Do you believe in fate? I never really was a strong believer in such a thing. Everyone has that mantra “everything happens for a reason”. I guess it depends on who you talk to. Religious folk say “It’s all apart of God’s plan”, people who are one with the universe claim “If it’s meant to be, it will be.”
I’m starting to buy in a little bit. Things happen because we put ourselves in the postion to make them happen. Good or bad. If it’s bad and you’re not a complete idiot, you’re going to learn from your mistakes. That’s the funny thing about life, we don’t get “do-overs” per se, but in a sense we kind of do. If you make a mistake, and know how to not make that mistake again and are presented with a similar situation, it’s essentially a do-over.
Obviously it’s not going to be the exact same type of situation, but life has a way of repeating things. So you do get a second opportunity in a lot of cases, and it’s up to you to make the most of that. Get after it. Missed opportunities are never a good thing. The so called window of opportunity stays open as we know for only a short time,but much like anything else, it presents itself again. Maybe not the same exact opportunity, maybe it’s a better opportunity. It’s all about taking risks.
Basically what things boil down to is we put ourselves in situations to where “everything happens for a reason”. The “reason” may not be apparent from the get go, but it eventually shows itself to you in one way or another. I did touch on this a couple of blog posts ago.
Life is a funny,beautiful,tragic,sad,completely awesome mystery that unfolds by the day. It’s up to us to figure out why things happen. Well Jimmy got an F on his test because he didn’t study hard enough, not because he was stupid. Roger got hit by the car crossing the street, because he didn’t look both ways. Not everything that happens is that cut and dry.
Rarely do you ever meet someone that makes an immediate impact in your life. Those are just chance type meetings. Once in a blue moon. If you find that person that makes an immediate impact in your life, latch on. They’re there for a purpose. I’ve been fortunate enough in my life to have some very good friends that have had this effect on me. For what ever reason, each reason different than the other, each individual I would call a close friend has done something to make an immediate impact in my life in some way, shape, for or fashion. Whether they know it or not.
You hear the phrase “love at first sight” all of the time. With two of my best friends, I met them on different days, in different years, but something happened to where everything in the universe was copacetic and boom, we’ve never looked back. I can honestly say that I have never had a serious argument with either one of these gentlemen. We argue our views on sports all of the time, that doesn’t count. That shit doesn’t break friendships up, unless your 11.
I have a brother, but these two gents are MY BROTHERS, I would do anything for them. They have never let me down, they have never disappointed me. We have one another’s back through thick and thin, no matter the circumstance. The difference between friends and family is you can pick your friends, and us 3 together, it’s an unstoppable force of nature. All brought together into one another’s lives at completely different times for completely different reasons.
It’s quite amazing when you look at things and break it down a little bit. I’m a way better person for knowing them, and I believe for us knowing one another we’re better people. Take for instance a very dear friend of mine whom I’ve mentioned in the blog before, but not by name, and still that holds true today, but we have known one another since the 1980’s. Elementary school. There was a stretch of 10 years where we didn’t talk to each other due to life basically superseding everything. Flash forward to early 2013, started chatting it up on Facebook and now I make a point to talk to this person every single day. We picked up as if nothing had changed in 10 years. It was quite amazing. I value that.
Before 2013, I took everything for granted. EVERYTHING. I didn’t think about anything, I just did. I was just doing stuff, not thinking about anything. Being selfish. Being who I thought was “me”. Harboring a lot of anger. For whatever reason or purpose the life changes that I have experienced in the past 6 months have made me a different person as far as my outlook on things is concerned.
Thinking about things I should have thought about years ago, but due to being stubborn or selfish didn’t. Now, I think about things in purpose. What purpose does this serve me? What purpose does this person have in my life? These are questions I ask myself on a daily basis now. So coupled with working on being less selfish, more patient and just finding the good in everything regardless of how terrible others may think the situation is. I’ve become an eternal optimist. I know that’s going to bite me on the ass someday, but I tell you what, I have never had a more clear outlook on things.
You get up everyday and that’s a gift in and of itself. If something is bothering you, blog about it. Yeah you’re putting it out there, but as I have found in my 10 months of blogging, people appreciate honesty. Strangers appreciate it, your friends appreciate it. If I read every blog I posted which is close to 80 posts, I can see where my priorities and outlook on things have shifted for the better.
I’m never going to be a perfect person, I’m never going to strive for perfection. I can only be me, and I’m going to continue to be the best me I can be, and eventually that me will become better, and better, and better. I’m 32 years old and I STILL have no idea why my purpose is in life. I can wear many hats. I can be a great listener, I can give good advice, I can make people smile, I can entertain people by means of music, I can cook a meal, I have figured out I can be selfless, I can open up my feelings to the internet and have people read and comment and like what I write about and not feel ashamed about what I’m saying or feeling.
If I can figure out how to channel all of these things into one purpose, I would be set. But I don’t think that’s part of the plan. I think I’ve been given these “talents” or “attributes” to use at any given time when it’s required. Things for me really started falling into place when I let the anger go. That’s when I was able to start focusing on other things in my life. Honestly the last 6 months of my life have sucked for the most part, but I’m moving past that. There’s no sense to be angry about it. I look at the last 6 months as a huge test. Can you be patient? How patient can you be? What about your anger? Can you let it go? Can you figure out how to channel your anger into something positive?
I have had a lot of time on my hands to be able to figure things out and I’m really, really excited for what the future may hold. What does “fate” have in store for me? I guess we’ll just have to attack every single day like it’s your last one on earth and just live life. Enjoy it. Sit back and take a load off once in awhile. It’ll be good for you. Surround yourself with positive people, and it reciprocates itself. Believe me.