“Stay Focused, Be Patient, Follow Through”
As I said before this year started completely different than
the rest. Instead of the usual shenanigans with my close friends, I went in an
opposite direction and hung out with a different group of people. Namely my
roommate and her friends, which definitely wasn’t a bad look considering my
roommate and her friends are pretty hot [I give credit where credit is due,
just saying]. While out and in the midst of unlimited shots, mixed drinks, and
champagne I got to talking with a female who was having fun, but not the FUN
she should’ve been having. After a few seconds I could tell the issue was with
her former boyfriend and the fact that they weren’t together on NYE unlike
years past. The reason, from what I could gather, was because they weren’t
together due to some bullshit that was going (and had been going) on, for a
while. In my opinion dude sounded like he didn’t deserve her, especially with
being as hot as she was. Now, I didn’t know her to a tee, but she had a warm
personality and seemed to be an easy going individual. She’s a woman so
naturally, I’m sure she wasn’t always the most pleasant person, but no one ever
is, not men, not women, not anyone. But I don’t think the guy realized her
worth and what he had in front of him. We guys tend to make those mistakes. And
usually when we do, it’s too late to fix what we most likely screwed up. Same
thing applies to women as well, but I can’t speak fully for them. But yea, dude
didn’t deserve her, again my opinion. My advice to her was to “say goodbye to
the drama and bullshit that the years past have brought, and hello to the new
year, the new possibilities, and the new life.”
NYE is the one night you can do that, you can go out and
party your ass off, or you can sit at home and watch the ball drop. Regardless
of who you’re with… family, friends, new friends, or people you don’t even
know. Once that ball drops and the NY is officially started, then right then
and there you then have the option to put what should be behind you, behind
you. You can leave it for what it’s worth and move past it, or you can choose
to bring it and all the bullshit it comes with, into the NY. Obviously I’m
speaking from the perspective of someone who didn’t quite have the best year.
No, it wasn’t a great year, a lot of great things happened to some great people
in my life and I’m proud to be their friend. But if I had to grade “my year” on
a scale of 1-10 (10 being GREAT), my year gravitated in the 4-6 regions mostly.
It had its share of high points and low points but they were nowhere near equal.
I’m not going to get into it, but let’s just say the things that should’ve
happened, didn’t, and the things that shouldn’t have happened, did. And yes, it
was my entire fault [believe me when I say, I know that], however one can only
dwell on things so much before it consumes them. I’ve dwelled on it long enough
and I am tired of being consumed by something I can’t control. I refuse to sit
around and dwell on the past and the things I can’t change. “Everything happens
for a reason, and the answers will come”, so I’m going to stay focused on the present,
while living for the future. I’m going to keep a clear head and not let the
distractions keep me from reaching my goals.
I’ve prided myself in being persistent with a lot of things
in the past sometimes I can be overly persistent and while I have been told
that “persistence is key.” I’ve also been told that “sometimes persistence can
be perceived and interpreted incorrectly and results in overkill.” Both true
statements that I have come to learn over the past years, it is what it is. At
times my over persistence jades my mind so much that when my perceived thought
of what may come to fruition actually happens a different way, then I take it
to heart and beat myself up over it. When in actuality, it’s the expectation
that I established that inevitably ‘did me in’. So as opposed to the continuous
and sometime overly persistent persona I have adopted. I’m going to ease back,
be more patient in some aspects and let things happen as they happen. I can’t
change someone’s mind completely or influence the outcome to work out to the
way I want completely. All I can do is bide my time, continue to be positive,
continue to be me, and let things happen as they happen. With hard work and
determination my time will come, and that’s when I’ll ROCK that shit! As long
as I continue to put myself in the best position for the best outcome, it will
happen. I can’t expect it to happen overnight or within a time period all the
time though. I have to be patient.
When I was learning how to play basketball, my mom, dad, and
numerous coaches taught and drilled “follow through” into my head. “Spread your
fingers, flick your wrist, and follow through” and based on my shooting
percentage, I eventually bought into it. But I had to learn the hard way that
spreading my fingers and flicking my wrist doesn’t matter if I don’t follow
through. This principle doesn’t just apply on the court though, it also applies
in life. Achieving your goals would be making the basket. So spreading your
fingers is 1 of the driving forces in making this possible since it helps
rotation on the ball. Next is flicking the
wrist, doing so helps with the speed the ball will travel in the air as well as
rotation. But if there is no follow through, then it doesn’t matter how much
you spread your fingers or how much you flick your wrist, your still going to
miss more times than you’d make it. With me and some of the things I’ve been
through, I’ve said a lot, I’ve put the thought into it and sometimes I’ve
actually begun the act of following through. But that’s where it has stopped,
either I get lazy, preoccupied or simply bored with whatever the concept is and
it becomes a thing of the past, and therefore a missed shot. I’m tired of my
lack of follow through, if this was an actual basketball game, I’d have gotten
pulled out of the game for my lack of motivation [“You’re playing like you
don’t want to play, you’re just going through the motions, you’re not cutting
hard, you’re not being a presence, you’re not finding space or playing with any
heart or confidence. Shits not going to fall in your lap in this game, you have
to go get it! But since your not playing like you want it, sit your ass down
here beside me while someone who wants to play, who wants it, does”]. In a nutshell
there are a lot of things out there that I have started but didn’t finish,
they’re either sitting there incomplete or not there anymore at all. I’ve left
work incomplete, I’ve left life growth situations incomplete, and I’ve left
ideas and concepts incomplete. All with endless possibilities of what they
could be, grow to be, or turn in to, I have left them severely incomplete
because I didn’t follow through, instead I got complacent and I didn’t finish. Not
anymore though, I’m tired of being complacent and not following through. This
is a NY and a new day, not time for complacency of a lack of follow through, no
sir! I’m going to achieve my goals, and in doing so I’ll be focused, I’ll be
patient, but most importantly, I’ll follow through.
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