First I was dying to finish high school and start college. And then I was dying to finish college and start working. And then I was dying to marry and have children. And then I was dying for my children to grow old enough for school so I could return to work. And then I was dying to retire. And now, I am dying… and suddenly I realize I forgot to live.
Are you scared? Or are you not ready? There is a difference.
It’s OK to not be perfect. It’s OK to make mistakes. It’s OK to do something you wish you’d never done because if we don’t do those things we never grow. – Dawn Stanyon
There is a strong difference between good work and hard work, and one of them cannot exist without the other. – Rakishi
Whatever you are going through at this time in your life will pass. The future is what matters while the present is the journey there. Learn from your past and work to defeat it, do not let it weigh you down. You are not what you have done in the past, you are the person who emerged from it. You’re amazing in your own way and no one can take that from you. Live life and cherish it. – Antonio Mara
If you’re in a funk or just need some inspiration then check out this AMAZING speech from the #1 ranked public speaker in the world. He had me smiling/laughing and on the edge of my seat from the beginning. This video will definitely lift your mood after watching it. Enjoy 🙂
Speech transcription:
You and I are not very different from this flower. Just like this flower is unique, you are unique. All of us have something special that makes us as beautiful. Do you know what makes you special?
Now the answer to that can be a little difficult to find, because sometimes life has a cruel way of picking out your petals, breaking you in two and throwing you into the trash. Now when you’re broken, it’s very difficult to feel special.
Mr. Contest Chair, my fellow flowers. I can remember the first time I broke. I was seventeen years old. I had already flunked high school and managed to get myself arrested. Now, I wasn’t afraid of the cops, but there was one person I was very afraid of and that was my mama. Raise your hand if you had an emotional mother. Let me see. Put them all together you get my mama. I can hear her scream outside the police station. Even the cops were afraid. She came up to me, held the iron bars, looked into my eyes and I saw a tear coming down her face.
Now I’ve seen my mama crying before, but mothers cry three types of tear: tears of joy, tears of sorrow and tears of shame. And when a son sees a mother cry tears of shame, that’s a life changing moment. She looked at me and said “Son, I want you to be a better man”. That night when I drove home my dad was waiting for me at home. Now my dad is a cool dad. Raise your hand if you have a cool dad. Put them all together you get my dad. My dad came up to me and said “Son it’s okay. You flunked your exams. You already got arrested. That’s fine. You get that from your mother side. I want you to start working immediately”. And I said, okay.
So my dad took me to meet one his friends called Sam. Now, Sam was an accountant who had an accounting firm and had generously decided to make me his personal assistant and there he was. He looked like a teddy bear, but this man was special. I looked at him and he looked at me and then he said the most amazing thing. He said “Son, I see something in you, but I don’t know what it is. If you decide to work with me, I can help you find that something”. And I was like, wow, that’s the first time in my whole life somebody has ever told they see something in me and I started working for Sam. And everyday after work he used to tell me stories about the world, about history, about culture, about philosophy and it was much more interesting than what I learned in school. And I discovered I can dream and I started dreaming, ladies and gentleman. After one year I went back into high school, completed my exams and went into college.
After successfully completing college I found a great girl, but not a job. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life. Have you ever had that problem? And when you’re lost it’s difficult to feel special. So I went back to my cool dad and I said “Dad, I feel lost”. He said, “You are like your mother.” So my dad introduced me to this strange club that had a strange name, with strange people – talking.
On the first meeting they told me to do something called a table topic. I aced it! But while I was speaking I see a strange man seated in the back row, humble, simple, the unfailing quality of kindness in his eyes. As soon I finished he walked up to me, looked me dead straight in the eye and said, “sSn, I see something in you, but I don’t know what it is. If you come here twice a month maybe we can find that something.”
And ladies and gentlemen, I discovered I could speak and I love speaking and that led me to become a teacher. I know what it’s like to not have enough money in your bank account. I know what it’s like to worry when the bills start coming in. And sometimes in the middle of the night I wake up my beautiful wife and ask her “Honey, why did you marry me?” She says, “I saw something in you, but I still I don’t know what it is?”
Ladies and gentleman today I’m a dreamer, I’m a speaker and I learned the unfailing quality of unconditional love from my wife.
I was broken and I’ve been broken, lost and broke many times in my life, but the people in my life were able to reach into the trash can and make me whole again. If it was up to me, I would have never been able to do that. And this is why if you have great people in your life no matter how broke, how lost or how broken you become they can piece you back together.
Ladies and gentleman, when I look at you I see something in you, but I don’t know what it is?