I recently came across and old friend on Facebook. It is amazing how reflecting on our own journey can help us to realize how we got to where we are. It is humbling to remember what an idiot we used to be. It is empowering to understand what we have overcome. It is bewildering to dream of what we might have missed. It makes us stronger to put our lives in context and to be okay with who we have become.
Believe it or not, I used to be an idiot.
I suppose it is the classic coming of age story about a wayward kid with a chip on his shoulder living every day as if it is his last who comes to the realization that there is more to the word than his personal wants and desires. I cannot remember the day I decided to pull my head out of my ass and quit being a total idiot, but I know I was a late bloomer…somewhere after the age of 30.
I spent many years trying to find myself. I searched in the bottom of booze bottles and in an array of drug binges. I pressed boundaries wherever I could find them, and would seek out trouble to justify my existence. I often sacrificed who I was for who I believed the world wanted me to be. I lacked confidence and in turn, sold myself short on a lot of days.
As we wander through our own memory, we are often confronted with areas in our life where we have failed. It is easy for us to push these memories aside, but they are always there lurking.
There is a certain fear in all of us, even on our best day, that we could somehow return to that person we were on our worst day. It is this fear that drives the human experience, and either makes one reach for the stars or tumble down the hill of life.
We are our experiences. Like it or not, who we are has been shaped by the events that have made up our lives and the people who have been a part of those events. We cannot relive the past, nor should we.
Yesterday is gone, but tomorrow is forever.
Yet in order to fulfill our lives and find our potential we must be strong and we must be powerful. The world is going to keep spinning and difficult days will lie ahead. But it is up to us to rise up and meet the challenges of another day, and to do our part to make the world a better place. We have to look inside of ourselves to find the necessary strength to overcome. It is our own power that will move the mountain.
Too often we sacrifice our strength and give up our power. We allow our lack of confidence or unfamiliarity to get the better of us. The fear of failure and loss can be too much to bear. The world becomes a very small place when life becomes overwhelming. Our doubt can consume us.
Where we find our strength and power is when we rise above our own fears and accept our fate. Fate is seldom wrong.
No one ever said that life was going to be easy. There are too many variables and unpredictable outcomes to ever assume anything. What seems inevitable today can be completely questionable tomorrow. Nothing is written in stone; and if it is, stone can easily be broken. Life is a constantly evolving battle between our mind, our body, and the worlds of order and chaos.
More times than not our path has already been chosen for us, and the decisions we make are irrelevant to where the universe will direct us. We can never take back yesterday, but we can always find strength that there is a tomorrow.
It is our duty to ourselves to be strong and powerful. It is up to us to make our presence on planet earth known and to ensure the world is a better place than where we found it. Our lives are like masterpieces that we paint with our daily actions. This is our gift to the world.
I challenge you to be strong and powerful. You are amazing. You were put here for a reason. Your life is important. The things you do make a difference. You are incredibly strong and powerful, and I am better for knowing you…So thanks.
Whatever tomorrow may bring, our strength will not waiver and our power will be known. Selah.