The easy road isn’t an easy road. It's paved with regret and dead dreams and thoughts of “what if”
Stop waiting for the right time because there never will be a “right time”. It's better to say, “I can’t believe I did that.”
than to say “I wish I had”.
This lifestyle isn’t for everyone, and it’s a long road but the rewards are plentiful and endless. This is what you need to know:
It ain’t a race. It’s a marathon.
To be a strong person or a warrior, isn’t a simple matter. It’s a constant relentless struggle, that continues day in and day out. Nobody is born this way, we are molded into this by our choices and the consequences of these actions. We have the choice to continue or to stop. My choice was simple, tuck my chin take the punches and push through
You got to be tough.
Life will get tired of hitting me long before I will get tired of getting up. If I didn’t have this mindset, I would have been dead a long time ago.
Where’s your passion?
I’ve learned that if you’re not loving what you’re doing then you’re wasting your time. And a life wasted is a life that’s not worth living or remembering.
Experience is king.
My grandfather said when people would say, “you only live once” he’d always reply back with, “no dummy, you only die once, you have the opportunity to live every day.”
Hard times build strong character.
Life doesn’t offer much sympathy. In fact, life can be a battlefield, or a shark tank for you fighters out there, with everything and everyone coming at you at once for a piece of you. My grandfather, being the sweet old soul he was, would often tell me, “If you’re looking for sympathy it’s in the dictionary between shit and syphilis. That’s the only place you’ll find it in this house son.” Was it nice? No. Did I make me the person I am today? Definitely
You cannot possess “Quit”.
Never stop. Plain and simple. Never stop striving to be better to be smarter to have more fun more dreams more happiness. The second you stop is the second someone else surpasses you. Like I said, this is a marathon, not a race. And your finish line is at the time you pass.
Be good. All the time.
Sometimes the reason good things aren’t happening in your life is because you’re the good thing that needs to be happen to other people. Make an impact every day, stay the path. Show the world you don’t have to be an ass to get what you want out of life and help others along the way. You never know what they could be going through.
Take off your mask.
You don’t need to be rich, handsome or impressive. None of that means a thing. You need to be the real you and you need to be it now. The world doesn’t need another asshole or another drama queen; the world needs real genuine souls.
Pay your darkness dues.
Don’t be afraid of your dark, we all have darkness, but how can we truly appreciate the sunlight if we haven’t stood in the dark. Tough times don’t last tough people do. The balance is life is constant and you’ll never have all of one or the other. If you’re in a dark place, there is light somewhere. You just got to find it.
Relax.
The one most important thing I learned as a fighter is to relax. Do everything you can to not lose yourself or your temper. Whether I’m dealing with my business, co workers, children, life or clients; I learned to not lose my cool. If all else fails, walk away and collect yourself.
Life ain’t easy and it was never meant to be. I’ve been through my highs and lows and have seen a lot of things in my time, but I can honestly say this:
“I can look back at everything, even my darkest time when I almost took my own life, and appreciate every experience. Because if it wasn’t for that, I wouldn’t be the man I am today. The man my children look up to, my wife loves and my people respect. That, to me, is more valuable than any amount of money I could think of.” - Michael Oakes Jr.
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