it on fire or tear it up and flush it down the toilet. Maybe you will need to talk to a trusted friend, pastor or counselor.
To get your Baby Boomer mojo back say goodbye to yesterday.
Second, embrace the present.
Too many people view the day they are going through as some sort of curse. They continually wish for tomorrow. And when tomorrow comes, they long for the next tomorrow.
Living in the moment, focusing on this day, has become a lost art. If you want to get your mojo back learn to embrace today.
How do you embrace today? Remind yourself there is no guarantee of tomorrow. We all know this is true. In the back of your mind you know someday will be your last day. But what if you knew for sure this would be your last day? How would you live the rest of the day? You know the answer. This would be a busy and productive day. It wouldn’t be boring!
If you want to get your Baby Boomer mojo back remind yourself there is no promise of tomorrow. Don’t waste today by muddling through it and wishing for tomorrow. Instead, live it to the fullest. Squeeze the drop of life out of every second.
Third, welcome tomorrow.
Tomorrow can be a frightening place. Uncertainties abound. Scary news is everywhere. Seeing the future as a dark cloud on the horizon robs us of hope. And if hope is gone, mojo goes with it.
I’m realizing more and more the importance of focusing on sunrises instead of sunsets. If you want to get your mojo back focus on sunrises. Sunsets signal the wrapping up of the day but sunrises promise a new day. A sunrise says, “This is a new day to live!” Tomorrow’s sunset brings a brand new day.
If you dread the future, I have transformational news. You can CREATE the future. You have no control over how world events unfold or the price of gas. But you have control over your immediate future. Get aggressive. Make plans for your life and then go for it. For example, if you want to become an author go write a book. Plan it and do it.
If you want to get your Baby Boomer mojo back, welcome tomorrow.
Say goodbye to yesterday, embrace today, and welcome tomorrow. Your Baby Boomer mojo will return.
When your mojo returns, you will start to get the energy you need to REFIRE your life.
I never knew I had a “mojo” but it doesn’t seem I have lost it…I try to think positive every day, and talk to God a lot…and LISTEN to Him, too!
So true, Randy. When we dwell on the past, our minds play tricks on us, and actually inflate their excitement and happiness! The enemy wants to convince us that we can’t be as happy as “the good old days.”