You Can Have It All – Just Not All at Once

This phrase has been on my mind since I heard it:

I can have it all.

Like:

I may not have everything at the same time.
I may not live out every version of myself that I want.
But over the span of my life? Yes. I can have it all.

I can run marathons. I can win a gold medal in volleyball. I will try this. I can learn how to swim. I can cook some foods. I can build things. I can lead teams to build projects. I can write. I can try again.

I can not do all of these things at the same time.

I did not run marathons while learning to cook perfectly while mastering every skill I ever wanted. Life does not work like that.

We don’t get to practice every desire simultaneously.

At every moment in time, we get a choice we have committed to about one thing.

We get to pick, just one.

One focus.
One version.
One discipline.
One season.

And that choice does not mean we are abandoning the rest forever. It simply means we are honoring sequence.

The problem is not that we can’t have everything.

The problem is that we want everything now.

And life is layered.

There was a season for sports.
There may be a season for parenting.
There is a season for building.
There will be a season for resting.
There will be another season for learning something completely new.

If I look at my life as a whole, I realize something powerful:

Every time I intentionally chose one thing and gave it focus, depth, I added it to my identity, especially when I failed. Better still, it has helped shape somebody’s focus.

And once something becomes part of your identity, nobody can take it from you.

You don’t have to prove every part of yourself every day.

You don’t have to practice every skill every week.

You just have to bring one thing to life in this moment, wholeheartedly.

So the question becomes:

What is the one thing I am choosing now, to what extent am I trying it?

Because by choosing deliberately – and finishing seasons well – I slowly build the full picture of everything I have ever wanted to become.

You can have it all.

Just not all at once.

It is a strategy. Just like playing puzzles.