If Wishes Were Horses -- I'd Have a Bunch of Horses I Don't Want

I was sitting in my office, thinking about something I'd like to have happen in my life, when it was like Captain Obvious walked up to me and punched me in the face with a fistfull of reality:

Things don't just "happen". You have to DO SOMETHING.

This may strike you as a no brainer, which makes me think you're remarkably more astute than I am. However, as logical as it is, I'm pretty sure that I'm not the only one who falls into the "I wish..." trap, where we desire something without wanting to do any work whatsoever to get it.

For example (and disclaimer: the below do NOT reflect the things I am wishing for. Except for #3. Because, really.):

1. "I wish I was thinner," frequently means: "I wish that I could magically lose weight through the power of my mind, without having to do any exercise and while snarfing down these Doritos."

2. "I wish I was in a relationship" frequently means: "Despite the fact that I rarely, if ever, make any kind of effort to meet anyone and often discuss how much people bug me, I wish George Clooney would show up, knock on my door, and declare his undying devotion to my sweatpant-clad self."

3. "I wish my eyebrows didn't look so unruly right now" means "I have no desire to groom these hairy caterpiller brows that are crawling across my forehead, so instead of sucking it up, I'm just going to wish for less unruly-ness."

But wishing for anything -- a smaller ass, a partner, or groomed eyebrows that look perfect when raised in an expression of incredulity -- doesn't make the thing materialize.

You have to do something. Go for walk. Meet people. Get out the tweezers. SOMETHING. Because the power to make your wishes into reality is completely your own.  It's not like the Wish Fairy is just handing this stuff out -- "Oh look, she is nice to puppies! Get the magic weight loss wand!" --  she wants to know you're holding up your end of the bargain by makng an effort. (Plus, it's easy to be nice to puppies. It's harder to do that extra rep of sit ups. Only one of those is going to result in a thinner body.)

I'm okay with the fact that I can't have everything I want in life. I get that.

I'm no longer okay with the fact that I could totally have some of the things I'd like, and only don't have them because, essentially, I'm too lazy to do anything about GETTING them.

Which is why, among other things, I now have a date with some tweezers.