What is Your Super Power? To Infinity and Beyond.

Become a doctor. Become a lawyer. Become an engineer. Become an Architect. ...the list can go on for days. If you have ever heard this from anyone close to you, you know exactly what I am talking about. For a major chunk of my life I was told that I was going to become a doctor, and for a majority of that chunk I believed it, but as I got older I realized that this was infact NOT what I wanted to be. Just the thought of being in school for a really long time, and all those science classes … no thanks! NOT FOR ME! This is MY life, and only I live with the choices I make. Likewise, YOU are the one who lives with YOUR decisions, so make them worth your while. The trick to being happy and successful, is taking the time to figure out what you are actually good at, your superpower!!! You will only be happy with life if you wake up every morning doing what you love and being surrounded by people you love. So figure out what your super power is, it is never too late.

It is ok if you do not know what you want to do with your life… hell … I am still trying to figure that out (maybe I will ALWAYS be trying to figure that out). The fact of the matter is that we are constantly changing, so why do we seem to think that we cannot change our careers as well? Is it because we have worked so hard to build up our careers in the first place? But how does that help anyone if YOU are not happy? Hard work and determination will ALWAYS pay off no matter what your current situation is, you just need to stay focused and keep your eyes on the prize. Each individual has the power to succeed and if you believe that your environment is holding you back … just think of it as an obstacle that no one else has had to face, and will make you a stronger person because of it! In order to make this work for you, you need to figure out what you are good at and build on those skills rather than spend too much time trying to fix what needs fixing. It is completely fine if your superpower is saving people’s lives in the emergency room, or putting up buildings, just as long as you are not being forced into that profession.

When I was in high school I had a friend who was a well rounded student, and she was good at EVERYTHING. When high school was nearing an end we were talking about what our plans were for the future. Her interests were within the art field. However, her parents wanted her to become a pediatrician. She was to spend the next few years of her life working hard toward THAT goal .. her parent’s dream. I have since lost touch with this friend, but I hope she is happy with the decision she has made … who knows, maybe she is still doing art on the side. This friend of mine made the choice to listen to what her parents wanted of her to do, but she did not take the time to examine her superpower. Her passion was art, not sick little kids! This one story is a reflection of where we can go wrong by trying to pick our superpower and not maximizing on our natural talents.  

So, how do you figure out what your super power is? … You get out there and do things you thought you would NEVER do, live a little and step out of your comfort zone. Even travel to a place you have never been before. I have never met anyone who did not benefit from the experience of venturing into the unknown, there is always something to be gained. A few months back I took a job at a marketing firm, I had NEVER done anything like this before. It was completely new to me, but I soon realized that this was not for me. I am grateful for the experience, I learned a lot and met some great people in the process. In the end, I could not see myself being happy at this job … this fortunately was NOT my superpower. If I did not step out of my comfort zone to take this job, I would not have known that this was NOT my cup of tea. This experience left me room to grow so I could find my strong suit.

You will always be able to come up with excuses as to why you should not do something .. but what if … and only IF, you decide to step out of your reality, you might find something, universe forbid, that you enjoy! :O What if this one thing altered your universe for the better? You will become a happier person and develop a purpose for living, and will be surrounded by people who mean the world to you. SO, do it! No more “what if's” or “but’s.” That is what a SUPERPOWER feels like.

~Find yo’ POWER!

"No," "No," "No."

If they slam the front door in your face, then go in through the back. If the back is locked, find a window and a rock!

It is always hard to hear the words “no”, or “thanks, but no thanks,” and whatever other rejection phrases you have heard. We have all heard the words at some point or another, but we cannot dwell on any one rejection for too long.

When I was applying to universities in high school I had no clue where I wanted to go, I was just going to go with the flow. Then I started getting into every single university I applied to, it felt good, but then there was the last school that I did not hear from yet. This school was looking better and better by the minute, I really, really wanted to go there. I knew that I had the potential to get in, after all I got into all of the other universities. Despite getting into all of the universities, I was still devastated when the last letter was a … you guessed it … rejection :O. This was the first time in my entire life where I was rejected for something I wanted with every fiber of my being.  I was not willing to accept defeat so I appealed but yet another rejection letter rolled in. So what was I to do? I could go to any of the other 8 universities I got into. NO! I was still not ready for this defeat. I went to a junior college, where I spent 2 years working hard, and making new friends, and stepping out of my comfort zone … often! Going to a JC was the best decision I ever made, I owe a lot of who I have become to those 2 years. Theses 2 years were a blessing to me, I am glad that I did not get into that university the first time around, because I would have missed out on all of the wonderful people I met, and the life changing experiences I had. At the end of my 2 years, I GOT IN but this time with a scholarship mate!!!!

Rejection does not always work this way, there does come a point where you have to stop and move on. Recently I was hunting for a job. I was turned down for a job, because I do not have any experience… and this was a writing job. The person I met with did not even look at what I had prepared for him to read … hell, he didn’t even take it from my hands. It’s a writing job and he didn’t even look at what I wrote. What was his reason for not giving me a chance? It would have taken him 2 seconds to see what I was capable of. I knew that nothing would come of this situation, so I moved on. However, I will be sure to send a FREE copy of my book to him when I am a successful writer… just because I can.

There are two major take aways I want you to have from this, one is that if you want something enough, and if you work hard toward that goal, you will get it eventually. However, you have to remember that you should have a cut off date, a date when you will stop and move on to something better. You do not want to spend too much time on something when you could be spending that time on something else. The second is that one “no” in one situation is helping you find that “yes” else where. It is the Law of Averages, in most basic words: If you try everything you are bound to find something. You should not dwell on the “no” for too long, one “no” is one step closer to that “yes.”

~Keep your head up.

Graduation... Now What?

Being that it's graduation/commencement season, we decided to blog about new beginnings. For many of you who are graduating, I would like to congratulate you on your hard work and accomplishments. You have come so far from where you started, I want to remind you this is not the end this is only the beginning of the rest of your life... not to sound dramatic here but it’s the truth hahaha. SHIT IS ABOUT TO GET REAL! FAST AND HARD!

A lot of you will go on to pursue higher education, take up an internship to step foot in  your dream job, others will save up money to move out, buy a car... pay off loans! Whatever the case may be, make sure that you are happy and doing what you want to do in life. For some people, finding a job that is relevant to what they have studied throughout college will come easy, and then there’s the rest of us who are still trying to figure that out. Dont give up, if you try your best and make every effort to achieve your goals, like graduating from college, in the end everything will work itself out. However if for some reason this ends up not working for you, at least you can always say it wasn’t because you didn’t try.

The aspect of new beginnings and simply going forward in life, does not mean that everything and everyone before this point is now unimportant. Remember those who have made a difference in your life during your academic career. Give thanks to those who have been there for you. Celebrate with your loved ones for this is an exciting moment that brings joy and happiness for everyone who cares about you. New beginnings aren’t that new, this moment is only highlighted because of how far you have come. It’s a way of publicly announcing your accomplishments. Beginnings don’t start from scratch there are always strings attached and it’s imperative that you take into account everything you have experienced in your past.  

Life will always test your strength. You will go through failures, dark times, success followed by bad news. But everything happens for a reason. In this lifetime you can make things happen, make things fit into your reality. After walking the stage, shaking some seasoned hands and getting your picture taken, life takes on a different outlook. You have about 6 months to start paying off your student debt. Finding a stepping stone job may be hard for some while easy for others. Being fulfilled with what that job has to offer you in the long run will allow you to evolve. In the mean time try not to give up on your hopes and dreams, if they are meant to be then they will resolve in due time. The fact of the matter is that you never stop learning, every day is a step toward your goal, you graduate everyday.

Dream Big, Aim High

You Listen Me Mo', You Live Longer! (Indiana Jones-Temple of Doom)

Lately I have been thinking about what I have to do in order to live and that is to EARN a living to purCHASE things for my survival. When it comes down to it, in todays modern life, I can just pay someone else to do everything for me. I don’t NEED to know how to do anything thanks to this thing call specialization. Everybody has a job that specializes in a certain task making it easy to trust that they can do the job effectively. Long ago human beings didn’t have the luxuries that we do now, they had to know how to survive without the aid of modern production. They had to know how to build a fire, how to hunt, and how to find shelter etc.

When our ancestors were hunter-gatherers they had the skills to survive on the basics; food, water, clothing, shelter. They were self sufficient but if other problems arose then they would solve whatever the issue was through trading with neighboring tribes. Once the establishment of organized society became the new way of life, the standards of living changed. People became farmers and the need to hunt and gather was no longer there. I'm holding this dollar thinking that I put value into this piece of paper through my hard work for the purpose of making a living. Today many of us have to work to make money in order to make sure we can sustain a living of a ‘normal’ life. The majority of people BUY food, BUY water, BUY gas, BUY a place to live and I just think its so crazy that it’s come to living off of what you can BUY with your money.

We as a society in modern day only know the way the world works by the system of using a currency to place value on the things we need. We are so ingrained in this way of life that if our system were to be shut down lets say by an apocalyptic scenario, all hell will break loose. Movies about apocalyptic and post apocalyptic realities do a good job of showing a glimpse of what society would possibly look like in the event of a world wide disaster. These movies don't prepare us in case anything of that nature were to take place. A huge disaster is sure to test everybody's overall capacity for survival, just look at natural disasters in recent years, many people died of direct impact, others died of starvation. Ultimately the only ones to survive will be the savvy ones and there is no way that currency can replace survival skills. Not knowing how to make a fire to keep warm just puts you that far behind from staying alive.

I don't consider myself a minimalist but I think we as a people have grown to own more than we need to survive and are becoming so accustomed to that lifestyle. If doomsday were right around the corner we would have no way of preparing for it, It would be the end of mankind as we know it. Everything is GIVEN to us through supply and demand and we wouldn't know how to supply ourselves with basic needs. That shit is scary to me. So what do I do about this? I try to make sure I don't get too attached to my electronics, and try to make sure that my knowledge is put to practice.  I encourage you to do the same not for doomsday purposes but just in general, Hareena makes a great point about why its important to unplug from technology because no one is sure what may happen tomorrow.

Learn any and as many things about survival and basic things like sewing, building stuff and growing food that will nurture and fuel your body. I would love to know what others think, maybe I missed something. What are somethings that you think are important to know if the system as we know it were to fail?

-Godspeed