The other day I was on a zoom call with my colleagues. The conversation turned to age. Now I will admit that I am not a spring chicken anymore. I’ve got some mileage on this body. However I take care of myself. I eat healthy. I workout everyday. I put on sunscreen and moisturizer. So when the topic of age came up. They couldn’t believe what my age was. It’s not like I had plastic surgery or anything. What threw them off was that my attitude and energy was young and vibrant. A client said to me that what resonated was that my enthusiasm was infectious. 

I took that as a compliment. Growing up I never had a bellowing voice or the tall stature that would make me stand out. As I grew into my own skin and personality, I started to really find a love of life. This love translated into my enthusiasm for living every moment with purpose. Now there are days where my energy is low and I feel depressed. These days occur periodically as life isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. However I believe that you have the ability to recharge yourself. That’s the magic about being human. If something excites you, you can feel yourself out of whatever it is. I could be tired as hell but if someone tells me I have courtside tickets to a Toronto Raptors game, all of a sudden I’m a 7 year old boy hopped up on caffeine and sugar. I’m good to go!

As humans, that’s what being enthusiastic does. Being enthusiastic energizes you and those around you. It is infectious within your body as your mind tells itself that it is excited. The body reacts to the excitement. The excitement creates energy. That energy produces power. And that power can be used to fuel actions that lead to results. With enthusiasm, you can almost will yourself into whatever feeling you need to feel to accomplish what you want to accomplish. Just like fear. To conquer fear you can’t just wait for inspiration or motivation to jump start you. You have to generate the energy yourself. You have to act your way into feeling courage. You have to just break the cycle of fear and start moving. 

Similarly, if you want to be excited about life and have that youthful energy, you have to be enthusiastic about the task you are about to do and the day ahead of you. You have to almost trick yourself into being enthusiastic by finding joy in the little things. Look at something and find humor in it. Listen to something that makes you smile or laugh. Whatever it is you must tell yourself that you will find something today worth being enthusiastic about. For me, I’m enthusiastic about finding things to be enthusiastic about. Every day is like a treasure hunt. Sooner or later, this feeling of excitement becomes who you are. Your enthusiasm becomes automatic. So no matter how you feel, choose to be enthusiastic about something and allow that energy to positively affect everything around you. Let your enthusiasm be infectious!