Cooler than a polar bear's toenails.
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Cooler than a polar bear's toenails.
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Recently my family and I took a road trip to Atlanta, Georgia for a business convention of theirs that takes place every other year. The main difference between this time and last time (something that came with maturity, I’m sure) was that now instead of mindlessly watching Netflix I decided to listen to the speakers and see what lessons I could take from them. Hopefully, I told myself, I would at least be able to apply a few of their principles into my own life.
As the waves of music came over me and the strobe lights shone in my face, I was enveloped in the herd mentality of motivation. I found myself standing in my seat, clapping and hollering. I have never recruited a person to this business. I have never taken the tests necessary to achieve the licenses that these people hold. I was as lost in the lingo of these agents as they would be if I tried to describe the berimbolo. But that didn’t stop the main message from being broadcasted to me and permanently imprinted in my brain, where it would replay itself over and over as I rode home and echo in my thoughts during pensive moments. It was one sentence that captivated me. ”The easiest way to keep a prisoner is to make them feel like they’re not trapped.” For me that summarizes most people. The desire to be great is too often suppressed by the lure of being average, of falling into the trap of what’s easy and, more than anything, what’s comfortable. It takes no effort to conform and allow yourself to be sucked into a life of “good enough” where you can never succeed nor fail. There is no pressure on you and in that way you have a sort of faux-happiness. That’s where your satisfaction ends, though. The fix to this is not easy. You’ll have to find your purpose. Break out of your comfort zone. Become obsessed. Mold yourself into the best version of yourself that you possibly can be. Only then, after pushing through the struggles that held you back, after rebuilding yourself from the bottom up, will you find true happiness. More than anything, the medals I’ve earned, whether through athletics or academics, are symbolical. I look up at them on the wall and I see not accolades and titles but the product of hard work. Every time I see them I am reminded of the countless hours spent training and studying. The visualization. The strength and conditioning sessions, the days I didn’t feel like working and did anyway. The feelings of winning and losing. Most importantly, the knowledge that there’s so much more left to achieve. I see how far I’ve come and I realize that my goals are possible. Through failure and success, I’ve never strayed from the path. I’ve gone through many a tough time both mentally and physically. I’ve hit plateaus and been outclassed and told by friends and family that I wouldn’t succeed, that my work was pointless and would not amount to anything. And that hurt, I’d be lying if I said it didn’t. But there’s no way that I would let that stop me from continuing my journey. I couldn’t have done it by myself. I’ve been gifted with amazing teammates, coaches, girlfriend, and friends. They’ve helped me improve and kept me going. I am glad to say that I’m able to look to them to pull me out of hard times and give me positive examples to strive towards. At the end of the day though, where I am is up to me. It comes from my mindset and how much I’m willing to put into improvement. It comes from how much pain I can take and keep going. I’ve learned to push myself. Every night, I’m a little better than the last. It compounds. But it depends on me. And there’s no reason why you shouldn’t do the same. With that I dare you - find what you want, and make it happen. You’ve got limited time on this earth, but we all have the power to drive ourselves to success. so yeah. rick
1 Comment
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how do you doI write for the people who read. enjoy! |