Hello Reader,
Thank you for checking back. I was thinking about what to regale you with this week, and my mind returned to where I was around 11 months ago.
I was depressed, angry, and discontented with life. In a sense, hopeless but of my own mental cause. I drank too much, worked too much at a job I disliked, and stopped pursuing hobbies and joys that usually brought me joy. My person was so full of self-loathing, and I was not a joy to be around. I didn’t like who I was, so I checked out as often as possible.
That all led to me deciding to change my life radically. I gave up alcohol, but more than that, I decided to analyze my own character and dive deep into what I wanted out of life. I sought help and began the process.
It is a general consensus that “What do want to be when you grow up?” is a fairly easy question to answer when you are a kid around four – my own four-year-old doesn’t hesitate to answer.
“A dancer and a chef,” he’ll exclaim boldly to anyone asking (he watches a lot of Dance Monsters and cooking shows that we watch as a family). He sees people having fun and wants to do that. Happiness.
So I asked myself the same and continued asking myself the same daily.
What do I want to be when I grow up (it’s funny cause I’m a child at heart, and more importantly, I am growing more and more each day).
The answers were simple.
To be happy, to help others, and to learn more.
So here I am; I work now in an emergency room. I’m starting school again in a few weeks, and when I’m done (in about 8 – 10 years), I’ll have my M.D. unless the passion leads me somewhere else. I can only strive toward a direction until the above leads me to where he needs me.
My passion since I was a kid has been to help those around me, and every day I am physically manifesting that. Sure, it is hard work, but I haven’t had one day where I was feeling discontent.
All that is to say, Reader, that I encourage each and everyone of you to be extra. Pursue your passions, and don’t get stuck in a rut like I did (10 years was a long dry season). It only takes one day and one decision to change your life, and the next day, the decision to follow through.
Let’s get back to the basics… be happy and help those around you be happy, too.
My ten rules for new life:
• To expect what you want, ask for it first.
• Life rewards courage.
• Times when communication is hardest are when it is needed most.
• Changing your ideas in the face of new information is not a weakness.
• Holding onto your ideas no matter what the facts say is not a virtue.
• It is deceptively easy to forget that other people are real. If you want others to respect you, start by respecting them.
• E. E. Cummings (he is an amazing poet. You should look him up) was right when he said, “To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else – means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight, and never stop fighting.”
• The above being said, you don’t have to fight every battle you’re invited to; use your energy and time wisely.
• Draw your own personal mission statement and pursue it diligently.
• Do everything with a hand of excellence. To the best of your ability.
Lastly, because I’m a poet, here’s a poem:
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“Rinse”
Gregory Scott Gentry II
In this sacred space, we discovered our true selves,
A place where everything felt right, where harmony dwells.
Where emotions entwine with the melody’s grace,
And mistakes of the past are erased.
The bottle beckoned, “Drink me,” it said,
So I lifted it high and consumed life’s thread.
In that eternal moment’s serenade,
A sip of existence, forever to fade.
And then it was over, the magic undone,
Yet it meant everything, the moon and the sun.
We don’t run out of fear, nor hide out of hate,
We simply feel because we cannot abate.
So raise this cup, remember me in this tone,
For this shall forever be my epitaph, my own.
To feel, to seek, and to discover anew,
As the music swells, let it guide me and you.
No higher place can we ever find,
Than within the notes, entwined.
I won’t mourn its passing, I refuse to let go,
I won’t ignore this song, for its power I know.
This moment is mine, and ours, and yours,
Let these words guide you to your inner shores.
Find yourself within these verses, embrace their art,
For I mean them today, and I meant them from the start.
So here’s to chaos, a farewell we bid,
As hope arrives, a new chapter to be lit.