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At some point life is going to hit you!!!!
Lord knows I've been hit over and over a few times. In fact it's happened to me so many times that I had a personal close friend of mine, about a year ago say... "Geez man, if it wasn't for bad luck you'd have no luck!"
I chuckled, shrugged my shoulders and grinned back at him. To be honest, up until that point I hadn't really thought of it that way. I just figured it was life and there were times I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
That comment kinda stuck with me and for a moment. I thought, wow, maybe he was right?
But I quickly dismissed it. You see the last real hit I took that truly threatened my life was on August 22nd, 2015 (see picture after being released from ICU after a week) when I was hit by a Honda Civic while I was out for a Saturday morning ride on my Harley. I was actually on my way to pick up my daughter (her mom and I had separated in March of 2014) to take her to a U8 soccer game a couple blocks away. Thank God for small miracles she wasn't on the bike with me!!
You see, the reason I was able to dismiss that comment was because of the 40 days I had spent on my back recovering, reflecting on my life, the decisions I made, the things I had done, the people I had blamed, the finger pointing and the excuses I had made for "why" everything happened to me. Up until that point, nothing had been my fault. I had coaches who wouldn't play me, teachers who hated me and bosses who screwed me over.
But as I was able to reflect and come to terms and "own" all that happened to me and hold myself accountable for all those decisions. I realized that I was thankful for all those experiences. And even though it appeared that I had nothing but bad luck, the truth was I was very blessed and fortunate for the life I had.
Everyone wants the perfect fairytale life. Truth is that whether it's physical, mental, emotional or financial we all have scars that teach us lessons. And as long as we are still able to walk this earth we should thank those lucky scars for helping define who we are or have become.
If you want to build a great life, start focusing on progressing each day, learning something new, working toward the best version of yourself. Get 1% better than you were yesterday. Everyday is a new opportunity to show the world that you will not be defeated. Stop measuring yourself against others. Your journey is different than everyone else's. The only thing you can be is YOU!
It would have been so easy for me to quit, cower, give up and wallow in self pity. But each time I've been knocked down, beat up, cut, run over, fired, let go, whatever... I get back up!! I know I now have the mindset to look at those scars and realize they just made me stronger, tougher and more resilient.
So I challenge anyone reading this to stop making excuses and start taking action... scars will heal, life will go on. Regrets and excuses will torcher your soul!