The Smartest Thing I'll Ever Write, The Truest Thing You'll Read

You woke up today, and you had many decisions in front of you. They are all a part of how you spend your valuable time. Each decision steering you, one direction or another, changing your course on the waters of life.

But have you given thought to the bigger meanings in things?

Take me, for instance. With every breath I take, according to medical science, I'm inching closer to dying than I was before. That is because a doctor with some expertise, an oncologist with some expertise, and a personal care physician I have seen for years, all agree. I've got an expiration date.

Truthfully, when I learned of my diagnosis, there were a lot of people who said, "I'm sorry." But, for all the condolences

I guess cancer gives a man a certain resolve. The benefit of an end date...

-Clay Morrow (Ron Pearlman, Sons of Anarchy)

The choices we make define us, shape our futures, and make us what we become inside and out. But, why do so many people wait until they're facing an end date? Because, people make mistakes.

The second biggest mistake people make, is forgetting the one inherent truth in our miserable, little existences, that hasn't changed since the dawn of time. Knowing what that mistake is, can give you two things. One, is inner peace.

Inner peace is an important part of being someone who's remembered a certain way. And how you want to be remembered is as important as what you show as you work on making yourself that person. So, one is inner peace, but what's the other.

As you shed your demons, finding inner peace, it is also important to find that resolve from the Sons of Anarchy quote. A certain resolve helps you to face the barriers between you and where you want to go. And, that isn't something only for the young. At any given time, a person may see a new destination, a place they want to go.

From Mirriam Webster:

Resolve-implies an expressed or clear decision or determination to do or refrain from doing something.

Think about that. If you have resolve, you are determined to accomplish, or to stop, something from being or not being. Of course, when Clay said it on the show, it was to Unser, who'd just promised to kill Clay if he ever put hands on Jemma again. But, in that moment, the lesser statured, beaten down, cancer ridden, ex-cop was determined to protect someone he loved dearly. That's resolve.

If only everybody had the resolve to make their ideas, dreams, and lives, turn out the way they wanted them to be. Imagine the possibilities.

So, what would that make you able to do? Because, the one constant in life, that's plagued most of humankind since the earliest of us roamed the Earth, is that we can only control how we respond.

That is the crux of things. How much or how little control we can control things isn't going to change. And, as we grow as people, trying to become whatever it is that we were meant to become, or that we planned on becoming, our hunt for our identity comes from our resolve, and from their, our inner peace.

Once we have that figured out, we can finally tap into the one true asset that we have, and do more with it than before. What is that? On paper, it's the tiniest, most undervalued thing that we will ever look at.

Yes, it's symbolic. But, when you go to look at a history book, and you read about someone reverred by people today, what is it that you see? You see their story, which starts and ends. In the middle, you see a DASH.

It's the dash that represents your story. That is the symbolic representation of not your life, but the choices, decisions, and actions from the years you were on this Earth.

So, when you woke up today, what were your decisions? How did you spend your time today, and was it something of value that you'll remember. Because, if you aren't remembering it, and it doesn't go to serve your longer term plans, it was likely wasted.

And, that's where your resolve came in to the picture. Did you resolve to commit and action that was valuable? Did you do something that mattered? Did you show up?

Today, I started by crawling out of bed. After two years and change with cancer, my body aches each morning. I stumbled to the kitchen, and put on a pot of coffee. Then, I wrote my first poem, something I'm really enjoying. As the coffee was finished, I made sure to put some time into something, or in this case, someone, who matters to me. When they didn't need me, I wrote another poem, read some emails, and was inspired by an old story I wrote.

And that, and the many, many, of you I hope finds this, was before 10:30 in the morning. Not to bad for a guy in my shoes.

So, in your choices, choose to use your dash, show up, react in ways you can live with, and fill that dash with as many memories, and stories, as you can. Because, it makes no sense to wait until someone slaps an end date on you to live your life to the absolute fullest. And, remember this quote as an example of absolute resolve.

Don't go home after an eight hour day and not work on your goals. You're not tired, you're uninspired.

-Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson