Monday, November 23, 2009

No-Win Scenario

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."

-Winston Churchill

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I am captivated by heroism. Sure believing in heroes is a very romantic notion to have living in such a cynical society but something inside of me still screams out for a chance to be a beacon of hope. 

You see, that's what a hero does. They become this light that shines brighter than anything. It's all that anyone can see. It's all anyone can think about.

There is a fatal flaw that resounds in humanity. We give up on things far too easily. I think it's because somewhere along the way we decided that if something doesn't come easy it's not worth having. 

I watched the new Star Trek movie twice last week (once on blu-ray I might add and it's just stunning). There is something about that movie that inspires me. Maybe it's the character of Jim Kirk that attracts my attention. 

James T. Kirk doesn't believe in what is called a "no-win scenario". Everyone around him is preaching that you must know what it is like to fail, but he can't accept failure. He won't accept failure.

That's not to say that he's never failed, because no one is infallible. There is always a way for things to turn around no matter the situation. 

People seem to think that if you fail at something once, you ought to give up on it. When did it become so easy for us to do this?

It sounds to me like we have become complacent with mediocrity. Settling for being "just okay" rather than being the absolute best.

"Many of life's failures are men who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up." 

-Thomas Edison

This leads me to my point. 

Don't give up.

Most of the time, the thing that has been driving you to your goal, will push you over the edge before you can truly take flight.

At the end of the day, it's about passion. It's about motivation. It's about tenacity. 

Chase after (insert goal here) with every ounce of your being.

When people ask you why you are killing yourself over something that seems so minuscule and worthless, don't be discouraged. There are always going to be those who don't understand what it is that you have to do.

Even those who should be the most understanding of your situation probably won't get it. When you set your mind to a fight, failure can't be an option. Quitting should be pushed farthest from your heart, even though it's going to look like the most attractive thing at times.

You can't let your desire to be done with something overwhelm what's right. Even in the end, when things don't work out for your favor, just remind yourself that sometimes pursuing something is more about the pursuit than it is the object you are pursuing.

I don't believe in no-win-scenarios. When people ask me why I won't give up, I want to be able to look at them and respond, "I don't know how."

Winston Churchill summed it up better than I ever could. 

"Never, never, never give up."



Monday, November 16, 2009

The Enemy Within (A Locked Cage)

Recently I had the opportunity to encourage someone younger than me to always believe in himself. I asked him about how life was and I got to this place where I hit a chord. Maybe it was the wrong one but I asked him how his life with the ladies was.

He responded, not great...I mean it is me we're talking about here.

And there it is.

In script writing, we are encouraged to have a protagonist with a clear goal and an antagonist who tries to stop the protagonist from reaching his goal. I think I struggle with creating the villain to my stories because in life I'm the one stopping myself from reaching my goals.

I am my own worst enemy.

The problem with this goes beyond having a critical nature toward yourself. That's bound to happen. If you aren't critical of what you do, it could stunt your growth.

Have you ever found yourself in a position of pure doubt?

After all of the strength you've mustered up vanishes, you take a look in the mirror and just feel useless?

I've been there. I'm not very good at taking compliments. I never have been. I've always felt that there are far more important things for people to be doing that say, "Hey, you're incredible at what you do."

It's not that I don't appreciate it, it's mostly because I'm undeserving.

Life is full of moments. Each moment becomes about the defining of your character. There is not one distinct moment that defines you, it's all of them put together. If one moment defines who you are, life would seem pointless.

You can't sit around waiting for that moment of inspiration when motion is happening all around you. Taking your life for granted will kill all motivation to live rightly.


How do you stop yourself from being your own worst enemy?

It can be selfish to be that guy. What happened was that somewhere along the way you thought that showing humility meant destroying confidence. At each turn, you started to let people walk all over you because you wanted to remain humble, when in reality your your heart is looking for a way to find freedom.

You've built a prison that only you have the key to unlock. You have internalized all of your insecurities yet somehow they found a way to the surface and it plays into your decisions you make in everyday life.

Your trust for yourself is lost in your self-pity. Your love for yourself simply doesn't exist anymore and for what purpose?

All it does is create a shell of a human being that was meant for far greater than you give yourself credit for. At the end of the day, it's about choosing others over yourself. It's about knowing who you are and hoping that the future holds something great for you.

I encourage everyone to check yourself daily. Don't allow yourself to be lost in your own weaknesses. If possible, turn it into a strength. Turn your eyes to the horizon but beware of each step you take and cherish every moment you have.

-Chris Peters

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Long Time Reflection

I believe it was Erwin McManus who stated that all of your relationships are a reflection of your character.   From your best friend to your boyfriend/girlfriend to your worst enemy, all of your relationships go into defining who you are.

So what does that mean exactly?

You may be thinking:

I'm not like my enemies, am I?


I understand being like my best friend or my girlfriend, but really, like my enemy?

Keep in mind, I did not say that you are like those who you interact with on a daily basis, I just said that your relationship with those people are a reflection of your character.

So let's start with defining character.

  • The quality of a person.
 Your character is who you are and what you do because of who you are. If you have poor character, you'll more than likely be a sour individual. If you have great character, you'll probably be an exceptional person.

How you interact with someone who you don't like, is more important than how you interact with those that you are fond of. I've always felt that your true character comes out in dark moments and when you are at your worst.

So why can't we treat our character, when we feel like being hateful/spiteful/mean-spirited, the same way?

That's not to say that it's not important to treat those close to you in the right way. On the contrary, those people who are closest to you should be the most important relationships you have, so treat them as such.

When your girlfriend needs a shoulder to cry on, bring something to wipe the tears away.


When your best friend needs to vent, ready your ears for a yell fest!


When your boyfriend doesn't want to be alone, but has nothing to say, sit back and enjoy the silence.

The list goes on.

Inside all of us is the desire to be better than we were yesterday and if your relationships aren't helping you accomplish that, then you have a problem that must be fixed. I know that I've said in the past that friendships are about making sacrifices and doing what's best for your friend, but that's not always true.

Yes, sometimes you have to give up what you want so that other's can survive, but sometimes all you have to ask yourself is, what do you want?

At the end of the day, it's about who you are when it's over. True relationship relies on two individuals being better off than they were before they met the other person. If  a close friend, or someone you care about greatly is taking away from your being happy, then you should reconsider that relationship.

Sure you can hope that things will chance, you can hope things will get better and things may. Sometimes, what you think you want the most, is not what you need. I know how cliche that can sound, but it's the truth.

Your relationships are everything. If you can't turn off the lights at night happy for who you have in your life, I'd think twice about who you spend your time with. This isn't to say that you should never hang out with rotten people. The point is, that those who you keep close, should build you up.

I've heard that you are who your friends are, so as for me, I'd say I'm pretty well off if this is true.

-Chris

Thursday, October 22, 2009

A Tragic Mistake

It seems as though something tragic has happened to human kind. We have found a way to let our circumstances define who we are.

You see it everywhere. In a world full of individuals, all we are is a career, or a mistake, or a relationship status.

I'm guilty of letting the fact that I'm single play into decisions I make when the fact that I'm single shouldn't actually belong in that conversation.

I look at homeless people. To label a man by his lack of housing, is horrible. It's even more ridiculous when he knows that's what he is. I was told tonight, there are no second chances. You have one shot to make it in the world.

I couldn't figure out how to tell a man without hope that he was wrong. You see, he's accepted the fact that he'll probably die on the streets. I know that sounds insensitive, but I've seen hopeless eyes enough to know how he feels. The problem is, he is homeless by his circumstance, not by identity, yet he's let his identity become about him not having a roof to sleep under.

It's seen everywhere. How many of us have had our hearts set on a career?


"So What do you do?"


"Oh, I'm a lawyer."


"Oh, I'm a singer."


"Oh, I'm a writer."

The truth of the matter is, this is only a part of who you are. You are so much more than a career. I've heard baseball players talk about nothing but their pitching form, writers speaking nothing but their style, and students who only study and for what?

If all I did was write, if all I did was think about writing, what good would I be?

We live in such a diverse world with opportunity at every corner, and so many people miss out on life because of who they've let themselves become.

Have you ever made a mistake, big or small, and it consumed everything about you?

For weeks and months all you could think about was that one mistake, and because of this it effected everything from your relationships to your soul. Your mistake owned you and it took control of your actions, thoughts, and dreams.

Most of the time, our identity is lost in moments like these and it's hard to pull out of. The trick is to own your mistake. It's not that what you did was right, it's a mistake for a reason, but you're going to keep making the same mistake over and over again, until you move past it. The only way to move on at times, is to let go of things.

In the end, you have to take a moment and ask yourself the question, who am I?

Where does my identity lie and how can I reclaim it if it's lost?


To be truthful, I can't answer this question for myself, let alone anyone else. I know that, we can search together and hopefully in that manner we'll find the right answers, but until then all I can do is offer my prayer and help along the way.

As I've said in the past, let's try to do this together. Life was not meant to be done alone.

-Christopher 'Fatboy' Peters

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Staring Into the Hearts of the Downcast

I did not intend to write anything more until I followed through with my challenge I established in my previous entry, but something came up. I don't have much to say but I have to share a story and if I don't write about it now, it's not going to get done.

Tonight I went out with some friends for the first time this semester to distribute food and conversation with our friends who are homeless. There was a sense of anxiety between the group because it's been a while since we've been out there and it was a justified feeling because there were few people we knew when we got there.

It was an emotionally draining experience for me personally. Thankfully, God kept me together but I met a few women who were wasted. One woman was just drunk while the other was high and drunk. Cathy was the first woman I talked to and she had been through a lot. My heart truly went out to her as she plead for us to look out for a shelter that would take her in. She told me that she was an alcoholic but she was willing to give it up to get straight.

It's hard to believe in people, when they say they want to sober up but take gulps of their beer as they express that desire to you. It's hard to look past the pain when I am so blessed. It's hard to look people in the eye and tell them that all you can do is pray for them and listen to their problems.

I live a selfish life. God has truly blessed and it crushes me to the core when I see people in more need than me. Most of these people are on the streets for just reasons, but where are the people stepping up to take care of them?

Just because certain people deserve death, doesn't mean we should give it to them.

Another woman I met tonight made me extremely uncomfortable. She wouldn't stop touching me and a few times got right in my face. Her name was Franny and she was high/drunk and not lightly. She was messed up.

I heard her share her story about 5 times. She asked me how old I was every 10 minutes and told me she had a 25 year old daughter who lives in Arizona every 15 minutes. Her story was tragic and she was a trouble maker.

She told me she had my back and she kept telling me I was like a son to her. I had never met her before. As I sat in the ant-filled grass next to her, she would interrupt herself in the middle of a thought and ask me why I was there. She would look me in the eyes with tears forming and say why are you still here?

I couldn't answer her question although I gave her a different one every time.

At one point I just told her I felt that God wanted me here whereas another time I just said, I'm just here.

It seems selfish to me that I feel hurt when I see other's pain but that's what happens sometimes.

Empathy is a powerful emotion that we all should latch onto every now and again. But empathy can only get you so far without action. Without acting upon those empathy it turns into is pity.

Life can be precious but it kill you at times. When you see other people who are worse off than you, it serves as a reminder that you're well taken care of.

I have another challenge.

Think about your life.

Think about who you are.

Think about the most painful experience you've ever been in.

Think about losing someone or something that you treasured.

Think about all of the times you could've been there for a friend but you didn't show up.

Now stop thinking about things and be somebody.

Be somebody that will make a difference in the world.

Be somebody that will bring change to those around you.

Be somebody that people look up to.

Lead.

Love.

Learn.

Live.

Greatness is something that has to be forced out of people at times. It's not something that comes naturally to anyone, but when it is unleashed everyone else better stand back out of the way because you will become a force to be reckoned with.

Let's grow together and live together. Life should not be tried alone.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Begin With the End in Mind (a borrowed title)

There's a conversation that comes up a lot that I've never really discussed.

Is man good or are we evil?

Are we born and automatically bad and then learn how to be good or is it the other way around? Are we born good and just learn how to do evil?

It's something that's discussed often and I've never fully given it much thought because ultimately it doesn't matter. But for the sake of conversation I want to throw a middle ground option here. Why must everything be black and white? Why does a gray area have to be a bad thing?

Why can't it just be that area that dwindles somewhere in between what's reality and what is false?

What if man is just born. What if he is not born good or bad, but he just exists. Most would assume that the optimistic approach is that we are born evil and have the capacity for great good and that the pessimistic view would be just the opposite. But what if we have the capacity for both great evil and great good?

I lean more toward this line of thinking. We have an unbound source to do great either way. Our capacity for good is just as powerful as our capacity to do bad. In the end it's about who we let into our lives. Who will influence us the most?

Parents.

Peers.

Media.

Education.

Faith.

You.

At the end of the day it's about motives. It's about who you choose to be and why you choose to be him or her. You cannot blame someone else for your actions. If you're immature, it's because you chose to be. Sure there are outside influences that effect what you do, but in the long run, your soul is yours and what you do changes who you are.

You just have to decide who you are and who you want to be. It starts whenever you're ready. It's starts right now.

It starts here.

I have a challenge for those of you who are willing to participate.

I want you to think about a funeral. Everyone you know is there. Your closest friends and family are all gathered around a coffin and the one who knows you the most stands up to give the eulogy. You aren't present in the crowd for you realize that the tears are for you.

This is your funeral. You died unexpectedly and here we all are now mourning your loss.

At funerals they tend to talk about the character of the person who died. Here's the challenge. Write your own eulogy. Write what you think would be said about you. Be honest. Be extreme. be harsh.

I think if all of us were to take an honest look at ourselves, we would become more depressed and feel really really bad about who we are.

Once you've done this, think about it. Think about who you are with people and how that effects your own life. After you're done feeling bad for yourself, write a separate eulogy.

Now write the one that you want to be read at your funeral. Think about who you aren't and how you want to be that person. If you want to be one who inspires, write that down.

If you want to be the one who always makes people smile or laugh, write that down!

Self examination is necessary with moving on in life. I'm going to do this as well and I hope that this experiment helps people ask questions about themselves because in the end, we all have a long way to go.

So let's do life together.

-Chris 'Fatboy' Peters

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Missed Opportunities

It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life
For me
And I'm feeling good


Disappointment is a hard feeling to cope with. Whether it be that you're disappointed in someone else or that someone else is disappointed in you, it can really hurt.

It's not just disappointment. You can replace to word with anything that fits for you. Most harsh feelings are hard to deal with.

Problems occur in every relationship. There's no such thing as a perfect one regardless of how great things may seem in your life. Sure you may ignore problems but eventually the water comes to a boiling point.

Moving on.

Why is that so hard?

Most of the time, we can't move on from situations that hurt us, because we haven't let them go. That could mean that someone is holding something over you or it could mean that you're having internal problems that haven't surfaced yet. Normally, it's the second one that takes place but that doesn't negate the first one.

When internal problems do surface, it's as if you run into a brick wall. That wall is reality. Maybe your problems surfaced so that you could face them head on. It's a tough place to have to confront people, it's even harder to have to confront yourself.

You may get to a place where you feel like everything is taken care of, yet you still can't move on.

If you're there, I can't really help you, because timing is the only thing that is holding you back. Timing is something you cannot force into operation or to do something for you.

Quite frankly, time can be my biggest enemy. I'm a fixer. If something is wrong in my life, I have to isolate the problem and take care of it immediately. In a perfect world, I could move on from situations very easily. But this isn't my perfect world. This world has unnecessary factors, such as people.

People, no matter how much you think you get, will always surprise you. We are the most unpredictable of all creation. We have the capacity for endless vanity and selflessness all in the same body.

I have a lot of problems that I have to face one at a time. Sometimes, they can just build up and start knocking me to the ground. I feel a storm coming, which will cause massive emotional and physical pain.

I'd like to say that I'll be able to handle it, but to be completely honest, I don't know how much more I can take.

The thing is, all of the pain I've gone through, from my relationships to physical hurt, I have made it through. I never thought I would and I hoped and prayed that I would never have these problems again.

So here I am again. Stronger. Better. Smarter...Yet I'm weak, mediocre, and stupid, because I'm facing more of the same problems.

My point in saying all of this is not to come off with a low self-esteem, although many will read it that way. What I'm trying to say is that even though I've only lived a short amount of time, a lot of the problems we go through will rehash themselves. They'll take form in a different setting, with different people, but it will be the same you.

I'd love to end this by saying, "Let go and let God." But I don't think that's the end of this. I think that's the beginning because in the end, when it seems like something is ending, normally a greater part of your journey is about to start.

Live with great expectation. Risk in the here and now. Dare to be better.

At the end of the day, your life is yours to live. Trust in that and trust that everything will be okay.