Every single day thousands of people move to Los Angeles and every single day almost as many move back to where they are from. So there is a certain amount of pride someone in Los Angeles has for being able to survive out here that people who have never lived here can never understand. Everyone in LA knows dozens of people who tried to survive but couldn’t.
Los Angeles is a wonderful, difficult, and wonderfully difficult place to call home.
Today is my 8 year anniversary of throwing boxes in the back of my truck and arriving in Southern California to create a new life. I will continue to celebrate every Californaversary that goes by because each one is a milestone I earned. Each one means I’m still beating the odds. Los Angeles is still a concrete jungle and I’m still the slow gazelle.
But I’m getting faster.
Milestones
Moving to Los Angeles is one of the big milestones of my life. It is a moment that changed the trajectory of my future. The truth is it’s easy to cruise along and let life slip away while you aren’t paying attention. Acknowledging and celebrating milestones can help keep life from getting away from you. Here’s how.
Milestones tell you how far you’ve come
Does anyone reading this drive by using landmarks? I know plenty of people who do. If you ask them for directions the answer will sound something like, “Go to the end of the block, turn left at the yellow house, drive until you see that giant tree and then turn right. Go through one stop-sign and turn right at the next one, the one that has graffiti on it. Park in front of the house with the swing in the yard, it’s two past the house with the Spanish tile.”
Acknowledging the milestones in your life works same way. They lets you know how far you’ve come. It’s easy to cruise along in life without realizing (and taking the time to celebrate) the victories you’ve accomplished. One of the best ways to inspire yourself to get through a tough time is to look back and see the tough times you have already been through.
Milestones tell you how far you have left to go
I remember the day I realized the exit numbers on the interstate corresponded to mile markers. It was a revelation. I suddenly realized I could know how far I had left to go by doing simple math. Now people are spoiled and the GPS does all the work for us, but there was a day that the only way to know how many miles you had left until your destination was to count the mile markers.
Milestones can work as the mile markers in your life. Each time you celebrate a victory, you set a mile marker for how far left you have until you reach your final destination.
Milestones tell you how fast you are going
Looking back over the milestones in your life can help keep you on track. It is a good way to gauge your progress. It can tell you how quickly you have arrived at where you are.
C.S. Lewis is famous for asking, “Isn’t it funny how day-to-day nothing changes, but when you look back everything is different?” The milestones in your life are the things you see when you look back. They can set the pace of your life.
Milestones inspire you to go further
When you look back over your life and see all of the accomplishments it’s easy to want to go further. It’s easy to forget how much work and how many difficult times you have come through. That is where setting a milestone will come in handy. Seeing the markers you have placed throughout the history of your life will give you strength to go further.
Strength multiplies. Milestones help you do the math.
