Life is good

Why do we speed when we drive in a car? Why do we always speed through the journey and miss the little things? We only live once, right? Why waste it? A close friend of mine once explained to me that by going the speed limit on the road, it gives him every opportunity to enjoy the life he was given. That day opened my eyes to the realization that there is so much more to life than we could ever imagine. Most times it is right in your face and you are going too fast to even notice it, even if it was something small. Rule #32: Enjoy the little things –Zombieland. To quote Bob Marley, “None but ourselves can free our minds”, we are a generation who sits around and does nothing to accomplish our goals, we need to slow down and free ourselves and start to enjoy the life we were given. What are they going to say at your funeral? “John, was a nice guy, he owned a lot of stuff and made $250,000 a year.” No! Why would you want to be remembered for that? You know what I want to be remembered for? All the laughs and good times I made with the best people in my life. In the end, it doesn’t matter what you owned, all that matters is that you lived life to your fullest potential. Think ahead and ask yourself what you want to be remembered for, then get out there and make your dreams come alive! Be a trailblazer in your life.

I’ll be the first to admit it, I’m a very cautious person, I don’t just dive in when I know I should, most times I just sit by and let the moment pass me by. Why? I’m too afraid to take a chance. I’m afraid of rejection, sadness, and pain. I get made fun of all the time by my friends because of this. They always tell me to man up and take a chance. What is the worst that could happen with a chance? “You miss 100% of the shots you don't take”- Wayne Gretzky. Why not take your life in your hands and control your own destiny? Maybe you like a girl and take a chance to tell her how you feel and she says no. Oh well, there are others, but what if you didn’t tell her? Then what? She just slides by and becomes another thing you beat yourself up over. Stop beating yourself up! Stuff happens, we get that. Tell that girl you like her! Be proud that you are doing that! Even if she says no, you still did it! That counts for something, right? Of course it does! Note: I am trying my best to become more of a trailblazer in my life that is why I’m writing this paper to help others just like myself over come problems. “Above all, try something” – Franklin D. Roosevelt

Let’s talk about things that can bring us down and how to solve this. After all, we are going to be the problem solver, not the problem maker who sits by and lets it wear them down. I’m going to tell you about a few personal experiences of mine. I haven’t always been the happy, carefree kid. I used to struggle a lot with emotions. For a short period of time, I hated life. I just didn’t care anymore, and I hated everything possible. Puberty, it’s a pain. what can I tell ya? I think a lot of it came from starting at a new school, bullying problems, and my issues dealing with being over weight and not liking myself for who I was. 

Middle school was a bit of a tough transition for me. I wasn’t used to the new responsibilities. It is also an awkward time for most kids. These are the years when society ships out the 12-14 year olds to a deserted island so they can mutate and when the time is right, we’ll welcome them back into society with open arms. Middle School. Do you get what I mean? It is when your voice changes, you become disproportioned in your arms and legs, your face looks like it was invaded by some alien race, and everyone is either mad or happy or both at the same time. Do you see my problem now? But listen, life just goes down hill from there, so don’t worry about it. Wait, what? I thought this was supposed to be positive? Oh, yes, it is. My apologizes.  What I can say is fairly simple: just keep your head up; it only lasts a few years. You’ll survive, because I did, and if I can, so can you!

Dealing with bullies is kind of a tough situation. How I handled it probably wasn’t the best thing to do. I finally had enough of this kid, so what does any hormonal teenage boy do? Fight the son of a gun. That’s exactly what I did. I fought him; it was probably the most exciting and most terrifying moment of my whole life up until that point. I don’t recommend fighting anyone. I learned a valuable lesson that day: To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction. Thanks to Newton and his laws of motion. You may think that you did something good, but there will always be an opposite result. Bummer. Remember that, it will come in handy at some point in your life (trust me). That day I took a chance and took control of my own life. Of course, the outcome was a different story, but we’ll save that for a different time. The real lesson I want you to learn right now is that bullies suck, but remember that they are people too. Most of the time it is because they were bullied too and that the only way to feel better is by hurting others to build themselves up. I don’t talk to this kid and he doesn’t talk to me, but in no way, shape, or form do I have a hatred for him. If anything, I feel sorry that I had to resort to aggression and violence to solve the problem. Just be the bigger person, remember to be empathetic towards others. I’ll admit it, I started to bully a few kids because of how I felt until I remembered how much I hated it being done to me. Nobody deserves to ever be put down. I can’t tell you how bad I feel for what I did because of what happened to me. We are all unique individuals who all bring something new to the table. Be there at the right moment and right time, who knows, you may one day become friends with that bully.

Love who you are! Lady Gaga says we are all born this way, and we are! You’re stuck with yourself until the end. Me, I’m a kid who struggles with being over weight. I hated myself for it. I’m a very self-conscience kid, I probably judge myself everyday more than anyone I know. I couldn’t stand to look at myself anymore, but you know what changed in me? It didn’t matter what I looked like on the outside, because inside of me I know that I’m a great person! I have a little thing I do to build my self-esteem, when the whole bullying thing didn’t work, I turned to building up others around me. I started telling people they were awesome. It became my rallying call. I had enough of people being put down, so I felt that if I could build everyone up around me and have their self-esteem go up, then in turn, I would become happier with myself knowing that I made an impact. I have been doing that for about 3 years now and it has worked so much more than I would have ever thought. It has worked so well that I used it as my campaign slogan for student government in high school (which I’ve won both years in a row, so I’m thinking that something may be working there). Be proud of who you are! We are unique and individual no matter how hard Tyler Durden from Fight Club tells you different. Don’t worry about comparing yourself to others. It won’t matter who is better at what, because everyone has weaknesses and strengths.

Those are some of the challenges I have dealt with in recent years and I hope you learned at least of a little something from it, maybe even shed a tear or laugh (whatever floats your boat.) Just remember that life is a wonderful thing and should be lived to the fullest! You never know when your last day will be! Take a chance, tell that girl you like her! Tell someone they are awesome! If you are a bully, forgive who hurt you and work to fix your wrong! If you don’t like yourself, find something you do like! “Never, never, never, never give up!” Winston Churchill. Trust me, giving up never helped anyone. What would have happened if the American Patriots didn’t want to go out and fight for our independence? What if Led Zeppelin didn’t feel like rocking the faces off of humans? Where would we be? They took a chance and lived life to the fullest! Listen, life may get you down and it can suck. I have crappy days too, but I don’t let it get me down, I lift my chin up and go head first into the next problem. You can too! Get out there, and discover something new!  Always remember that life is good.