Optimism

Letter To My Younger Self

/ markmkane / 2 Comments

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I’ve always wondered what I would do if I somehow got a letter from my future self whether it be magically or in a sci-fi type manner.  Would I take heed or completely blow it off?  Will it affect the outcome of my future self if I go in an opposite direction?  Ah the endless possibilities.

I could dwell on the many outcomes but the one thing that fascinates me the most is if I had to craft a letter to my younger self, specifically my teenage self. 

 What would I write? 

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 What do you say to a teenage boy who “thinks he knows everything”? 

Choosing the perfect words to convey what I want my teenage self to know is truly daunting.  I’d probably overthink things and my prose would be just mindless ramblings.

It would have to be short, simple and straight to the point, because if you really think about it a teenager doesn’t really have the time to read something that looks like a page from a boring novel.

If I had to write a letter to my younger self, it would just be something that’s spontaneous and from the heart.  And this is how it would go:Ltr7Dear Teenage Mark,

When I look at you, I see someone with so much potential.  Don’t stifle that, don’t limit yourself and settle for what’s the easiest.  Sometimes taking the most difficult and challenging path is the one that will be the most gratifying.

 There are going to be tough times ahead, so feel free to lean on others for support.  You don’t have to go through it alone.  The words of wisdom and unconditional love of others is what will give you the strength to endure everything.

 Take the time to step back and savor the moments, even the most mundane one.  It may look like nothing to you now but as you get older, you’re going to wish you could relive those memories.

 Don’t be afraid to try new things!  Step out of your comfort zone and experience life.  There’s a world out there beyond the five feet in front of you.  AND if you start something…DON’T QUIT!  See it through till the end.

I strongly suggest that you listen to other people who know more than you because it is sound advice.  You DON’T know it all and if you think you do…you’re truly a dumb ass.  Cut that out before I travel back in time to slap some sense into you.

You’re going to meet a lot of people, just remember that not every one of them is going to like you.  And you’re not going to like every one of them.  That’s okay!  Just don’t be afraid to express your opinions around them, you’ll be better off for doing  so.

Friends will come and go in certain chapters of your life so learn from your experiences with them because they’ll help to shape a part of your personality.

Lastly, pursue your dream of writing with extreme vim and vigor.  DON’T obsess over finding representation or getting published, it is not the “be-all and end-all” of your writing…it will come in time.  (With a lot of luck and sheer dogged determination!) All those writing classes that you’re contemplating on taking…DO IT…it’ll help you in more ways than you know.  So start NOW…write constantly so that you find your voice, develop your unique writing style, build your passion and expand your imagination.

You are in store for one hell of a ride, so embrace everything that comes your way and keep your eyes wide open so that you won’t miss a thing.  It’ll all be worth it.

Be yourself and be eternally optimistic.

Stay Strong!

Mark

Cherished Memories

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“As you look towards the future

forget not the past

Savor the present

for in your memories they’ll last

There’ll be times in life

where things may be unclear,

just grit your teeth, head straight forward

and show you have no fear

There will also be days

when everyone brings you down,

so just remember my smile

like that of a cheerful clown

Remember the good times

shared between you and me,

and spread all of the happiness

to everyone you see.”

To Sing A Song Of Love

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There once was at time

when I doubted myself

confidence lost

hidden away on a shelf

Could I do what I say?

Will it turn out all right?

Will my life get on course

before I lose sight?

When all was lost

with my life turning blue

an angel on high

carried my heart straight to you

To sing a song of love

From my heart the words need to be true

To do anything in this world

I need the love from you

You helped me to see

what was already there

You opened up my eyes

with your heart that you had shared

You made me believe

that things can come true

You opened a feeling deep inside

a special gift from you

The feeling of love from within my heart

awakened, blossomed, it grew

Beauty unlocked for all to share

you set my life anew

Now I sing a song of love

from my heart the words are true

I can do anything in this world

as long as it’s for you

The magic that has found us

the love between you and me

One heart that now binds us

with you I’ll always be

Together we sing a song of love

our hearts forever true

Anything in this world I’ll do

as long as it’s for you.

Every Cloud Has A Silver Lining

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For all my life I’ve tried to be an eternal optimist in a somewhat pessimistic world.  (To be more specific, I’ve applied that thought to my life as an aspiring screenwriter.) Lately, however, I’ve been trying to adopt that to my personal life.

 You have to believe that otherwise your life would be desolate and miserable.  No matter how bad things may get, you should never feel hopeless because better days do lie ahead.  There is a light at the end of that long tunnel, it may be big as a spotlight or small as a penlight flashlight, but it is there.

 Believe me, there are some days when my convictions and faith are tested to the limits.  A bad day at work, an injury, arguments aplenty, caught in terrible weather, rejected for a prospective job, someone close passes away, illness…the list can go on and on and on.  Everything bad, whether insignificant or huge, becomes fodder for our mind’s consumption. 

 We’ve all been there and I know that each and every one of you’ve said the same thing – “WHY’S THIS HAPPENING TO ME?!”

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 It’s times like these when you start to wonder if there’s some validation to all the pessimism out there in the world.  Your outlook starts to look grim and any chance of bliss seems futile.  You begin to get envious of those around you whose luck and good fortune seem to line up effortlessly. 

 Once you get into that mindset, it’s SO difficult to recover; if you can’t, then you become another statistic in a world of pessimistic drones.  I’m not going to lie I’ve fallen into that trap numerous times, enough to the point where I have a plaque with my name engraved there.  But I’ve learned that no matter what, there really is brighter days ahead.

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 Anytime you encounter a bad situation and feel like it’s the end of the world…STOP!  Soak in what happened and know that you are not the only one experiencing something “catastrophic.”   There are millions upon millions of people out there going through a similar or maybe even worse situation.  You are not alone!  Turn to God and pray if that’s your faith, confide in family members and friends, or spend time with your beloved pet to get some clarity on your life.

 For every negative thing that happens, there’s some good that comes from enduring our ordeals.  We may be able to see it clearly, it may be subtle or it may reveal itself down the road.  Either way, something positive will always appear. 

Overcome each hurdle one at a time, jumping over the smallest one first.  Clearing one impasse leads the way to clearing the rest of the hurdles ahead of you.

 Who knows, we might discover a new found friend, gain confidence from an underlying skill we never knew we had or learn something useful…there are countless of things that could arise.  So in essence, there is a bright spot in an otherwise bleak situation; we just have to have a positive outlook. 

 We should instead think of possibly the worst situation we could be in and compare it to what we’re facing.  I’m sure it pales in comparison.  We’re alive and we get to see another day; some people are not so lucky.  Just relish in the fact that we’ve conquered past obstacles and live to tell the tale.  That’s an accomplishment in itself.

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 So when things don’t go your way, just stop, take a deep breath, soak in all that bad vibes and reflect on your life for a moment.   Look around you, look at your family, look at your friends, examine your life for a bit…reminisce on all the good times and laughter shared.  Revisit all those joyous memories and know that you’ve become a stronger person because of that.  Keep the faith in knowing that there’s always a glimmer of hope in the most dire of situations.

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Two of a Kind

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Our common interests

that we both like to share,

our little talks

to show that we care

Our poetic writings,

very creative in style

our message of importance –

to have a warm friendly smile

Our insight to life

is as keen as can be,

we look for the goodness

in everyone we see

Our zest for life

is seen in what we do,

we try to brighten the day

to put a big smile on you

We do not let failure

get the best of the day,

we try to find the solution

somehow, some way

We are compatible –

both you and I,

in the things we do

and in the things we try

A girl like you

is really hard to find

so trust in love

cause we’re – Two of a Kind.

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My Wedding Vow…

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My life had no meaning

it was desolate and blue,

darkness consumed me

until I met you.

The times spent with you

gave me a feeling so great –

it felt like paradise

had just opened its gate.

Your warmth and your kindness

that you eagerly gave,

my belief in your love –

my life you have saved.

Your faith in me was strong

through the good and the bad,

you gave of your love

made me appreciate what I had.

Your lovely voice,

your warm tender smile

the presence of your beauty

makes love all the worth while.

This feeling for you

is so hard to convey,

to pick one true meaning

would be unjustly to say.

My spirit soars

when your presence is near,

“YOU”…the love of my life

gives me reason to cheer.

To have you as a partner in life

is a great honor for me,

and eternity in heaven

is what our lives will always be.

1st Anniversary

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I can’t believe that one year ago I started a blog…ME of all people.  At the behest of my manager, Alexia, I needed to create a blog site to promote myself on social media.  She’s such a savy person when it comes to that so who am I to argue.

When I set up my journey on creating my site, I was a complete novice.  No experience whatsoever.  There were times when I felt like I needed to hire someone to do this for me so that I can skip all the clutter and get to the details of just writing.

I am so glad that I opted to do this on my own.  It was rough at first but soon I got the hang of the process it took to set up a site I could call my own.  Yes, you can truly “teach an old dog new tricks.”  I am in no way an expert yet but I’m still in the process of  learning all the intricacies to fixing my blog site to get it to how I want.

Once I got something up, the question was what was I going to write.  I had no clue as to what direction I was going to take.  I perused other sites and soaked in what they had to offer; soon I got to thinking that I should just write about whatever I felt like I needed to convey to anyone who would stumble across my site.

I wrote about anything and everything, my experiences, my family, my children, my pets, being a screenwriter, writing in general, poetry, what it took to be a writer, about life, pet peeves, being an eternal optimist, trying to be positive and so on and so forth.

It didn’t matter what I wrote I just needed to write.  And I made a promise that I would write something each week regardless if it was eloquent or rough around the edges.  I just needed to write.  I made this promise to myself and I intended to keep it.

Well, it’s been a year and I’m proud to say that I’ve written something every week.  I’ve kept my promise and will continue to do so until I decide otherwise.  In the scheme of things, I felt like being a blogger was therapeutic.  I got to sound off about a lot of things and was most satisfied that I got to share it…even if no one read it.  Writing was writing after all and I am trying to better myself in this craft that I love.

I’m happy I started this journey and am truly excited to see where I’ll be next year.  The future is unwritten and I’m looking forward seeing how my site will grow.  I am honored to be one of the millions of bloggers in this world expressing myself through my site.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To Blog or Not To Blog

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With my one year anniversary of have a blog site coming up, I looked back and wondered what would’ve been if I didn’t start this venture.

Before I started all of this, I had a few misconceptions about bloggers.  The three things that stuck out were: ONE – it was easy to create a site, TWO – everyone was doing it to become famous and THREE – you needed to be an expert on a subject to post things about.

I strongly resisted the urge to be a part of this because I thought that I’d be wasting my time that should otherwise be devoted to my screenwriting craft.

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For years I continued to pursue my dreams and had forgotten all about blogging.  One fateful day my manager, who’s VERY social media savvy, recommended that I create a blog site and put myself out there and promote myself and my stories.

“Oh great…GRRR…do I really have to do this!?” I thought with disgust.  I procrastinated in starting this new journey and was making all kinds of excuses in my head as to why I’ll never enjoy this.

Apprehension was always in the background when I started to do research on how to start a blog site.  I engrossed myself in any and all available info that was accessible; soon that hesitation started to diminish and a sense of wonderment and encouragement set in.

The thought that “You know what, I really think I can do this” popped into my brain and my mindset was that I was now “ALL IN.”

When I first started, I thought that I was going to have my site up in a couple of hours and would be posting on it soon after.

Boy was I wrong.  Creating a blog site was not easy and creating one that would fit my needs was even more daunting.  It took a couple of months to get it to suit my needs but it still is a work in progress.

Once I got my site up and running, the next step was posting to it.  What was I going to write?  How long should it be?  What if no one likes it?  All these thoughts and more started to creep in and anxiety set in.  Damn…whatever I write will be out there for all to see; that was a scary feeling.

Despite all my fears, I “manned up” and published my first post.  That wasn’t so bad.  A week after that I posted another story on something mundane.  The following week it was a random post about my kids.

I started reading all the other bloggers out there and was surprised (and relieved) at what I found.  My fellow bloggers were posting about a lot of things: their experiences, historical accounts, traveling, writing, pets, friends, foods, anything and everything.

It was amazing to see the cornucopia of topics bloggers everywhere talked about.  Some of the writing were eloquent, while others were simple and straightforward; it was quite refreshing reading all of this.

Some wrote to just get things off their chest, while others wrote in hopes of helping others; I connected with people whom I never me all because of their posting.  I connected with people whom I never met all because of their posts.  It was truly AMAZING!

The more I wrote, the more I felt comfortable.  When I got my first “LIKE” and “Comment”, I was ecstatic to the point where I jumped off my chair and danced around like a giddy child on Christmas day.

This encouraged me to continue on and write on subjects that I would never even think of.  I ventured into other types of writing that even helped my style of writing. 

“What was I so afraid of?” I thought.  Fast track to a year later, my mindset now is “I should’ve started blogging years ago.” 

For anyone that is thinking about starting a blog, all I can say is “GO FOR IT!”  It’s a way to get yourself out there and share what you have to offer to others.  You’ll be interested to find that there are others that share your same dreams, feelings, experiences, passion and humor.

Don’t be afraid.  The only question that you should ask yourself is whether…”To Blog or Not To Blog.”

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What the future holds

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As each day passes

and your future draws near,

the answers to all your questions

may still be unclear

The solutions you seek

aren’t really hard to find,

just look within yourself

and your problems will be left behind

The same goes in life

as you grow old each day,

the more wiser you become

in each and every way

You learn to be patient,

you learn to be kind,

you become more trusting 

by using your heart with your mind

When the years go by

and you gracefully grow old,

use your acquired wisdom

and you’ll have a heart of gold.

What’s In A Name?

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“What’s in a name?

It’s most difficult to tell

because it’s intangible

it has no sight, taste or smell

What’s in a name?

Is it a reflection of you?

Does it reveal your true nature

or display something new?

What’s in a name?

What can it do?

Will it give you prestige

or cause embarrassment to you

What’s in a name?

That’s most difficult to see

A name is a name

most people will agree

But a name is not a name

for something special is there

I’ll reveal to you the answer

for all of you to share

The name that was given

to you specifically at birth

was to give you individuality

on this big planet Earth.”