Spring has arrived on the shores of Lake Michigan!  Crocuses are popping through sodden ground, the ice has melted on the lake and river, and the birds are back from their winter homes, chirping happily.  New opportunities are everywhere.  What a great metaphor for life!  Seeing opportunities, however, requires courage.

Not so easy, you might say.  There you are, nose glued to the grindstone, shoulder stuck to the wheel. From that frozen position, how could you be expected to see opportunities or anything else except what's dead ahead?  So here comes the courage part.  Stop.  You heard me; just STOP!  Stand up, take a breath and look around.  Oh, I can hear you now: "You want me to stop working?  Stop raising my kids?  If I don't do those things, who will?"

Hold the phone!  I'm not suggesting you stop doing anything permanently. What I'm suggesting is that you consider the ways in which you're doing them.  And that's gonna require another dose of courage.  But you just said it yourself, if you don't do it, who will? 

Listen to me, people: opportunity is everywhere; we always have options in life.  If you don't like your job, change it.  That doesn't mean get a new one, just view the one you have differently.  Could you exchange some of the tasks you don't like for others more suited to you?  Could you learn something new that would be a benefit to the company and give you a shot of adrenaline?  Could you bring flowers, a photograph or a new hairstyle to work that would make it all seem new again? 

As far as the kids go, of course you can't stop raising them (and most of the time, you wouldn't want to).  But maybe your parenting could undergo a little spring cleaning, too.  Opportunities and options are the name of the game in parenting.

Back here on the lake shore, we might get one more snowstorm before it's over for the season.  And you might need to take a step backward too, to locate your opportunities and options.  But the point is, just like spring is sure to come every year, opportunities are always there too.  We just need a dose of courage to find them and exercise them.

One more thing: if you didn't find just the right opportunity today, tomorrow is another day, a different day, full of new options.  Like the crocuses in my neighbor's yard, turn your face to the sun.  Your personal spring is always just around the corner.