A couple of my friends posted this video of ECU's running back, Giavanni Ruffin, on their Facebook yesterday evening. It was 11:00pm at night and I was ready to put on my old soccer cleats and hit the field for some drills! Unfortunately (and luckily) the high school across the street doesn't keep their field lights on past dark. So I made a commitment to myself to wake up early for Body Pump this morning at the gym. And yes, 8:30am is early to me considering I've been partying all night and sleeping until work at 2:00pm. But Giavanni said something that was so powerful that I was still motivated 9 hours later -
"Some of you say you want to be successful but you don't want it bad enough. You only kind of want it. You don't want it badder than you want to party. You don't want it as much as you want to be cool. Most of you don't want success as much as you want to sleep... if you want to be successful, you gotta be willing to give up sleep."
He was so right! Yeah, I want to be in shape and healthy, but I'd rather sleep in after being up all night with my friends. I want to be on the lake or at the pool all day instead of running the bleachers. I've always admired people who have the drive to stay up to work until the early hours of the morning, get a couple hours of rest and then wake back up to do it all over again. And I have always wondered why in the world would you want to live like that? They don't enjoy it. But they enjoy reaping the rewards and they have the motivation of success behind them. They have a goal and their eye on the prize (for lack of a better cliche).
My motivation? Now, it's wanting it bad enough and surrounding myself with people who want to reach their goals just as bad. Yeah I wanted to be healthy and successful very badly. But now that I think about it, I only "kind of wanted it." I didn't want it enough to skip a night of drinking or a day at the lake. But these activities aren't going anywhere. I'll always have my friends, LKN will be bumpin' just as hard next weekend and I can get as much sleep as I want if I go to bed at a reasonable hour. What do you want as bad as breathing?
Of course, the comments underneath of the video were cynical, talking about how the music editing was sloppy, the form of his weight lifting was terrible, etc. Completely missing the message. If you read yesterday's post, you know how I feel about people whose main objective is to find and exploit any flaws and have nothing positive to say. What a horrible way to live.
On a lighter note! What are your goals? What motivates you?
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Monday, August 29, 2011
Every Party Has a Pooper
..and no one invited you.
[Keep in mind this is more like a rant than a well written piece]
Ok, I have been SUCH a slacker on blogging but this topic irritated me enough to speak up. Does everyone remember the "planking" game that was trending this year? For those of you who don't know, the term "planking" refers to mimicking a wooden plank. It requires lying face down with hands by side in an unusual location, basically performing a crazy balancing act. It first became popular in North East England in 2000, went viral and eventually hit the states this year. Here is a picture Dwight Howard posted on Twitter of him in a Zaxby's earlier this summer. He posted a few and they were hands down the best I've seen because he always planks in the craziest places!
Harmless right? Right. Until a Bobcats sales employee posted a picture on Facebook of him planking in the office and fans went CRAZY. Apparently, critics of planking compare the game with the slave trade-era practice of stowing African slaves upon the planks of a slave ship's lower hold. Are you kidding me? Come on, people. There is always someone who has to "stand out" and ruin all the fun. It's a harmless game of people in a ridiculous pose in an outlandish location. The picture was later removed. Why are we so afraid of offending someone?
Not only does it make me mad that there are those few people whose life mission to ridicule, it really pisses me off that everything is about race. It's 2011. Racism is dead! Or at least it's supposed to be. Why can't we LET GO? Unfortunately, I witnessed the answer.
This really pulled on my heart strings when one night I was out to dinner with my little sister from Big Brothers Big Sisters.
A song by Beyonce came on in the restaurant and I started singing along. She laughed and said "you know this song?" I said "yeah, who doesn't?" She said "but you can't like this music it's 'brown people music.'" Later, I jokingly called her a brat after I bought her a sundae regardless that she didn't finish her dinner. She got offended and actually hurt. I felt horrible! Of course I apologized a million times and told her how much I love her and I would never seriously call her a brat. She said that she will forgive me but only because I'm her sister and that "brown people aren't supposed to forgive white people." "Where did you hear that?!" I asked her. Due to BBBS liable reasons, I can't disclose any information of her "sources."
But my point is this - racism isn't dead because people refuse to let go. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery in 1865. We keep instilling these beliefs on our children 146 years later. I thought these opinions would be diluted over the generations but I learned first hand that people still live like this. And it makes me so sad :( What will it take for us to implement the United facet of our country's appellation?
"Have we not come to such an impasse in the modern world that we must love our enemies - or else? The chain reaction of evil - hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars - must be broken, or else we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation." - MLK Jr. Think about it.
What does this quote mean to you?
[Keep in mind this is more like a rant than a well written piece]
Ok, I have been SUCH a slacker on blogging but this topic irritated me enough to speak up. Does everyone remember the "planking" game that was trending this year? For those of you who don't know, the term "planking" refers to mimicking a wooden plank. It requires lying face down with hands by side in an unusual location, basically performing a crazy balancing act. It first became popular in North East England in 2000, went viral and eventually hit the states this year. Here is a picture Dwight Howard posted on Twitter of him in a Zaxby's earlier this summer. He posted a few and they were hands down the best I've seen because he always planks in the craziest places!
Twitter world didn't know whether to laugh or start a death related trending topic on this one..
Not such a good idea, Hef. People will think you've finally OD'd on Viagra.
Harmless right? Right. Until a Bobcats sales employee posted a picture on Facebook of him planking in the office and fans went CRAZY. Apparently, critics of planking compare the game with the slave trade-era practice of stowing African slaves upon the planks of a slave ship's lower hold. Are you kidding me? Come on, people. There is always someone who has to "stand out" and ruin all the fun. It's a harmless game of people in a ridiculous pose in an outlandish location. The picture was later removed. Why are we so afraid of offending someone?
Not only does it make me mad that there are those few people whose life mission to ridicule, it really pisses me off that everything is about race. It's 2011. Racism is dead! Or at least it's supposed to be. Why can't we LET GO? Unfortunately, I witnessed the answer.
This really pulled on my heart strings when one night I was out to dinner with my little sister from Big Brothers Big Sisters.
A song by Beyonce came on in the restaurant and I started singing along. She laughed and said "you know this song?" I said "yeah, who doesn't?" She said "but you can't like this music it's 'brown people music.'" Later, I jokingly called her a brat after I bought her a sundae regardless that she didn't finish her dinner. She got offended and actually hurt. I felt horrible! Of course I apologized a million times and told her how much I love her and I would never seriously call her a brat. She said that she will forgive me but only because I'm her sister and that "brown people aren't supposed to forgive white people." "Where did you hear that?!" I asked her. Due to BBBS liable reasons, I can't disclose any information of her "sources."
But my point is this - racism isn't dead because people refuse to let go. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery in 1865. We keep instilling these beliefs on our children 146 years later. I thought these opinions would be diluted over the generations but I learned first hand that people still live like this. And it makes me so sad :( What will it take for us to implement the United facet of our country's appellation?
"Have we not come to such an impasse in the modern world that we must love our enemies - or else? The chain reaction of evil - hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars - must be broken, or else we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation." - MLK Jr. Think about it.
What does this quote mean to you?
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