I’m not sure how anyone else feels about themselves or their experiences throughout 2012, but I’m thinking more clearly, I’m more determined, and I’m more focused than I have been since I was learning how to live on my own in my twenties. I didn’t just wake up on January 1, 2012 and tell myself that this would be a year to think more clearly, to be more determined, and to be more focused. Instead, throughout 2012, I was forced to make tough choices and I’m still making them. In the face of adversity, I could have folded, given up, and crawled into myself, being scared of the unknown. Instead, I’m facing adversity and I’m kicking its BIG ARSE to the curbside! Yah, baby! Well, I’m working on it. I’m still kicking! Hehehe.
Life’s challenges never completely pass and leave lives to move freely. The reality is that people are faced with adversity on a daily basis, a varying degree of daily challenges. Each person can face each challenge with the determination to overcome them or turn aside and try to absorb as little damage as possible, waiting for time to pass and see if those troubles go away. Facing little challenges should cause little trouble and people should know how to cope, knowing which battles to fight and which battles require more stern actions. But, sometimes it’s unclear whether to let bygones be bygones or whether it’s required to wage war. I faced some emotional beatings this year. It is tough when I’m already a Type A, emotionally charged personality, trying to make as many good choices as possible without being emotionally distracted. Add some potholes, some road blocks, and some unexpected pools of quicksand, all debilitating, and 2012 became a formidable obstacle course to overcome. I’ve openly shared my YouTube troubles throughout this year, but everything else will remain private between me and anyone else involved with those private matters. Some matters are introspective and has required the pursuit of deeper meditation. Some matters are external and has tested everything I know in order to be an effective, supportive force. And, some matters required me to reboot, starting over, and rebuild from my foundations. I am purposefully being vague to an excruciating degree. Only my wife and our Lord God in Heaven know the truth behind my ambiguous references. Regardless of the details, what I’ve come to understand, and accept, is that I’m facing challenges not intended for anyone else but me. I am a problem solver. I am determined. And, most of all, significant people in my life are depending on me. It is the latter that fuels my motivation to relentlessly seek out and to tenaciously pursue the best direction in order to find peace and happiness and security for everyone involved. I don’t immediately see any clear resolutions, but progress is definitely being made. Being on the path towards lasting solutions is progress and I pray for the best possible outcomes. No one wants problems to linger, but I don’t see any shortcuts. I’m continually praying for guidance. I’m looking for the correct signs that will lead the way towards resolution ASAP. I would be a fool if I didn’t ask for help or if I didn’t seek help. I’m definitely making every effort to learn from every effort made. I’m also utilizing resources available to me. My wife is my sounding board, as well. Any way I look ahead, many challenges lie waiting. I’m geared up and ready for battle. My priority is to find the Best of all worlds. The ONLY way to find the Best is to strive for the highest standards and ALWAYS look at the cup half full. Don’t consider this lofty approach as a guarantee towards failure because the bar is set too high. That, in and of itself, is already looking at the cup half empty. The cup half empty is a sign of defeat. The cup half full is momentum towards success. The best possible solutions are where I have set my sights. I will work towards those goals, those highest standards, and pray for whatever it is that is required to get me there. You better believe I’m lifting myself up with this foot-stomping, fist-pumping, top-of-my-lungs screaming, fire-in-my-eyes burning, adrenaline-boosting, sparkling-aura-bursting-from-my-entire-body, sermon to surmount every obstacle of every kind delivery!!!!!!! You better believe your hoity-toity, thoughtless giddy behavior, standing up while you’re reading this, gotta-get-me-some-o-dat, where the heck does he come with this stuff, yah it must be a late night delusional calling, can this be real, epiphanic revelation of a reading! Ohhhhhhh Yahhhhhhh!!!!!!! Wshooooooo … Wiping my brow. It has GOTsta be done! I don’t have a segue between this week’s blog and my cover of a popular song from 1980 with a New Year’s theme that happens to be found on one of my two all-time favorite albums, The Innocent Age. LOLOL. I’ve been singing “Same Old Lang Syne” since 1980 and its importance in my life is like that of being one of my best friends over the years. This music brings me comfort. I can simply listen and enjoy or I can interact and learn regardless of the countless playbacks. The music is melancholy by nature. I have specific imagery from a dream within my mind’s eye. Through an open doorway, I’m viewing the back of a person. The area is darkened, faded on the side from where I’m standing. I’m looking towards the blinding distance beyond the person walking onward. The person turns slightly, encouraging me to step through the open doorway. I take a closer look at the person’s face and comfortingly realize it’s me that I’m viewing. That’s where I will be once I step through the open doorway. Don’t let setbacks set you back as this song might suggest, regretting, or feeling that old familiar pain. Instead, propel forward, learn from each experience and make the most out of each moment. Don’t dwell in the past. Reminisce and understand that those memories had their time and place. Now is the time to do what is necessary for the future. The future is certainly not going to wait. I see my dream as one of those signs I seek and it’s telling me to go for it! I want to thank my good friend, Mark Thomas of YouTube fame (aka ‘elvidinck’ and ‘TheLivingroomSinger’), for requesting me to cover “Same Old Lang Syne”. This timeless classic is Mark’s favorite Dan Fogelberg song. I hope you enjoy my rendition, Mark! XD From Wikipedia: "Same Old Lang Syne" is a song sung by Dan Fogelberg released as a single in 1980. It was also included on his 1981 album The Innocent Age. The song is a narrative ballad told in the first person and tells the story of two long-ago lovers meeting by chance in a grocery store on Christmas Eve. The song peaked at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart and is now frequently played during the holiday season and is integrated with traditional Christmas songs.
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AuthorI want to thank my good friend, Mark Thomas of YouTube fame, for requesting me to cover “Same Old Lang Syne”. ArchivesCategories |