Pride

It seems in today’s world men are always fighting for the same thing. Who has the better car, bigger house, and the most money, best job, who’s in the best shape, and who can pick up the best girls? How do you actually compare most of these things though? Each man has his own set of standards regarding taste, values, wealth, and confidence. What does it all come down to if all these things cannot directly be compared?

Pride. I believe if a man has pride in what he has then there is nothing that can knock him down. Pride is defined as the satisfaction from one’s own achievements. Taking pride in what you have is difficult when society tells us there is always more that we could do, or that someone has achieved more than we could ever imagine. Although both these statements can be true for many it all comes down to… are you proud of what you’ve accomplished? If your answer is yes, then you’ve achieved a life of happiness. If you answer no, really take time to look around and see what you have and what is in your life. If you aren’t happy with what you have, then change it. I know change is hard and scary but believe me it’s worth it, I strongly believe you will have to make sacrifices to achieve the things you value in your life which is why I have the tattoo on my chest saying, “No Sacrifice, No Growth.”

You see, I used to feel like there isn’t anything that I’ve done in my life to be considered significant, but I had the wrong mindset. I was comparing my life to those who have worked hard and achieved their life goals and seem happy when I should have been looking at my life and asking myself the question, “Am I happy with where I’m at in my life.” I really thought about my life and what I’ve done. I have been an academic success in school achieving the best all-around student award in elementary while being school president, I’ve been on the honor-roll consecutively throughout high school, I’ve maintained some sort of part-time job since the age of 12 and have never been fired or received a negative responses from any job, (also mentioning I had businesses phone me wanting me to come work for them with no resume sent in, plus having recent employers tell me I have a job if I ever want to come back), I made it into university to work towards a dream career in engineering, and I’ve successfully completed my first year. You see at the age of 19 I am still young and have a life ahead of me of achieving so much more, which I am aware of, but the message I am trying to send is: be proud, be proud of who you are, where you’ve been, where you’re going and above all work towards your goals and your own definition of success not, what is set forth by society.

You are made for greatness, it’s your job to seize every opportunity you get and live off your achievements defined by your definition of success.

-Claytona 4000

Speaking from the heart, not the mind

People like to say that good things take time… time is precious, and how can I tell how much I have of  ‘it’ to waste waiting? Time can be defined as being indefinite meaning it has no end, however one’s time cannot be determined but yet does not continue forever. One’s time will eventually reach its inevitable end sadly. To think of how precious a thing such as time is, is breathtakingly extraordinary.

Now I must ask how long have you been waiting? Is what you’re waiting for worth the wait? Time does not wait for you and we must be wise in our choices and decisions. You might say you can’t do it on your own though and I couldn’t agree with you more. But who said you have to? Adam was given Eve so that he was not on his own. You see god doesn’t want you to be alone and I don’t think anyone should be alone. Each decision you make will be life altering and although extremely difficult you can choose to make it easier by relying on the people around you. What if they help you make the wrong decision? A good question but no fault belongs to them, because you make the choice of who to surround yourself with. My advice if you would allow me to give you some would be to surround yourself with the people whom you can relate to and who are heading the same direction that you want to go in life. Trust me those people are out there. It’s your job to find them and make them a part of your life to live to the best of your ability, do the things you want to do, and live happily leaving with no regrets in life.

In this world would you rather say I had lots of time but I didn’t achieve anything, didn’t do anything, I just played it safe and was unnoticeable? OR would you rather live life with a purpose, to bring shock and awe to the people around you and leave behind a legacy? Life will knock you down but why not make the most of it? Take the good from the bad and show what you can do because of what went wrong… some of the most achieved people in this world are known because of what they did despite being knocked down, or held back. They said to themselves I can do anything I set my mind to, and they rose up and beyond and surrounded themselves with the people who were going to lift them up and not bring them down. Choose to get out and be around the people who bring joy and a sense of accomplishment in life to you.

  People tend not to notice how much they impact a person which brings a tear to my eye to know that the people who impacted my life may never know because something went wrong along the way and I will never have gotten a chance to tell them. I challenge you but I mostly challenge myself to thank the people around you and closest to your heart even your enemies because each and everyone of them helped shape you into the person you are today. My dream is to leave this world leaving a legacy behind that will live on greater than I did.

If I could say one last thing it would be that you would not forget the love of the people in your life and that you would be able to remind them of how much you love them because god loved you so much that he gave his life. Now I’m not saying sacrifice yourself for someone to remind them of how much you love them because it’s already been done for you and for them and for everyone else. I’m saying leave a note, send a text, make a phone call, meet for coffee, do what you got to do to let them know… one day you could wake up and that person is gone or resents you and you don’t want to have missed that chance to speak out and to them like I have, because living with those regrets let me tell you is no easy job and it brings sorrow to my heart to see two people resent each other or to lose someone dear to them. Even if you don’t know someone that well I challenge you to give a friendly greeting, for some people just need to see that smile of yours, it carries more power than you think.

What’s been on my heart and what I felt I should share with whomever I can…

-Claytona 4000