Be Yourself

I'm starting this blog off straight forward and to the point because I don't think people are often enough straight forward and to the point.  I see too many people close to me these days beating around the bush, pussyfooting around, tiptoeing, walking on eggshells, and so on.  I feel like these ways of handling things have their place, sure, but it shouldn't be the priority practice for dealing with others.  I know I do it myself; the idea of being safe rather than being sorry.  But sometimes you just gotta throw it out there, throw caution to the wind.

I think the reason why so many people take this passive approach to life is due to some lack of confidence.  Something that happened to them in the past, maybe, that makes them feel unable to "go for it" when it comes to things like family, friends, work, relationships, etc.  Which is understandable.  But, as is a theme with many of my writing/blogs/thinking, you are who you are because of all that stuff.  So why not learn from it and get better?  "To love is to risk not being loved in return.  To hope is to risk pain.  To try is to risk failure, but risk must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing."  How true is that!  Because in those great risks you find the greatest rewards.

You see, life is filled with risks and pitfalls.  You might miss.  Your shot may miss the goal entirely.  But it might go in, too.  You can always be proud of yourself and strong knowing that you took the shot in the first place, but even if you do miss it you could always make the next one.  "Success is never final.  Failure is never fatal.  It's courage that counts."  That quote not only fits my "taking the shot" analogy because it was said by the great college basketball coach John Wooden, but it also fits this idea of going for it no matter what and having the courage to persevere, win or lose.

So I say go for it.  You might get hurt, but like Kahlil Gibran said "The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.  Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter's oven?"  You have to understand bad before you can appreciate good.  The more you go for it, the more you push and go get what you want, the happier and more fulfilled you will be.  If you constantly sit back on your heels you may not get hurt as much, perhaps, but you certainly won't be as happy as you could be either.

Are you upset with someone close to you?  Tell them.  Take time now to try and fix that, resolve that, otherwise it'll eventually crumble on its own and someday you'll look back wishing that bridge hadn't been burnt.  Are you nervous about a big move?  Don't be.  Anxious is okay, some nerves perhaps, but go for it.  Go out there and live.  Are you afraid of going for a dream job?  Do what makes you happy.  If you continue to strive to be happy in your career then someday you'll wake up in the morning and you will get to go to work instead of having to go to work.  Do you love someone?  Tell them.  Call'em up right now and say "Hey, you mean a lot to me and I love you."  If more people in this world were more straight forward and to the point in life when it came to stuff like this, I think a lot more would get done and people would be a lot happier.

"Life moves pretty fast.  If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."  Take advantage of the time you have right now to just go out there and do whatever the hell you want to do.  Tell people how you really feel, and more importantly be honest with yourself about how you really feel and get rid of the things that drag you down and make you lose the confidence to just be yourself!  So I'm going to end this by being honest with all of you sexy beasts by saying:  I love you, and you're going places.

JB