Believe in yourself
Obstacles can be broken
The world is all yours
You are capable
God gave you gifts to succeed
Display your greatness
All signs point to you
Master your destiny now
Make your dreams come true
Learning
My Personal Daily Affirmation
“The decisions that we make, whether it be good or bad, takes us to where we were meant to be.”
Mid-Life Reflections #7
We live in a hustle and bustle world where every minute of our lives is bombarded by things left and right. There are times when chaos ensues and others that leave us completely dumbfounded. Usually at the end of the day, we are completely exhausted both physically and mentally and end up sleeping it off only to continue with the hubbub the next day.
I’ve learned that too much exposure to all this commotion can sometimes cause us to freak out and wonder “What the hell?!”
“Is this how it’ll be for the rest of my life?”
“Will it ever end?”
“What is my purpose in the scheme of it all?”
“Things have to get better right?”
All these questions must’ve popped into our minds at one point in time. We’re either just starting to experience this, in the process of it or finally getting over it. Whichever one we’re in, just know that in spite of everything, we need to stop and catch our breath.
Look around and take delight in your children, your pets, your siblings, your parents, your grandparents, your friends; just watch them and know that you are what you are because of them.
Watch the sunrise or the sunset; by doing this know that you are lucky enough to live another day.
If your life is not to your liking, change it. It’s as simple as that. Have a job that sucks, quit. In a relationship that’s horrendous, end it. Want to try something new, be fealess and go for it. That cliche “Life is too short” is really true.
You got to where you are because you endured a lot and overcame obstacles that seemed insurmountable. You can go much further and better yourself and situation if you just have faith in yourself. Life is precious…so dare to be bold and custom life to your liking!
Almost, But Not Quite There Yet
When life throws you a curve, what do you do? We are faced with making many decisions on a daily basis, some minor, others life-changing ones. How do you decide which course of action to take? Do you rush into it with emotions running high? Do you take a step back and think things through?
Lately, I’ve been pondering the decisions that I’ve made within the past several months. Were they good ones…well it’s hard to say. From my perspective, it might’ve been the wrong ones. I think the past several decisions were based purely on emotions and in hindsight I should’ve taken a breather before jumping headlong into a predicament that exacerbated what was already a stressful situation.
As always, I live and learn. My comfort is in the fact that I have the power to do something about it and that it’s not something that’ll last forever. No matter how bad the situation I’m in, I’ll find a way to resolve it. I just need to look for the little signs that God has placed for me to find. Once I can identify them and learn from it then it’ll be when I can move on. Life is way too short to just give up and be content with where you are.
Granted I’ve made mistakes that led me to where I am today, but I have faith that this is the path that God designed for me. I am eternally hopeful that this will ultimately lead me to where I was truly meant to be. As long as I keep the faith, stay positive and persevere, I’ll be just fine.
Your Test Of Strength
When the chips are all down
and your luck has run out,
take several steps back
cast aside any doubt
There are often times
when things don’t go your way,
you choose wrong, you fail
making mistakes throughout the day
You’ve just hit a rough patch
in this journey called life,
just roll with the punches,
bid adieu to the strife
In the midst of this insanity
there’s always a ray of hope,
that light at the end of the tunnel
is what helps you to cope
You’ll get through this dilemma
and will reach the other side,
problems encountered hereafter
is taken all in stride
Take pride in yourself
you’ve fought the good fight,
your character has mettle,
inner strength shown outright
So take charge of your life
when things go awry,
head straight forward, show no fear
wave those bad days goodbye.
The ABC’s of Living Your Life
When we start out in life, that sense of naivety is truly a blessing. We are born into this world free of judgement. We see others as our equals. We have big dreams. Our imaginations are at its peak. We have no limitations. We don’t know the meaning of quit. We aren’t afraid to take chances and fail. We are curious about the world and seek to learn everything and anything that’s new. We show our appreciation and love openly and abundantly. We say what we feel and then move on with no grudges or hardships toward others. Our honesty leads the way and our good natured spirit keeps us ground. We share our infectious bright beaming smile to everyone we see. And best of all, every hour, every minute, every second is lived to its fullest; we live as if there’s no tomorrow.
Somewhere along the way, as we grew up, we lost some of those shining traits. If we can somehow remember what it felt like to be that child and apply it to our daily routine, then we can say that we are truly living. It’s easy, it doesn’t take much to regain back those redeeming qualities, we just have to be willing to try. So the best way to living our lives is to get back to the fundamentals.
New Year Haikus
Start of a new year
Many doors are now open
Possibilities
With eyes wide open
Our dreams are within our grasp
Time to fulfill them
Make your first step count
Take on the world without fear
Everlasting hope
Navigating the Unknown
Lost in thought
nowhere to turn,
what have I done
that makes this a concern
I’ve lived a life
of certainty and control,
stayed in my lane
eyes on the goal
But one fateful day
I decided to jump
Heading into the unknown
taking me out of a slump
These unchartered waters,
scary with every wave
What course do I take?
How do I behave?
This path that I’m on
terrifying and new
Has me out of whack
my life a bit askew
With the chips all down
and back against the wall,
staying strong is the key
to endure the long haul
I’ve learned to be patient,
I’ve learned to be kind,
I became more trusting
by using my heart with my mind
This bump in the road
riled with stress and strife,
I’ll get past this somehow
it’s my test in life
I have to be positive
never wavering in thought,
look at all that I’ve done
be grateful for what I’ve got
Life it too short
I’ll do the best that I can,
live for a better tomorrow
“Everlasting Hope” as my game plan.
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When It Feels Scary To Jump…
While channel surfing couple years ago, I happened upon a channel that featured a 2014 movie called “A Most Violent Year”. Although I consider myself a movie buff, I’ve never really heard of this movie until that one fateful day. I won’t tell you what the plot was because I stumbled upon it and really didn’t watch it till the end. But I did happen upon a scene where a man by the name of Abel Morales said “When it feels scary to jump, that is exactly when you jump, otherwise you end up staying in the same place your whole life.”
This one line totally resonated with me and I just had to write it down. I turned off the TV and soaked in those words. I took it to heart and it quickly became etched within my subconscious. You could almost say that I had an epiphany of some sorts.
This one quote, this one line from a movie I have never seen told me that in life, you need to take chances regardless of the outcome. There are times when you’ll succeed and there are times when you’ll fail, but you must learn from it in order to grow into the person that you were meant to be. Life is too short to play is safe, it needs to be explored with eyes wide open. Life if full of endless possibilities with the potential to be great.
I took this to heart and felt that I needed to try anything even if it took me out of my comfort zone. I lived by the code of being open to different things; doing so would broaden my horizons both mentally and physically. Living by this way of thinking helped me to try different things; just facing the impossible or the uncomfortable with complete abandonment. Living this way made me realize that to do these things require both strength and faith; the will to pursue what your heart desires with the self-confidence to know that you’ll achieve something positive from it regardless of the results.
Ever since then, I’ve been bestowed with nothing but great outcomes. I dared to take a chance and came out a winner so to speak; I count my blessings everyday for doing so. So if you are faced with doing something that takes you out of your comfort zone, go all in and bet on yourself. The first step will be scary, terrifying even…but the end results will be much more rewarding. Take that leap and dare to be great!
Liebster Award
I am truly honored and appreciative of the fact that I was nominated for the Liebster Award by Haylee. I had stumbled across her log one day and was pleasantly surprised by her posts…most especially her poems. They are simple, profound and touch on life experiences that we all encountered at some point in our lives. If you get the chance, check out her site: stumblingaboutourworld.wordpress.com
You’ll be pleasantly surprised as I was.
Questions from stumblingaboutourworld:
1. What is the most extreme thing that I’ve done?
When I was in college, I hiked along the entire ridge of Diamond Head. Which I’m glad I did because now they do not permit anyone to do so because of the dangerous conditions.
2. Out of all the places I visited, which did I like the most?
I really like Hawaii (also known as the “Big Island”) . I got the opportunity to see an active volcano, walk on solid lava, got to go to the top of Mauna Kea, experienced the black sand beach as well as the green sand beach and saw many historical Hawaiian sites.
3. What is on of my favorite memories?
The birth of my daughter Chloe and my son Conor. It truly was an experience that surpasses anything and everything that I encountered or will encounter.
4. Why did I decide to start my blog?
It was on the advice of my literary manager but in the end it was my passion for writing and sharing my inner voice for the world to see.
5. What is my favorite book or book series?
“Writing Movies For Fun And Profit or How We Made A Billion Dollars at the Box Office and You Can, Too!” by Robert Ben Garant & Thomas Lennon
6. Do I have a post (one of my own) that you favor over others?
The one that I liked best was a post called “Our Special Gift” :
midlifemaniacalme.me/?s=our+special+gift
7. If I could go anywhere in the world and take one person, who would it be and why?
I would go and see Japan with my wife because she is my everything – the love of my life, my best friend, the foundation of our family, strong, smart and a fighter.
8. If I were given $500 today, what would I do with it and why?
If given a $500 today, I would spend it on a dinner for my parents because of all they’ve done for me. They’ve taught me the values of life, helped shaped the person into who I am today.
9. What inspires me to write?
It’s just a passion that I’ve had for the past 27 years. The joy I get from writing anything totally frees me and lets my inner voice be heard and shared with both strangers and all of my blogging colleagues.
10. What is my opinion on the advancement of technology?
I think that it’s great. A lot of what we do and see whether it be writing, seeing something is all instantaneous. It’s truly convenient.
Nominees:
I had a hard time trying to determine what blogs I was going to nominate because I follow so many great ones. The ones that particularly stuck out were the ones that touched me, inspired me, made me laugh and provoke thought. These blogs are written by the people who provide encouraging words and have the gift of prose. They really don’t need my help in sending people their way because so many people have found them already. But on the off chance you haven’t stumbled across them, please check them out..you won’t be disappointed.
Questions For The Blogs That I Nominate:
- What made you decide to start a blog?
- Which one of your own posts do you like the best and why?
- What inspires you to write?
- What have you learned from following other blogs?
- How has blogging affected your life?
- When do you like to do your writing – day or night?
- How do you decide on what blog you want to follow?
- Has your blogging experience been so far?
- Who is your biggest influence in your craft of writing?
- Would you recommend blogging to your family and friends?
Rules for Nominees:
- Thank the person who nominated you, and put a link to their blog on your blog. Try to include a little promotion for the person who nominated you. They will thank you for it and those who you nominate will also help you out as well.
- Display the award on your blog — by including it in your post and/or displaying it using a “widget” or a “gadget”. (Note that the best way to do this is to save the image to your own computer and then upload it to your blog post.) At the bottom of this post, I’ve included a whole lot of images you can use for your 2017 Liebster Award.
- For the 2017 Liebster Award, I will be shaking things up! Write a 150-300 word post about your favourite blog that is not your own. Explain why you like the blog, provide links.
- Provide 10 random facts about yourself. (This year I’m making this optional. If you wish to engage with your readers it’s a great idea to include random facts about you.)
- Nominate 5 – 11 blogs that you feel deserve the award. (Note that you can always ask the blog owner this since not all blogs display a widget that lets the readers know this information!)
- List these rules in your post (You can copy and paste from here or simply link to this post.) Once you have written and published it, you then have to:
- Inform the people/blogs that you nominated that they have been nominated for the Liebster award and provide a link for them to your post or mine if you don’t have all the information so that they can learn about it (they might not have ever heard of it!) (info)
Midlife, Maniacal & Me 