Wise Up

Do you ever wonder how some people can just be so smart? 

How some people seem to be able to dissect, analyze and form some sort of idea on why something is the way it is? 

I know I do. I didn’t always do this though. I used to be more of an acceptance guy. I would just accept it and move on. I never questioned it. I never thought much about a lot of things. I just rolled with whatever “it” was. 

Then at some point in my life, I started asking “why” a lot. I started wondering and thinking about things. This was about when I realized that I wasn’t who I was supposed to be. I was in a “working for the weekend” state of mind. Everything was about having a good time. I was in a job for money for fun. I was ultimately unsatisfied constantly. 

About the time we started losing grandparents is when I started to realize that I was too focused on fun and not enough on growth. I think it was in my mid-30s I realized I was an adult…it's a hard day for us all. 

That’s when things started to shift for me. I wanted to be a better person. I didn’t want to be seen as a wild, fun party guy. I wanted to earn respect and be a change-maker. I wanted to help others. Most of all I realized I had younger people, including my niece, watching me. 

I remember what I thought about my grandparents, uncles and parents. I know which older people I had respect for and which I knew weren’t that important to pay attention to. 

This realization made me think about who I am and who I wanted to be. It led me to a completely different path to take. I started paying attention to everything. The news, the media, the shows. I started just building up my knowledge bank. 

Today I would say I could have a good conversation with almost anybody, but I’m not done yet. I have a lot more to learn. We all do. 

Our lives are filled with experiences and we have access to so much information. I just want to keep soaking it up and gathering as much as I can. I know I’ve been blessed with lots of natural skills, one of them is understanding and implementation, so I’m going to keep growing. I’m 44 right now and just starting…can’t wait to see where this road goes!