Hello there, post number 300!  I’m actually pretty surprised that I’ve posted quite so many times over the years.  It all sort of crept up on me.  This is my 300^th post, so I got to thinking about what I’ve learned as a result of all this writing.  I decided to forgo a poem, a movie review, a Distinguished Dude, or some Essential Egon; instead, I resolved to make a few brief points.

What I’ve discovered is that you truly can’t be afraid to reinvent yourself- you can’t be afraid to fail.  Failure is as common as anything that we’ll experience in life, but it should be viewed as a tool rather than a fear.  There is no effort without a bit of failure, and that failure will ultimately teach us how to tweak things next time.  We will hopefully learn from them, make the necessary adjustments, and move forward.  Realistically, we can’t be angry with ourselves, or with anyone for that matter, if we refused to even try.  Giving something a genuine shot is step one.  I spoke to an old friend over the weekend (and when a 95 year old gives you life tips, you’d better listen), and one of the things she said was “when you’re young, you can always start over; you can do anything.”  Those words hit home.  Time flies and goes on, yes, but one can always start again.  Life is full of second chances and new beginnings.  There are a bazillion cliches and Lifetime movies that coincide with that theme.  You can always overcome, persevere, and be the person that you’ve always dreamed of being.  It’s true.  Hearing her say that reminded me that it’s never too late, despite the rapid tick of the clock.

It’s true that time flies exponentially the older we get, but we’re lucky and blessed just to have made it this far; plenty of people whose time came and went would love to be in our shoes right about now.  Each day is the first word of a new sentence, a paragraph, a page, and we are the writer as well as the reader.  Don’t like the current page?  Write a new one.

What I’ve learned, essentially, is that you just keep going.  Plain and simple.  You keep on pushing.  Odds?  What odds?  Challenges?  Bring ‘em on.  Create your own fate, your own destiny.  People talk of destiny as if one is required to follow the path laid before us, cookie cutter style.  Fuck that; bulldoze your own trail if need be- steamroll that shit and construct a destiny that will satisfy you.  Defy the stereotypical norm; there are no expectations except those that society puts forth.  Buck the trend; all that matters, all the tools that we need, are inside of us.  We were born equipped with all of the things we seek externally.  We are like human Swiss army knives- capable, durable (and often full of a bunch of shit that we don’t need), and ready for any challenge that the universe throws at us.  It’s our choice though, to be ready for that challenge when it comes.  One day needs to be TOday, and TOmorrow just as often needs to morph into TOday.  Break that backburner…don’t relegate anything to that joint.  Whatever gets put back there inevitably gets scorched, torched, and destroyed.

Keep those dreams lucid, but make a solid plan to help them materialize.  Lay a foundation; no hefty idea is solid and robust without one.  Dreams do no good collecting dust in that old brain of yours, right?  A dream is just a random thought until you lay that foundation.  True resolve comes from DOING.

Go write.
Go draw.
Go run.
Go study.
Go to the bathroom.
Go do whatever – just do something.

The key is less sitting and more doing.  Don’t kick yourself for never having tried.  Try something old, or new, or different, and discover what it is that makes you happy.  Go find that happy; it’s out there right now, just waiting for you – you’ll know it when you see it.*