Go it ALONE.

Don't live your life being afraid of being alone or going it alone.

There is a strength in you to fight harder when you are alone. You will not die, or break, or cave in. You will become even stronger.

I am not talking about cutting off all contact with people, but the moments when no one else can or is willing to help you. You have to help yourself. You have to make good decisions and be strong enough  to fight through the storm. The storm will end, it will pass and you will win. Just keep going.

The secret is to not bury your head in the sand and quit. Keep fighting. Go it alone if you have to. But know that a one man army is better than a team full of cowards.

The MARINE

At a school assembly that I spoke at, there was a man who spoke for a few minutes just after I finished talking to the students.

The man told a story that was very interesting to me. The story was of another assembly that took place some time before. The assembly was held by military officers who wanted to interest the young men in possibly joining the Armed Forces.

And there is where the story begins...

On the day, there were representatives from all four of the major military forces present. There was an Army recruit, Navy, Air Force and of course a Marine.

The whole assembly was supposed to take an hour, so they needed to divide the time between the four of them. The Army recruit went first. He spent 30 minutes convincing the young men that the army was the best choice for them to serve their country. The next to go was the Navy recruit. Feeling that the army recruit had been selfish to take so long, he was determined to get his time in. So he spent 15 minutes talking and urging the youth to join the Navy. After he was done there was only 15 minutes left in the whole assembly, and next up was the Air Force recruit. He decided, he would not rush himself, because the other two had been so selfish and took 10 minutes trying to convince the young men to join the Air Force.

By now the assembly would be ending in 5 minutes, so the Marine recruit had almost no time to "convince" the youth to join.

Oddly enough, he didn't seem bothered at all!

After all three of them; the Army, Navy and Air Force recruits were done, the Marine walked sternly up to the podium with only 5 minutes left and opened his mouth. But what he would say, would only take a few seconds. Without cracking a smile he looked straight out into the crowd of young men and said, "to be quit honest, I don't see one person in this room who looks worthy to be a Marine. But if you think you've got what it takes, meet me in the hallway after the assembly". "HuRAA!"

The moral of the story is... When something is truly great, it doesn't take 30mins, 15 or 10 to convince a person. They should feel honored to be apart of something that is truly great.

So if you are confident in yourself, you don't need to go to great lengths to seek others approval, you can lift up your head and stand firm on who you are.

Would you have gone to one of the other three recruiters, or would you have been brave enough to step up and try out for the Marines?

Don't Sugar-Coat it...

I don't know about all of you who read this, but I know about me...

When someone has something to say to me, I would rather they say it straight, just like it is, than to beat around the bush. I know it doesn't feel good to hear things raw and uncut, but it is far better than someone trying to smile in your face, whilst feeling something in their heart.

That just doesn't make sense.

And worst than holding it in, is to sugar-coat it so that it sounds softer or easier to swallow. I can't stand that! If you have a problem, just say it already. Don't act like it is smaller than what it really felt like to you. I may not like or agree with what you are saying, but I want to know that that is how you feel.

And a real man or woman is like this; they don't look for the softest way out. They are strong enough to take the punch and keep their head up. I believe this is the best type of person to deal with. The one that will give you the truth, even when it hurts, and mean the absolute best by doing it.

You just need to be tough enough to take it. So you who are reading this, should stop being soft and sensitive and grow some thicker skin. Take what is dished out and deal with it. You will become stronger and better by doing that.