Are you Phil or the Phoenix?

Every morning.  No matter if you want it or not.  A new day starts.  Sometimes, it feels like you’re stuck reliving the same crap you went through the day before.  And sometimes, it’s a new beginning.  Which is it today?  What will it be tomorrow?

I’ve gone through times in my life, like most people, when I have felt like  Phil Connors in Groundhog Day.  

When you don’t want to get out of bed.  

You don’t want to go to work.  

It seems like there’s really no point.  

The same stupid things will happen.   

You will get to the end of the day and feel like nothing really changed.  

don't let the rodent set your direction

And then, you go to bed knowing what it will feel like in the morning.  Crazy like Bill Murray’s hair.  As stupid as letting Punxsutawney Phil drive your car. 

For me, thankfully, those times haven’t last long.  I feel bad that it generally takes me a while to identify that I've fallen apart, and my family and friends around me have been picking up the pieces for me.  Thanks to good people and good medicine, usually, I've been able to get out of my own way.  

burnt out, or burn up?

Then, there are the days when I wake up and I know that I can leave yesterday behind.  Because I am the bird instead of the rodent.  Do you have those days?  The days where you know you can redefine yourself if you want.

The legend of the phoenix is pretty compelling. The phoenix dies by fire, in most stories.  It is reborn from the ashes of it's former self. This is how the beginning of a day should feel.  It's the reason that I feel compelled to wait for the sun to rise and kindle the fire within me. So I can burn up and start again.    

I admire those around me who have redefined themselves. They have gotten burnt out in a bad cycle, but also burned up like the legend of the phoenix.  They set a new direction for themselves.  A friend left the corporate world and started her own business.  My sister followed a dream and moved overseas.  Another got out of a relationship that was destroying her family.  Left a job that sucked.  And on and on.  

Tomorrow, February 2nd is Groundhog Day.  When you wake up, will you be Phil, or will you be the phoenix?  Either way, it is what you do each day that matters most.  If you do the same things, you'll feel like Phil.  If you choose to rise up and attack the day, you can be the phoenix.