Not Merely to Survive, but to Live

"My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style” -Maya Angelou

I absolutely love this quote and not just from the simple fact that Maya Angelou has impacted me in ways I cannot describe, but for the truth that it says.

"My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style” -Maya Angelou

Far too often in my life, I meet people who are merely trying to survive. They are extending themselves to only the points on which they feel comfortable and living a passive life. It is the ease of getting through life and to be honest, it sounds dreadfully boring.

I want to live a life where I am constantly thriving to better myself, a life where I can be full of passion and be able to show this great compassion to those around me; a life where I can laugh and be joyful and to live a life with some flair! That is a life to be able to strive for.

So why do we choose to keep to the mundane? Why are we so reluctant to be able to strive to have a passionate life; a life worth living?

There are a numerous reasons in my opinion, but one that I believe encompasses them all: the fear of change.

From what I can tell from my observation of listening to people who are older then myself, the most interesting and fullfilling lives are the ones that have had many changes in them. Now some of these changes are external, but many of them are internal.

To be able to thrive, I highly believe that there has to be some type of struggle. Look at any piece of literature or movie and the characters have to go through some type of struggle to be able to grow and reach the ending. We as people are the exact same way.

Maybe that is why I find this quote so pertinent, because Maya Angelou herself faced many trials in her life. It would have been completely understandable if she would have timidly hid in a corner, but she didn't. In fact, she lived a life where she thrived in the good and bad times. She inspired many with the trials she went through by not dwelling in the negative and choosing to live a life worth living.

The fear of change or the struggle we will face will make life taste so much sweeter. Our passions will become stronger; we will care for each other stronger; we will be able to laugh harder; and we will be able to walk with an air about us, because we will be able to thrive to have the life worth living.

So, are you thriving in life? Are you living life with some passion, compassion, humor, and style? If not, then what's holding you back?

Fulfilling Books

Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book.”~ John Green, The Fault In Our Stars

This quote from John Green's book is the perfect quote that relates to his book, The Fault in Our Stars.

I will admit, I love this book. I read it a year ago in a short period of time and passed the book along to many of my friends since finishing it. It is something about this book that convinced me to pass it along and tell everyone about it. It's like if I passed the book to one more person, maybe, just maybe a person will be able to appreciate life and have passion.

This book also tells the story that is not often told, a teen who is dealing with cancer. The Young Adult selection that I can think of does not cover this topic and thought it talked about the struggle, the coping and the overall life of the characters in this truly authentic way. It was moving and I found myself emotionally drawn to these characters and wanted the best for them.

I know I have not dived too deep into the quote, because well, I believe this one speaks for itself. This book is a good read and I highly recommend it. 

Also, the movie comes out this Friday and I am very excited.

Writing Playlist

As I have mentioned before, I enjoy writing. It is something that I frequently find myself doing and whenever I am stuck on something, the first thing I do is create a story of how to get out of a scenario and that leads me to finding a solution. It's just the weird way my mind processes information. It has always been like that, but I have been able to to accept this fact as I have become older.

Any way, when I write I have to listen to music. Music as a whole inspires me and just motivates me. So, to introduce you to what helps me write, I have decided to actually share the playlist that has pretty much been the same since 2010.

Writing Playlist

1. Hook-Flight to Neverland ~ John Williams
2. Stepmom- The Days Between ~ John Williams
3. In Noctem ~ Nicholas Hooper
4. Ginny ~ Nicholas Hooper
5. Dumbledore's Speech ~ Nicholas Hooper
6. Living Death ~ Nicholas Hooper
7. Into the Pensieve ~ Nicholas Hooper
8. Harry & Hermoine ~ Nicholas Hooper
9. A Window to the Past ~ John Williams
10. Evenstar ~ Howard Shore & Fran Walsh
11. The White Rider ~ Howard Shore & Fran Walsh
12. Samwise The Brave ~ Howard Shore & Fran Walsh
13. Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) ~ Vitamin String Quartet
14. Beautiful Day ~ Vitamin String Quartet
15. Breakaway ~ Vitamin String Quartet
16. Bless the Broken Road ~ Vitamin String Quartet
17. Lose Yourself ~ Vitamin String Quartet
18. Campfire ~ Alan Menken
19. The Tear Heals ~ Alan Menken
20. Save the Last Dance ~ Vitamin String Quartet
21. Smooth Criminal ~ 2CELLOS (Sulic & Hauser)
22. Smells Like Teen Spirit ~ 2CELLOS (Sulic & Hauser)
23. One More Thing ~ Richard Gibbs
24. Earth ~ Hans Zimmer & Lisa Gerrard
25. Strength And Honor ~ Hans Zimmer & Lisa Gerrard
26. Barbarian Horde ~ Hans Zimmer & Lisa Gerrard
27. Elysium ~ Hans Zimmer & Lisa Gerrard
28. Honor Him ~ Hans Zimmer & Lisa Gerrard
29. Now We Are Free ~ Hans Zimmer & Lisa Gerrard

So that is the list that I most consistently listen to when I write. I have actually started listening to this same list when I work at home and have found great success from doing so, since there is a wide variety that can fit into any mood you are in and any type of work style. What's your favorite music to listen to when you work?

As a side note: I also listen a lot of Lindsey Stirling when I work. You should check her out!

 

To the Drawing Board

This is not going to be the typical Business Wednesday post. I have who knows how many drafts of posts for this day and to be completely honest, they all are horrible. Seriously, they are not well thought through and lack substance.

It has been bothering me for a bit of time that I have not been able to keep consistent on the Wednesday posts, so I am going to be honest with you. I am going back to the drawing board with Business Wednesdays. In other words, I have nothing good to say. I understand that I could very easily bloviate, but I want to be able to write with substance, especially on Wednesday posts.

What I am saying is that I will officially be taking time off of writing Wednesday posts for a while till I come up with something of substance. I will still be posting on Monday and Saturday, so it's not like I am taking a complete hiatus, just from one day. I will be working on some potential ideas for Wednesday, but it will be a bit of time before I post one.

I will say that if there is some idea that you would want me to write about on the topic of business, I will gladly take suggestions! So feel free to message me, write a comment, send me a tweet, whatever floats your boat with sending a message and I will see what I can do.

A Different Point of View

I have been mulling over what quote to use for today's post. I have searched all over the internet, tried to get inspiration from the movies that I watched over the weekend (Lee Daniel's The Butler and 12 Years a Slave) and even tried to get inspiration over the fact that this post falls on a national holiday, but none of it was working. I was planning on writing about freedom and I didn't really have a defined lead until I found the quote below.

I tell my students, 'When you get these jobs that you have been so brilliantly trained for, just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else. This is not just a grab-bag candy game.” Toni Morrison

 Toni Morrison is an author and a professor, which explains why she mentions her students. In 1993 she won the Nobel Prize in Literature because she gave life to "...an essential aspect of American reality."

We as American citizens love the idea of freedom. We plaster it on anything that we can and at the same time, disregard the importance of it. I believe we take freedom for granted and especially with some people my age, don't take our freedom and rights seriously. 

Maybe this is just me having been influenced by some great people and the literature, but I believe we must treasure all the freedom we have and be willing to give freedom to others. That's part of the reason I watched The Butler and 12 Years a Slave so I would be reminded about the times when people took advantage of freedom and wouldn't allow others to have it. Yes it is important to remember all the military men who serve, but what about those who served here who fought for the rights in our own country?

I can think of people like Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, Francis Willard, Cady Stanton, Martin Luther King Jr., Maya Angelou, Gloria Steinem, Dorothy Pitman Hughes, Cesar Chavez and so many more who fought for the rights for different people. Do we just not want to honor these people as well, because they are some of the reason that we have some of the rights and equal rights?

I tell my students, 'When you get these jobs that you have been so brilliantly trained for, just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else. This is not just a grab-bag candy game.” Toni Morrison

"If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else." 

I don't care if you agree with all the people that I listed above or if you think that some of them are extremists, they had some power and fought for people's rights. It is always easy to just look at a holiday like Memorial Day and give credit to military men, which they do deserve credit, but there are the people on the home front who deserve credit too.

It is our responsibility to empower others to be able to have equal freedoms. We should not be satisfied with inequality, but fight for rights for all people. That means not being complacent with where we are because we are still off from living in a equal society. Morrison said it best when she said "...that [our] real job is that if [we] are free, [we] need to free somebody else."

Let us remember that on this Memorial Day. Remember those who have both fought in wars for our freedom, but also remember all those we fought, protested and enacted laws that made sure that we are free.

My Flying Nemesis

Okay, the title may be a bit overly dramatic, but it's the only way I can describe what is to come in this post.

I guess it would be helpful to better define the creature that are the bane of my existence. It's mostly anything that has wings. More specifically birds and butterflies.

Yes, birds and butterflies are my enemies? Why? They honestly terrify me.

I know at this point you are questioning what caused these irrational fear of these two creatures that most people find enjoyment in?

I've thought long and hard to try to figure out why I irrationally fear ( or maybe it is more so to justify my fear) of birds and butterflies. So like every other type of blog I write, I am going to list out/share some anecdotes of on how this fear began.

Birds

• I can't ever remember liking birds
• Anecdote: When I was in Jr. High/Freshman in High school I was a part of cross country. Since I lived in an area that was flat, to get hill training we went to this man-made reservoir that had a path around the top. On the side of the hills, actually all parts of the reservoir was geese territory. Have you ever been chased and hissed at by a group of geese? Not a fun experience and unfortunately for my case, this happened a handful of times.  I was never bitten by one, but it did make me run fairly fast. So if you are ever with me and there are geese around, I will more than likely become very quiet, keep a close watch at them to make sure they don't attack. Seriously though, I freak out when I see geese. I'm sure to others this is a hysterical sight.
• Also, when I see shadows of birds up above me, I duck and cover, because I believe every bird is going to go all kamikaze on me.
•  There are other stories, but I think the goose story makes the me sound neurotic enough.

Butterflies 
  Before I explain this, I just want to preface by saying that this is a completely irrational fear. I get that, I do. I've also tried to get over it, but that proves a failure especially with my most recent experience with a butterfly. (Just so you know, as I am writing this I am laughing at myself, because I realize how stupid this fear is, but I honestly can't help it).

• I don't like things flying by my head. Creatures flying by my head is just very unsettling to me and it's also something about the color of the wings. I understand that people find the wings very pretty, but I really don't prefer them at all.
• I guess this fear escalated when my parents wanted to go through this botanical garden. I was in junior high and was never surrounded by butterflies so I never knew the effect that they had on me. Well, that's because I was never forced to be in a greenhouse full of butterflies. I started freaking out and ducking behind my brother. Of course having the loving family I have, they mercilessly made fun of me and my new found fear. On that day, I swore that I would never go in one of those again.
• Once again, when I was in high school, I went into one of the greenhouse butterfly exhibits. I was not to happy at the suggestion, but begrudgingly went again. My reaction was the same. I freaked out.
•  Now I thought that with me getting older that I would be able to get over this fear., but I was wrong. So I was driving home by myself a couple of weeks ago on a back road when it happened. It was a really nice day and I was in a really good mood. Then, all of a sudden, this butterfly gets stuck in my windshield wiper. I completely start freaking out even though I know it is outside of my car. I am frantically swearing and reaching for my switch to start my windshield wipers to get the butterfly off my car. Now this all happened in less than a minute. After my moment of freaking out, I stopped myself  and realized how stupid my fear is. Good that I noticed my fear, but bad that I am still freaking out.

So at the end of this, I have two super irrational fears that I honestly cannot control how I react to them. I have plenty of other stories of how I have been scared by birds and butterflies, but I would prefer to keep some of my neurosis hidden. 

The Greatest of Faults

The greatest of faults, I should say, is to be conscious of none. ~ Thomas Carlyle

I am a person who constantly is evaluating myself. Whenever I am in certain situations and a thought like, "Man, I wish I did [insert thing I wish I had done here] before [insert situation]" it causes me to evaluate how to fix the mistake for the future.

There have been times when I have had some free moments, that I have evaluated what I can improve in my life. I am not sure why I have had this mindset, but at least once a year, I take a lot of time to see how I can improve aspects of my life (during the other time of the year it's more so just small noticings).

The greatest of faults, I should say, is to be conscious of none. ~ Thomas Carlyle

I find it valuable to be able to evaluate the areas of which a person needs to improve on. It really is a major way to accomplish personal growth and that is why consciously ignoring your faults is one of the greatest faults.

Where personal growth is difficult is when people are unwilling to be conscious of any faults. It is having this complex that you are perfect and nothing needs to change in your life. Another way of phrasing it is being complacent with the way life is and deliberately choosing to be ignorant.

Maybe this has been too relevant to me, because I have been dealing with people who are like this for the past 5 years. They believe they have been doing everything correctly while making these huge and I mean HUGE mistakes and they are ignoring them. It is utterly frustrating, because they are letting pettiness get in the way of accomplishing greatness.

Consciously ignoring your faults aren't just holding you back from personal growth, but achieving greatness. And I don't mean greatness like the ones where you are recognized on a large scale, but that cliche of being all that you can be.

Part of the reason why I evaluate myself often is because I want to grow and constantly improve. This is not connected to some other person's standards, but my own standards of not wanting to be complacent in where I am as a person. I know I can achieve great things, but the only way I can do this is by acknowledging my faults and then challenging myself to grow from them.

I believe that we need to be constantly in growth and to be able to grow you need to be able to face the facts that you need to recognize personal faults.  It is a hard process to go through and typically there are times of denial. Actually, more than often, there will be a time of denial that will be a pain to deal with.

So take the time to acknowledge those faults and realize the potential for growth in your life. Don't wallow in the fact that you have faults, we all do, but instead make the choice to grow.