False Impressions

When I was young, I saw a lot of things... Almost all of them were more good than bad, but still a lot of things... I saw a lot of very nice cars... Fairly moderate houses in middle-class neighborhoods... Most-Everyone wearing exquisite clothing... But the thing that stood out to me, wasn't WHO had it, or WHY they had it; It was HOW they received what they had, and that we were told you could achieve ANYTHING in the world... IF you put your mind to it. If you gave it your absolute EVERYTHING and you didn't care about anything else...When I was young, I played a few sports, and one thing always baffled me. A lot of you have heard of this recently, and it has pissed a lot of people off. The 'Participation Trophy'. The marvel of the early 21st century. We were lead to believe that the world "accepted" you just because you participated, and honestly, that bugged the SHIT out of me! We never won a championship (well, except for basketball due to some amazing athletes) and always got a smaller trophy just for being part of the league... but sadly... life doesn't work like that...

After I got out of high school, I followed a girl to college and basically did what everyone else I knew was doing... the thing that is expected of middle-class white kids to do... Go to a four year school, (or community college if your grades were bad like I did) graduate, and get out into the real world and find a job. Then, proceed to slave your life away until you feel comfortable with the amount of money that you have summed over your public career.

Yeah....... I didn't choose this route.

I wanted to be the kid that goes back to his high school reunion in an Audi R8 (favorite car). I wanted to be the guy who was a little more "special" than everyone else. Then it hit me.......

I'm not. I'm not any more special than anyone else... For now!

I was taught at a young age that everyone deserves recognition for their abilities and participation, but that's the EXACT OPPOSITE of what goes on out there! You have to make yourself shine brighter than the other stars in the galaxy.

"How do you do that?" one might ask... Well... I am no expert, but I think I can offer some advice... Ditch EVERYTHING (well, most of the stuff) that your parents taught you, and work on YOURSELF. Learn something new every single day. Challenge yourself. Most importantly, make yourself... uncomfortable...

I'll be honest, I get hung up on words. It's been something that's somewhat of a speech impediment my entire life. Even my own name is hard to get out of my mouth sometimes, and I have spent countless hours shaming myself over it. But! I took a sales job for a brief period of time, and had to go door to door selling a service. It was the most uncomfortable thing I have ever done in my entire life, and I can honestly say that my life has changed a bit since then.

If you push your boundaries past your comfort zones, and really get into a bunch of different topics of the world and broaden your horizons... you will find that you can offer SO MUCH MORE to the world than what you think you can...

With that being said... go out there, and earn your championship trophy... not just a participation trophy... because the world is too big and too diverse to not be discovered and loved... It's about time we saw it that way.