“  The greatest life you shall ever know is your own. To deny it is to lose meaning, to live another is to live a lie. Live, knowing that no other can claim to live your life and that only you have the power to define it.

What if everything I have in my life is because of my own doing? It seems like that cant be true, that there are so many factors outside of my control, I have no way of deciding how to live my own life. That is how I saw my life for a long time, that everything bad that ever happened to me was not my fault. My friends who treated me like dirt, my choices that I have regretted, my longtime lack of satisfaction in who I am, it always seemed like it was not because of me. That I had tried to do everything perfectly, so why wasn’t I rewarded for my effort? Why couldn’t everything in my 15 year life, just be where I wanted it to be?

I realize now, realize what I am doing that is causing me such pain in my life. The fact is, I keep trying and hoping to be perfect, thinking that then others may accept me. I wanted so much to be somebody else, someone that everybody would love, that I forgot to accept myself for who I am. I want to be able to do without caring what others might say, to feel happy without fearing that it will soon be brought down, I want to be able to live. And who am I to deny myself that right. Its my goal, my desire and my belief, I will live my life, not on the words of those around me, but on the beliefs and dreams I carry aside me.

-Gabe

Regardless of my flaws.

Regardless of my obsession with punctuality.

Regardless of my predictability.

Regardless of my fear of love.

Regardless of my overbearingly committed self.

Regardless of my sometimes flaky friendship.

Regardless of my ongoing struggle to embrace happiness.

Regardless of everything….

At the end of the day…I am me.

It is incredibly liberating to reveal to all the unstressed, unaffected, un-phased by managing an anal retentive and image-driven, me. It’s almost as if there are no inauthenticities. I am who I am, regardless of the effect it has on anyone else.

It is only upon the complete embracement of my unique internal characteristics that I will be able to uncover my true passions. Only then will I unveil a more profound personal fulfillment in life.

(Source: ralphwaldoemerson.me)

“Be certain that you are giving to others that which you are open to receiving yourself.”

After receiving this message, I would recall that…

1. For all of the love that I give to others, I must be willing to embrace it from those around me.

2. For all of the help that I give to others, I must be willing to embrace it from those around me.

3. For all of the time I invest in others, I must be willing to embrace opportunities to invest it in myself.

(Source: ralphwaldoemerson.me)

” The greatest power one commands is that of his own future. Through it, all love that is felt may be realized, all anger that was preserved may be cleansed and all dreams that are carried to be fulfilled.”What do you feel when you look back at your life? It depends on many factors, where you lived, who you met and who you were, all affected the experiences that you have gone through. You may feel many different emotions, happiness, anger, love, discontent all forces that affect who you are today. But instead, if you are given a chance to send a message to yourself, 10 years in the future, what would you say to yourself? What could you possibly say, that could change your past and transform you into who and what you want to be?
I am not sure what I will have achieved in 10 years time. By that date, I will be 25 years old, so naturally I assume I would have gone to college for a few years, possibly earning a degree. I also would have likely chosen a career path and decided upon something that I am passionate about. To put it simply, I believe that I would have found something to base my life on and therefore find meaning due to it. So as to what I would say, the message I would send to the me of the moment?
” Find what you know you truly care about and use it to define your life. I know you can, as I have done the same”-Gabe

” The power of belief triumphs the restraints of fear. Believe in your dream, as only then will it bypass the chains of fear, and soar into the realms of fulfillment and hope.”
My major goal in life? To be honest I am really not entirely sure yet. I am not yet really sure of my talents and abilities, more importantly I have no idea of what I want to do. I do know one thing though, I want to find a path and do something really amazing in it.

Fears:
1.I do not have enough talent to do anything noteworthy
2.Something will go wrong and stop me from fulfilling my dream.
3. When I accomplish my dream, I will fill unfulfilled by it.

Uncertainties:
1-1. I have often let myself down when I put my mind to something, I make myself as if I don’t have the necessary skills to follow through.
1-2. The abilities I have are very limited, I know I am talented in areas like math and reading, but how are these useful to me?
1-3. I am lacking in several areas where I should be more advanced, my handwriting and art skills are very low.

2-1. Bad things happen to people all over the world, whose to say that bad luck will not come to me.
2-2. I will be unable to sale my pitch, I will be unable to get others to believe in, or support what I am doing.
2-3. I may be at a point that I am financially unable to do whatever I want to do, therefore pursuing any possible dream could ruin my economically.

” Friendship is a very powerful drive. It allows the once impossible to become the doable, the once challenging to become the paltry, and the small to become the meaningful.”
I felt most alive when I was at the food pantry volunteering with friends this past Saturday. I enjoyed it greatly and it made me feel very fulfilled, to be part of a community service group. I didn’t really smell anything, as I have very bad allergies and cannot usually smell. I did see many things, boxes full of bread and pastries, crates and labels stacked out all around. But this is not what I remember my volunteer work. What really stood out to me, what made me feel alive, was the experience of working and volunteering with the positive footprint team.

I enjoyed working with my teammates, as I know many of them personally, with a few being very good friends. It was an odd experience for me, as I am used to doing volunteer work on my own. But when I tried working with the positive footprint team, I found myself enjoying it immensely. This teamwork allowed us to accomplish a great deal at the food pantry and made me feel as if we can accomplish bigger and better things the next time we meet.

For more info on positive footprint  go to

http://positive-footprint.org/

” Help the world become a better place, one small step at a time”

-Gabe

This actually happened very recently, this past Saturday actually, around 3:00pm. I was smack dab in the middle of working along side a great team volunteering with a food bank, and was struck by an invigorating feeling. I realized in that very moment that I had started something. Not something small, but something that could actually become a movement. Honestly, this had yet to occur before that moment. I was mid-sentence talking to my Mentor Jaime about our growth strategy for Positive-Footprint.org and realized something pretty cool and profound; I was struggling with how to build additional teams to incorporate new members that were interested. 

I’m still at that point, but it is a great problem to have.

It was quite humbling actually, as this has never occurred before. 

Honestly, it kind of happened again today as all six current members submitted their first reflection posts on our blog. I just can’t seem to stop thinking about this whole thing.

 : )

-David

(Source: ralphwaldoemerson.me)