#7

Welcome back. I guess I get writers block for a year at a time, so sorry if you were waiting. I was waiting too. I was going back and reading all my old posts and realized this whole page isn’t about anything at all really. Most people have blogs about food, movies, sports, etc. And then you have other ones about like self-help/self-improvement type stuff. Point is, this aint that. I don’t know what it is. Reading back through the old stuff I was like “damn, this stuff is kinda vulnerable”. Maybe it is. I don’t really care about that. I’m okay with that, not to the point where it’s vulnerable to a fault if that’s even a thing. I’m at a point where I’m okay sharing my thoughts and “feelings” on the internet. We do it every day anyways so what does it matter if I do it on here once a year (plan is to post more often than that lol). I’m not saying I’m out here trying to inspire somebody or influence them to change their way of thinking or the way they do something. But I could. I’ve said it before I think, but this is for me. Just stuff I’ve been thinking about really. Nothing crazy. I think everyone should try something like this at least once. And most people do. Driving home from work the voice in your head starts to ramble about literally anything, typing out a “blog” or whatever this is. In the shower at night; same thing. Laying in bed before you go to sleep (that’s usually what I do and then I don’t feel like getting up to write it down and then forget it in the morning). So I think we all do it in some form or fashion. It’s good for you. Cause I think if you can’t express yourself to yourself, then it might be a little difficult to express yourself outside your own head (im talking about real human beings in your life), which can be hard. Believe me. Alright I’m done with that part. Guess that was the intro.

The year since the last one of these was fun. Really fun. One of the best since summer of 2020 when I started this. I turned 25, which I think turned a switch in my head to think clearer or whatever’s supposed to happen when your brain finishes developing. I travelled the world some more. I learned some pretty good life lessons. Some I found out on my own. The other ones I needed someone to teach me. And a couple just happened by accident (I had to force myself to use “by” instead of “on” cause I can hear my mom telling me why “by” is the correct word). Made some mistakes of course. Nothing wrong with that. The mistakes were probably some of the best things that happened. I love my job. But more than that I love the people I work with. Almost like family, at least most of them. I think the biggest “click” or “ah ha!” moment was realizing how much I cherish and enjoy just spending moments and experiences with people. And really the people that mean the most to me. One of my best friends from college got married up in Philly, and I had the opportunity to go. This was my first real wedding that I’ve been to. I went to my aunts wedding a long time ago and barely remember it. But it was the best weekend I’d had in a long time. Seeing all my friends that I hadn’t seen in over a year was what I needed at the time. It was like a battery got put in my back. Or recharged. Made me feel good. You know what im trying to say. But every part of the wedding was beautiful. The rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, the wedding, wedding reception. All of it. And all I could do the whole 4 days I was there was just look around and just enjoy the moment and all the love that was around me. It was better than any material thing I could want. That was the first time it really hit me.

I promoted at my job in November too. In my uhh line of work, its traditional for those that promoted to cover the bar tab for everyone they work with/for. Some people honor it, others don’t. But the group I promoted with felt like we owed it to everyone we worked with/for to treat them to a night out on us. So we did. And same thing as the wedding, without the anyone getting married part obviously. But it was beautiful in the same sense and different at the same time. Everyone except ONE, I’ve known for less than 2 years. But I feel like I’ve known them my whole life. And I couldn’t be more thanful for them. Because my job is hard. I’m not bragging, but it is. I’m travelling with them for over half the year. We all miss people’s birthdays, weddings, anniversaries. We spend Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New years together. We do a lot. And that’s a lot to miss out on with your actual family. But when you have coworkers like mine, it’s worth it. They’ve helped me get through more than just struggling with something at work. They’ve helped with just life in general. And no matter how much the day sucked or how pissed off we may have gotten at each other, or sad, or whatever, they were always there. I also work and live with one of my best friends and it’s maybe been one of the coolest parts of my life. Who else can say they’ve travelled to the arctic, past the equator, and everywhere in between in less than a year with their best friend? It’s been pretty sick having him with me. And he knows I love him for it. ANYWAYS, the night we had out was better than I thought it would’ve been. I’d do it all over again to show them how much I appreciate them. But only when I promote next. That was the second time.

I got to go home for Christmas this past year, and this was the third time. It’s always nice to come home. But this time was a little different. I think cause I realized how old I’m getting. My “baby” cousin who I saw when she was first born is taller than me. My other cousin is getting ready to graduate high school. I don’t like it lol. There’s a group of six of us. My brother and myself, and two other pairs of brothers. All six of us have known each other since the day we all gained consciousness. Like when did we start remembering stuff? That’s always been funny to me. Like one day we just woke up and our brain was like “okay today we’re going to start remembering stuff for the rest of our life”. Anyways, the six of us got together for drinks and dinner one night. Before we actually got to the bar and restaurant, we bullshitted for around at my brother's house trying to figure out where we were gonna go for maybe 2 hours. But we went out and it was really cool. We’ve all got our own things going on and it was just crazy to see how far we’ve come and how we always make it a point to link up. I just looked around the table and was proud that I have the friends I have, who are really like brother's more than anything. I got dinner with my brother, cousin, and other friend from high school at our favorite taco spot in downtown Atlanta. Same thing. I was just proud. And blessed. And maybe a little luck in there too. Went to a new year’s eve party that my brother threw. You see where this is going right? Same thing. The place was packed with people I’ve known forever. People I just met and everyone in between. I needed it. Not that I was doing bad. But there’s nothing wrong with feeling better than you already do. Who wouldn't want that? My brother was the DJ for the night and I filled in for him so he could walk around. I think I found my calling. I think I’m supposed to be a DJ. I’m gonna get all the equipment I need and lock myself in a room all summer like Kanye and be the best ever. That’s a joke. The locking myself in a room all summer part. But I could be the best ever. Who knows. And if you think you like music more than me, no you don’t. The only person I know who loves music more than me is my brother, and maybe my roommate.

I always just ramble with these, but thanks for reading if you made it this far. If you just skipped to the bottom, here’s the point. Point is, I’ve come to realize that I value experiences and moments shared with others, and more importantly the “others” in my life more than pretty much anything else in the world. If I won a zillion dollars tomorrow, I wouldn’t be upset in the slightest. Trust me. I’m always going to be happy if I get any “cool” or super nice things. I’m always going to want those things cause that’s just what we do. Everyone wants them. But to me, they just don’t bring as much joy as sitting at dinner with your best friends who you’ve known your whole life and don’t even remember the first day meeting them.

#6

I don’t really consider myself a writer, but I didn’t know what writer’s block was like or what it felt like until I started writing. Or really until I stopped writing. You get the point. It’s been 372 days since I last put something out which is crazy to think about. So if you’re reading this and were for whatever reason waiting for me to write something again, here you go. I started this almost a year and a half ago, and in those 372 days between my last post and this one, I wanted to write. I just couldn’t for whatever reason. Some days I’d be like “Damn why can’t I write?”. I had kinda been consistent with it, but not really. But the times I was putting something out was because something made me want to. Or I felt like it. It’s really just a feeling. I don’t know how other writers do it, but it’s probably similar. Assuming you’re taking the time to read this, you’re probably like “What is he talking about right now?”. Just wait. I’m getting there. This is called self reflection, or something like that. Anyways, I had to remind myself that I started writing for myself during those 372 days and that it was okay not to put anything out. That was just a choice I made to share this. I think in my first post I mentioned that. I started this for me and it was gonna be on my own terms. There’s no grade, no deadline, no nothing. Just me and when I feel like it.

All my other posts before this had clever names and this one was going to have one too. “Each Other’s World”. But I just numbered it. I don’t know. I’ve thought about what I’m about to write about for a few days now. I met this person the other day that pretty much sparked this, so shout out to them. This might be a pretty cliché topic or whatever, but I don’t care haha. I think we forget about this too often. And that thing is that everyone we come across and meet, especially the ones we form a relationship with, come into our lives for a reason. Human interaction is probably one of the most special things we have and sometimes we take that for granted. I’ve taken it for granted for sure. Whether people unfortunately pass along, y'all grow apart, someone messes it up, it was all for a reason. I think there’s a lot of lessons we can learn from each other. We all have good people in our lives that we love and are close with. We have people that we go to school with, or work with, that are cool to be around. We form bonds with these people. It’s so crazy to me how a random person can end up being your best, or y’all become more than friends. Start dating. Get married. Start a family. It’s crazy. But that’s the beauty of human interaction. We pick up good habits from each other. We inspire each other. Teach each other. Make each other laugh. But of course there’s another side to this. The key thing about human interaction is the “human” part. People aren’t always good and it’s in our nature to not like these certain types of people when they come into our lives. We may have started out liking them, or we never liked them to begin with. We have our reasons why and that’s just how it goes sometimes. And then before you know it, just like the good ones, one day they aren’t there anymore. But they were always just as important as the people we liked and loved. We pick up on their bad habits and traits and learn from them. We see how they treat other people and remind ourselves of how to treat people the right way. They’re important. Everyone is. Good and bad. Those we like and don’t like. 

I wanna focus on the good people though cause they’re the people that make life enjoyable. They help us look forward to the next day. Look forward to the next time we get to hang out. You can’t wait to see them. You miss them. Think about them. Wonder how they’re doing. Even if you just met them. They make us happy. Fill our lives with happiness. Of course, I’m not naive to the fact that it’s not happy all the time. We have bad days. Sad days. Whatever it is, it’s not always great. And for those good people in our lives, they experience the same things. But the beautiful thing is that you’re always there for each other. It’s a good feeling knowing you have someone that’ll look out for you and check on you. There can never be enough of that. Those good people.

We’re all that good person to someone else out there. So keep being that person for them.

YOUER THAN YOU

“Today You are You, that is Truer than True. There is no one alive who is Youer than You” - Dr. Seuss.

I used to love Dr. Seuss when I was a kid. I dressed up as the cat in the hat when I was in first grade. I’m 23 now and I don’t remember a whole lot from being a kid, but I remember that. I probably loved reading Dr. Seuss because of quotes like this one, even though I didn’t realize it until I came across it again the other day. I think it’s kinda funny that I’m writing this with Halloween coming up in a couple days when the whole day is about dressing up as someone other than yourself. I’ve never really been one to dress up for Halloween, but we, myself included, "dress up” as other people all the time. Real quick, when I say “we”, I’m talking about people as a whole which includes me. But anyway, back to what I was saying. We try to dress up as other people all the time. I think the biggest driving force behind this is social media and entertainment. It’s constantly in our face because we’re constantly on our phones. The stream of content and media is endless. Think about your favorite tik tok person, athlete, music artist, actor, Instagram personality, or whoever you are drawn to and pay attention to. As awesome as they may seem and as cool as they appear, they already exist. Now I'm not saying it’s a bad thing to try and play basketball like LeBron James (who in my opinion goated with winning the finals this year), or try to sing like Beyoncé. Those are two pretty good examples to look up to, but they’re on that level for a reason. There’s only one person in the world who can do the things LeBron does on the basketball court and only one person who can sing like Beyoncé. You probably guessed who they are, but they are LeBron James and Beyoncé (duh). Those people are already taken. They are the best at what they do and have risen to the level of success they are at because they are really good at their job. Now there’s nothing to say you can’t be on the same level of success as them. Everyone thought MJ was the best until the kid from Akron came along. You want your name to be mentioned in the same sentence as LeBron in the conversation of all-time basketball greats? Then use your gift as a basketball player and be the best that YOU know how to be and maybe one day you’ll find yourself in that conversation. Same thing with Beyoncé. Those may seem like two pretty extreme examples, but I think it’s more about the concept, not the particular person. It can apply to anyone. The important thing to note is that we all have something special that we bring to the table. That special thing is ourselves. It’s you. It’s me. Maybe in your friend group you’re the one that everyone else comes to for advice. In their eyes, you may be the most level-headed person they know and look to you when they need help. There may not be a single soul on Earth that they trust with going to other than you, and to me that’s just as special as LeBron being the best basketball player to ever live (we can argue about this if you feel some type of way). We see all these famous people and others on social media and in entertainment and think to ourselves “I wish I was like them”. But where’s the use in that if you were exactly like them? God made one of us for a reason and we all contribute to life in our own special way. Maybe you haven’t discovered what that special thing is yet, but you will. When you do, I think you’ll be all the better for it.

The value we all add to life only comes from being ourselves. There’s no use in there being two of the exact same people. Identical twins may look the same and share some of the same tendencies, but at the end of the day they’re still individual of each other. Just like you and I are individual of the almost 8 billion other people on the planet. It’s kinda crazy when you think about it. There is not a SINGLE person in this world like you and I think that’s something you should be proud of. There are tons of people out there that are writing their thoughts and sharing them with others in a blog just like this. #1 good for them for doing what they enjoy. But #2 is that I know I’m not the same as them, and they’re not the same as me. We don’t write the same. We don’t think the same. We haven’t experienced the same things. And that’s okay. I’d much rather it be that way. I could have easily said “Oh there’s already someone out there writing a blog so I guess I can’t do it”. That kind of thought process can be very dangerous. Yes there are people out there who are writing blogs and have probably been doing it longer and more often than I do, but we’re not the same. It’s better to have a lot of people writing blogs with their own thoughts rather than them all thinking and writing the same exact thing. That’s the beauty in you. I really admire people who take it upon themselves to be the best version of themselves that they can be. One person in particular comes to mind that I know. They are unapologetic about how they live their life, work really hard to do what works for them, and stay in their own lane without getting distracted by what anyone else is doing. They take no shame in being who they are. I think that’s where I’m going to leave it at. But remember what Dr. Seuss said. “Today You are You, that is Truer than True. There is no one alive who is Youer than You”, and that’s all you really need to know.

Don’t Listen to the Neighbors

I came across this Chinese Proverb a little over a month ago that I think about pretty much all the time now. It’s about this farmer who goes through a series of events that many of us would say are either “good” or “bad”. For example, one day his son falls off of a horse and breaks his leg. His neighbors in the village are all like “Oh no! That’s terrible!”, to which the farmer replies “Maybe it is. Maybe not”. The next day or so, the national army rides through the village looking for young men to fight in the war. They get to the farmer’s house and pass over his son because of his broken leg. His neighbors (who always have something to say to him) come and say “Your son is safe! He doesn’t have to go fight! That’s great!”, to which the farmer replies with the same response as before. Maybe it was good that his son broke his leg and not get shipped off to war. Maybe it wasn’t. The whole point of the story is that over the course of our lives, no event that happens can actually be determined to be truly “good” or “bad”. We kind of just have to keep a level head and take things as they come. Sure, some events may seem better or worse than the previous thing you experienced, but you never know what’ll come next. The thought is also that you’ll never really know how the next event will compare to your previous situation because we obviously don’t live forever. Each of our lives is like a story with chapters that are better or worse than the previous chapter. But the thing about our story is that it could end before we get to the next chapter. Or another way to think about it is that whenever our last day on Earth comes, that marks the end of that chapter. I know that may not be the most encouraging thought, but that’s literally the best way I could say it without flat-out saying “when we die”.

I think that living your life with the mindset of taking things as they come, rather than comparing how good or bad they are to other experiences, makes for a much more comfortable life. And when I say comfortable, I don’t mean easy or without struggle. Just because you take things in stride, doesn’t mean you won’t have to struggle through something hard. I mean comfortable in the sense that you aren’t worried about what’s going to happen tomorrow, or still worried about what happened the day before. It’s kinda like the saying “play the hand you were dealt”. You didn’t ask for the cards you were given, or in relation to this, you didn’t necessarily ask for the situation you’re in. But instead of focusing on the cards you were dealt, you’re much better off doing what you can to win with that hand. You don’t get a hand in Uno and sit there the whole time doing nothing except watch the other players try to win. I think it’s the same way in life. You don’t just sit around and do nothing while others work with what they got. You try to go out and win too. I think there’s also a level-headedness and humbleness you have to have about yourself. You may say your current situation sucks. Okay, that’s fine. And it may be true in the moment. It may be worse than what your situation was yesterday. But the thing to keep in mind is that odds are, and I'm willing to bet on this (if I were a betting man), is that your situation is WAYYY better compared to what someone else is going through. Our experiences are all relative to each other. You just never really know most of the time. I think that’s why it’s important to be thankful in all situations we find ourselves in. Think about this year. The year 2020. Most of us would say this is the worst year ever. I know I’m guilty of saying that. And yeah, some things that are going on are worse than other things we have experienced. I think collectively, we can all agree that COVID and the ongoing social injustice in our country has had a huge impact on the way we view this year. But for some people, they would say this has been a great year. I would even go so far as to say I’m one of those people. When COVID hit, I think my life, or the word I’ve been using, “situation”, has improved a lot. At the same time though, I understand that I have to keep things in perspective and keep a level head. But I’m not gonna lie. COVID has been good to me personally. I would say it’s led me to be in a much better headspace. I got the chance to really sit back and think about my values and what I want out of life. I got the chance to evaluate how I interact with people and how the relationships I have affect my life. It’s been good. Going back to 2020, the caveat to all of this is the metaphoric village neighbors. Figuratively speaking, the “village neighbors” are EVERYWHERE. They can look like anyone or be anything. When I think about “village neighbors”, I think about the news and social media, friends, family, teachers, boyfriends, girlfriends, etc. Some of these people and things intentionally try to change our mindset whenever input is given. For example, look at the news talking about COVID. I’ll let you form your own opinion about that, but I think you get the point. So yeah! These people and things may intentionally focus on the negatives, but at the same time they can hype you up when things are going well for you. But you have to remember to keep a level head, stay humble, and be thankful.

I still don’t really know how to end these things but that’s okay. I know its been a minute since my last post. The reasoning behind that is a combination of being on vacation, and then when I got back from vacation I just didn’t really feel like it. I hope you took something away from this though. Even if none of this made sense or you couldn’t follow my thoughts because they were all over the place (which could be the case. idk), then I hope you at least enjoyed reading it. If it did make sense, I hope you can take something away from the farmer. Whether it be keeping a level head or not letting the neighbors from the village get in your head. Keep level head, do your best to win with the cards you’ve been dealt, and I think you’ll be alright.

They’re The Ones

This is a special one. This is about my friends. My best friends in the whole world. It’s really about my family because that’s what they’ve come to be for me. One thing I’ve come to learn is that you really become those you keep around you. To me, it’s kinda like the “you are what you eat” saying. It’s pretty simple. If you keep good people around you, the hope, or the outcome is that you yourself will become “good” too, whatever that means to you, and vice versa. I’ve been fortunate enough to come across what I would consider some of the best people in the world. Like I said in the beginning, my friends really are my family. I think of them as my brothers and sisters. I have one younger blood brother who is my best friend out of everyone (whether we act like it or not), but the true and real friends I’ve made throughout childhood, high school, and college might as well be blood to me. Some of them I don’t talk to as much anymore, but whenever we do talk, we can pick it up right where we left off at. And for those of you that may automatically be thinking that I’m just talking about “guy friends”, I definitely have really close friends that are girls too. I’ve been really blessed in my life with the people I have around me. 

Might sound cliché or whatever, but I think it’s really important to have all types of friends in your life. Have people from different backgrounds around you. People that have different experiences than you. People that have different viewpoints, upbringings, religions, different races and ethnicities and so on. You know where I’m going with that. But it’s true. I’m reading this book called “The Courage to be Disliked” and the thing that’s stuck out to me the most so far is how everyone sees the world differently. My world looks totally different than yours. Some parts of the world may look the same to both of us, but for the most part, everything else is different. The point in bringing that up is because you should want to have friends around you that are willing to share their view of the world with you. I’ve learned so much from my friends over the years. I’ve gained different viewpoints, learned different opinions, come to like new music, pretty much anything you can think of. Keep people around you that challenge your thinking. Keep people around you that share their world with you. I think those are the best people to keep around. The ones that add value to your life. The ones that keep things interesting. The ones that spark thought provoking conversations. The ones that make you smile when you see them. People that you can genuinely say you enjoy their company. 

I swear I’m gonna get better at these transitions, but I definitely appreciate and still love all of my friends from back home. They are really the people that helped me become who I am today. Growing up with the “Southside Boys”, Donovan and Devin. Friends I grew up with in church. Niles and Roman Elmore. D.J. and Jordan Watkins. My best friends from high school. The Cobb twins. Camden Cusamano. Jordan and Amber Bethel. Jack Patterson. My cousins who I think of more as friends than anything else. Jordan, Amina, and Alexis. I could keep going with a list of names, but to know me, is to know them. As I’m going into my senior year of college, I can’t help but think about how blessed I am to have met the people I have along the way. Again, I’m not going to name everyone because you would be reading names forever. For those of you reading, you and I both know I’m talking about you. All of these people I’ve mentioned are so special to me. They’re the people I know for a fact will be at my wedding. They’re the ones I know for a fact that I will be at their weddings. They’re the people I’m going to leave my kids with when I go on vacation with my wife. They’re the ones I’m going to go on couples’ vacations with and do all that other “grown-up” stuff with. They’re the ones I’m going to celebrate life with for however long we’re on this Earth for. Again, if you’re reading this and you know I’m talking about you, you’re my guys. You’re my girls. You’re my people. You’re my family. I’m always here for you and I’ll always love you. I wouldn’t want to be in anyone else’s corner or have anyone else in mine. You all have supported me through everything. Some of you have helped me stay in school. All of you have done more for me than you actually know. I could probably write a book with a chapter about each one of you in it (next thing to do on my list). I really could keep going on about this forever it seems like. Maybe I’ll do a part two one day. Who knows? You’ll just have to wait and find out. 

I’m also thankful for my parents because they raised me right. They raised me to have friends like the ones I just talked about. So, to wrap things up, I hope you have friends like I do. Not necessarily the same kind of people because we all need and gravitate towards different people, but I mean that to say I hope you have those people around you that make you feel this same kind of emotion. The ones that will make you want to write and dedicate a damn blog post about one day. Those ones. And yes, this whole thing is dedicated to you. If you want to keep reading you can, but this next part is specifically for them. My “friends”, but really my family. Like I may have already said, you all are such a blessing. I want you to know that. I really don’t know what I would do without any of you, or where I would be. If you’re getting all emotional and whatnot, it’s okay cause I am too writing this. I really gave myself a good idea about the whole book thing too by the way. Maybe one day you’ll be able to read it. Just know in the meantime that you’re the ones.

N:OW

I got a new tattoo on spring break in Puerto Rico about three months ago now. You may be wondering if it was one of those tattoos people usually get on spring break where they wake up one morning and just happen to have a new one. No! I was fully aware of what I was doing. It was a really rainy day, so one of my friends and I decided to go get a tattoo since we couldn’t go to the beach (makes sense right?). Anyways, we took an Uber like 40 minutes away from where we were staying and ended up in this really sketchy and poor area. The tattoo shop we went to buzzed us in at the front door just to give you an idea of what kind of area we were in. Luckily it wasn’t too hard to communicate because their English was pretty good. The only thing I wasn’t comfortable with about this whole situation was that we had to pay before we got the actual tattoo. But we did it anyway cause spring break right? Anyways, I got one on my left wrist that says “N:OW”, like a watch reading the time is “now” (you might think it’s kinda dumb, I know my dad does I think, but I like it). It looked really good as soon as it was done. I think it was the next day that I realized the colon in between the “N” and “O” was crooked. And that’s pretty much what this post is about.

The time is now, but you may not always think it’s the right time. It may not be perfect, just like my tattoo, but it’s almost always the right time. A lot of times I think we expect things to happen on our own terms and on our own agenda. We can all probably agree that Covid-19 didn’t happen at the right time (I don’t think there’s ever a good time for a global pandemic), but the argument can be made that it came at the right time. Yeah, the class of 2020 didn’t get a real graduation. Yeah, high school seniors didn’t get to have prom. A lot more things happened that were way worse than missing graduation or prom (not that those situations don’t suck). BUT they happened at the right time. This time in quarantine, and the world being pretty much completely shut down, has allowed for a lot of good things to happen too. For example, with all that time off from your “normal” life, you may have been able to pick up that old hobby of yours. You may have been able to read those books you always wanted to read. You may have taken a huge step back and just reflected on your life up until this point. Miss Rona may have come at a really bad and pivotal time in our lives, but there was a lot of good that came out of everything. Like for me, I started this blog. I had time to think and plan out what I want to do in life without having any distractions.

Kind of going off of the “Until Then…” post, there’s no better time than now to start doing what you want to do. When you think to yourself “I want to get in shape and feel healthier and look better”, go for a run! Go do something to help you get to your end goal. But this is what happens to a lot of people (including me). That laziness monster creeps up and taps you on the shoulder. You think “Ah well I’ll just go walk tomorrow” or “New Year’s day I’m gonna start running every day” and it’s still June. Laziness is one of the biggest traps out there. I’m all for bettering yourself and making change, but I think it’s funny how there’s a whole group of people out there that are waiting until 2021 to start over on their resolutions because they “messed up” already this year. To me, the mark of a new year is not some magical reset button. Pretty much the only thing that changes is you have to get another calendar to put on your refrigerator. Life still goes one and you’re still the same you. Why wait for just another day, when you can just do it today?

So go for that run today. Tell that person you have a crush on how you feel today. Make amends with that person you got in an argument with today. Start that book. Start that new Netflix show. Whatever it is, start it “N:OW”. I always loved what Master Oogway said in Kung Fu Panda. He said something like “Today is a gift. That is why they call it the present”. I think that’s so good. Because who doesn’t love getting a present? We get a new one every day we wake up. It’s just a matter of whether we see it as a gift and the right time, or not and see it as an inconvenience because it’s not the right time.

If you’ve read this far, I really appreciate it. I am in no way trying to make myself seem like I have all the answers in writing these, because that is NOT true. I’m still only 22 years old and have a lot of life left to live. It’s just thoughts I have and things I have known to be true in my own experiences. The thing I really love about doing these is not having to worry about a word count or meeting the requirements in a rubric. I make my own rubric and cut off the word count when I feel like it. So this is me cutting it off.

until then…

This blog is called “Until Then” because this is gonna have to do “Until Then”. “Until Then” for me is my own podcast. I’ve wanted to do a podcast for a while now but I just haven’t gotten around to it yet because of da rona that’s been going around (it’s probably messed up some of your plans too i’m sure). “Until Then”, I wanted a way where I could get my thoughts and ideas out instead of sitting inside my head. In the wake of the recent events going on in the country surrounding the murder of George Floyd, I became really inspired to just go ahead and do the things I really want to do in life. Why wait? I sit around and see other people doing what I want to do and ask myself “Why not me?”. I think a lot of times we forget how capable we are in life. I’ve never told anyone this in person, but I think of myself as a creative. Part of the reason we’re on this earth is to create. I think we’re all creatives. It’s just a matter of figuring out what you want to do and what you like. Going back to the George Floyd situation, I watched the video of that man get killed and realized I can’t sit around anymore without doing what I really want to do. Unfortunately, I have to think about if that will happen to me. What will I have done with my life up until that point? Will I have done what I wanted to do? As sad as it is, I want to be able to say I did as much as I could. Everything that’s going on in our country right now has made me excited for the future. That’s why I started this blog. To me, this is my first step towards everything I want out of life. This is the first step towards all of my goals.

I think we all have something that we do “Until Then”. Maybe you want to start a clothing brand someday, or be a professional athlete, or be a mayor. Until then you do what you can to get to that end goal. It’s not a bad thing either to not be there yet. It’s great if you are! But I think it’s important to realize that no matter how bad you want that “thing”, you can’t just have it right now. You have to work towards it if you really want it. I know I probably sound like a broken record saying that, but it is so true. In our generation we want everything right now. We want to be famous right now. We want a lot of money right now. We want people to think highly of us right now. But when you turn around and look at the people who are doing all of those things, they stayed down and worked for what they have today. Stay down now and work your ass off for whatever it is you want. I’ve been saying this to myself a lot recently, but doing what you want to do in life is as easy as just telling yourself “I’m going to start doing this today”. It’s as easy as just starting. Merrium-Webster defines the word start as “a place of beginning”. That’s it. Of course this is easier said than done. It’s easy to wake up and tell yourself “I’m going to start reading that book today”. Then you go through your day feeling good about yourself because you told yourself you were going to start the book, but then you look up and you’re already going to bed. You didn’t read the book. It’s easy to fall into that self-gratifying state of mind. If you fall into that trap, you’ll look up 5 or 10 years from now and realize you never did what you said you would start.

I read this quote from Nipsey Hussle the other day. He said “I remember feeling like, No. 1, what’s the point and, No. 2, maybe I'm tripping. Maybe I’m not even supposed to be thinking this big and thinking outside the box; maybe I should just follow suit. That’s a dangerous thing”. And what he said is so important. It’s dangerous to follow suit and do, or not do, what everyone else is doing. A lot of times you’ll find that it’s keeping you from doing what you really want to do, but instead you try to appease what society thinks.

I think that’s it for now. I don’t think I’ll ever know how much I’m going to write in these. If you’ve actually read this far, thank you. I’m really not doing this to get a lot of readers or people following what I post. This is for me, and maybe people will like it along the way. There’s so much I want to do, but “Until Then”…