I AM...
Hi amazing friends and supporters! Thank you for checking out my latest Blog post. The Blog didn’t disappear, and I have not stopped writing. Actually, I have been writing more than ever working on a course to be released later this year. In order to get the most important things accomplished, it often becomes even more important where you say No versus where you answer Yes. Saying yes to family, health, reading, coaching, and writing this course has pushed the temporary ‘No’ button on my Blog and book-writing. We took a week off from coursework and here is what has been going through my mind and spirit recently.
Question of the Week:
Who are you?
I Am….
“I am… whatever you say I am, if I wasn’t then why would I say I am, in the paper, the news, every day I am, I don’t know, it’s just the way I am…” Eminem
In the movie Anger Management, Adam Sandler is asked a very simple question… “Who are you?” How would you respond to that question? As the scene plays out, Sandler’s frustration grows as no matter how he answered the question, he inevitably got the answer wrong. So, I ask you the same question… Who are you?
You can watch the scene unfold here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MV4zHRnIUpU
I am = Two of the most powerful words in existence for whatever you put after them is your reality. How many people allow others to define who they are or what they think of themselves? There is only one right answer to the question, ‘Who are you?’ I am ME… The one thing you will never fail at is being you. The one thing I will never fail at is being me. Have you ever stopped to consider why is it so easy to let other people attempt to tell you who you are when there is only one belief that actually matters? You are you and you will forever be the best and worst version of yourself. Ultimately, the best thing about being you is you are the only person who can. How incredible is it that no matter what happens along your journey, you can never fail at that one thing, being you?
“I am not who you think I am; I am not who I think I am; I am who I think you think I am.”
- Charles Horton Cooley
Unhappiness lives wherever we are attempting to be someone else for someone else. Imagine living forever in a film as an actress or actor playing a part rather written by other people. True happiness only exists when we can truly be our transparent authentic selves. For years, I allowed others to attempt to tell me who I was. Do one thing… What do you stand for?... How do you want to be defined? All the while attempting to tell me who I was to fit their narrative… Be you and fuck them if they don’t like it as ultimately it really doesn’t matter if they like it or not, they aren’t you! While I love me some Eminem and not one to alter lyrics, in this case I’ll make an exception.
This past weekend my bride and soulmate and I got matching tattoos. We each get to define our reality moving Forward.
I am whoever I say I am, if I wasn’t then why would I say I am? I don’t care if the radio won’t even play my jam.
THANK YOU, Tim Grover, for putting into words where I struggled expressing what I AM means.
“I don't need to be civilized and polite. I need you to be hard, resilient, focused, truthful. I want you completely isolated in your mind, trusting your own voice and instincts to protect you from yourself and others. I want to see you flex the most important muscle in the race to greatness, the one no one sees but you, that I don't give a fuck muscle.”
“The more you win the more others will attempt to inhibit your growth, tell you to slow down, stay in your lane, or try to keep you in the one lane to control, but winning is about choosing any lane, changing lanes when you need to and navigate each with equal skill and an extra gear no one anticipated. Winning makes you different, and different scares people. Winning wages war on the battlefield in your mind. Stop being afraid of what you'll become. You should be more afraid of not becoming that.” -Tim Grover
I am a father, husband, friend, coach, son, brother, teacher and student and I am none of those things at the same time.
