Gems Earned In 2017
2017 will be a year that is forever etched in my heart and mind. I try my best to not weight any year over another and simply take each year as its own experience and addition to my collective life. But 2017 had so many life altering moments that it must go down as one of the most formative, exciting and shifting years of my life. I questioned and challenged myself in a way that I have never done before, found new talents that I possess and fell back in love with hobbies & interest from yesteryear by stepping outside of my box and tapping into my inner self. I turned 30! I traveled across the globe with a different perspective and viewed the world through a new lens. To recap this monumental year I wanted to share some of the many lessons that I learned during the year. I hope these gems can help anyone traveling along this journey we call life trying to find meaning and purpose.
Done > Perfect: Whatever it is you’ve been thinking about doing, start doing it now. Take the first step no matter how small
You’re As Free As You Are Disciplined: Set principles for your life and live by them religiously to free your mind, spirit and body
Explore: Travel far and as much as possible to place yourself in unfamiliar places. You will learn more about the world and yourself
To Be Alone Is Alive: It’s your life and your journey. Get comfortable doing things on your own to get in tune with self
Live In Your Light. Build & Create: Remain aware of your energy and don’t let anything or anyone take away from it. If it’s not adding its subtracting. Period
Quality > Quantity: All advice isn’t good advice. Everybody has a suggestion or opinion, it’s your duty to know what’s noise and what’s valuable. Be unapologetic about what you give your attention too
Journey > Destination: The fun is in the journey, it’s on the rough road of life that you experience the happiness. Your goal is your North Star but the path you travel towards that goal is where all the magic happens. Fall in love with the process
Keep Doing, Learning And Pivoting Until You Succeed: You learn your biggest lessons from your failures but you can’t start learning until you start doing
Love + Time + Distance = Sustainable Love: People are fighting an internal battle that has nothing to do with you. Most of the time if it seems they are projecting negative energy towards you it really has nothing to do with you. It’s better to disengage from that person and love them from a distance to allow them to sort out their issues
Respect The Glow Up: Respect the growth of the people you know & applaud their achievements now. Just like you, the person you met years ago has evolved and is an entirely new person. Remain aware of that growth and appreciate it
You’re Nobody Till Somebody Kills You: You must kill off your ego if you truly want to grow. The new & improved you is being suffocated by your pride & ego. Lower your pride to find purpose (keep a little ego to remind these fools what you’re capable of)
Great Minds Discuss Ideas; Average Minds Discuss Events; Small Minds Discuss People: Focus on ideas, goals and building and you will notice drama and distractions start to disappear. The universe will give you what you need as you keep pushing towards your North Star and remove anything not helping you get there.
With these gems in hand I step into 2018 a new and improved man, prepared and open for the next wave of experiences. I look forward to new challenges, highs, laughs and barriers to break through.
