I need to feel as if my life is meaningful.

And I must work toward something I believe in.

I want to create value.

I want to be bold.

I want to live up to my own expectations.

And never settle unless I choose to.

I want to be exhilarated by every single day.

And be in awe of life.

And the world.

And my part in it.

I want to trip.

I want to fall.

And I want to get back up.

Look the world in the eye.

And do it again.

Because I’ve realized something throughout this life.

And it’s that we prosper through adversity.

I am more wealthy for having had nothing.

I am more anchored from not having had a home once.

I am more connected from being on my own.

I am more present from having been lost.

I am more encouraged from having been disappointed.

I am more determined from having been defeated.

I am more resolute from having succumbed.

And I am more me now, from having been less me in the past.

But most of all.

I am more successful for having failed.

Because had my failures not existed

I would not have gained the wisdom that I have now.

And that wisdom is precious.

And integral to my future success.

So I will take that wisdom. I will take my failures. And I will try my best to succeed.

But if it does not work out.

If I fall again.

I will not be upset.

Because I know that I will always get back up.

And after the rain storm.

I will be proud.

Not just content.

To be who I am.

However, if instead of falling.

It turns out that I fly…

Well, then, I’ll be even more humbled.

And appeased to soar.

Until the moment in which I fall once again.

Because if nothing else.

Nothing is permanent.

It’s all a cycle.

Life is a series of successes & failures, wins and losses.

And learning how to use both to your advantage.

And since I know

That no matter what.

I’ll always experience one & the other alike.

…Then in the meantime.

All that I can do.

Is be sure that I’m baring my soul.

And lavishly painting my passion across the sky.

Because at the very least I’ll know that I’ve lived.

And didn’t just go through the motions of life.

Authentically.

Shamelessly.

Without abandon.

Embracing the raw vulnerabilities

That truly make us human.

Because it’s that which makes this world worth experiencing.

And it is only through doing so

That I can truly be me.

A beautiful mess.

But alive.

“The successful do not pursue what’s probable; the best pursue the heart-pounding, exciting, really big, difference-making dreams.”  - John Eliot