August 11th, 2017. It was a Friday night, and I had made you dinner and I was cleaning up in the kitchen afterwards. You were in the living room watching a little TV. You came into the kitchen and had a troubled look on your face. That was uncharacteristic of you. I asked you what the matter was. You said, “I just don’t know….if I’m going to have a happy life.”
Well, thanks to the seminars that I would go to, I didn’t panic at that statement. For a lot of parents, they would think that it was a crisis that a young kid would have that thought. In my head, I just said, “Nothing is wrong here. Enrollment is missing.” Meaning, there is nothing to panic about. I just need to have a conversation with you that leaves you touched, moved and inspired about your life. So I said, “Hang on a second…” I quickly finished what I was doing and sat you on my lap in the living room. I turned off the TV and asked you why you felt that way. You couldn’t really articulate it. You couldn’t tell me why you didn’t think you would have a happy life. I attributed it to a phase.
So I said to you, “Well, when I look at your life, I don’t see any reason why you would not have an AWESOME life! You have a mommy that loves you, a daddy that loves you, a Sissy that loves you. You have grandparents who love you, cousins, all sorts of friends who love you. So many people that love you. You’re smart you’re funny and you’re very lucky. Because you were born beautiful. And that really helps you in life. It doesn’t make you any better or any worse than anyone. It just makes you lucky. So when I see your life, I see you have EVERYTHING you need to have a great, happy life. But you know, you have to have a role in determining whether you have a happy life or not.”
“There are three types of people in the world. You have to determine what type you are going to be. 1.) There are Slackers. Slackers are complainers who think that their life should be different, and they don’t really do anything about it. They think life should be the way they want it to be, without any effort. In their mind, they DESERVE a great life. These people usually aren’t very happy. 2.) There are Survivors. Life is sometimes great, and sometimes not. Sometimes they try hard, and they get what they want and life is great. Then there are times where they don’t try. They could be afraid. They don’t want to fail because they think it will be embarrassing. So they have some great moments and some OK moments and they have moments that don’t make them happy, like everyone. 3.) Then there are Slayers. Slayers (I couldn’t think of a better S word on the fly…) figure out what they really want and what makes them happy, and they go for it. They fail sometimes, but keep going. They don’t wait for life to happen, they bring life to themselves. They create their life. If they want to be an artist or a gymnast, they go for it and they don’t stop. So even when they don’t get the results they want, they are still doing what they love.
Our Life 