The Revelation

Hello, ducklings! I hope your Friday is going well. Before I get to the nitty gritty of today’s post, here’s the obligatory awkward Friday fitness pic.

On a related note, my workout is going well. I have added more sit-ups and push-ups, and I can now hold a plank for two minutes! That doesn’t seem like much, but three weeks ago, I could barely do one minute, and progress is progress (no matter how small). Little victories like these are always exciting, especially if you’re impatient like me and you demand instantaneous results. I might not have the body of a Greek god yet, but damn it, I can hold a plank longer now than when I first started!

All right. So, today I want to share something that probably seems blindingly obvious to the rest of the world, but didn’t quite hit me until today.

I can do whatever I want.

Let that sink in for a moment. Read that sentence once, twice, seven times. Allow the words to imprint themselves upon your mind grapes.

I can do whatever I want. Seriously! I just realized today that I have a whole life ahead of me, and a whole world surrounding me, and there’s no one to tell me what I’m allowed or not allowed to do. (Well, except for the law, but 1. most of what I want to do is perfectly legal, and 2. I suppose I can still break the law if I want to—I just have to pay the consequences. I am not encouraging anyone to break the law, however!)

I know this seems really, blatantly obvious. Like, duh. Seriously. As soon as you turn 18 and leave your parental units behind, the world is your oyster. We all know that. But do we really get it?

See, I’ve lived most of my life trying to live up to certain standards and expectations—not just those imposed by my parents, but also those imposed by society. I started breaking free from those chains around last year sometime and ultimately made the decision to take a break from college to explore the “real” world a bit earlier than planned, but it’s been several months and I’ve just now realized that there are so many paths open to me, so many choices available. I can move to Cali if I want. I can move to another country if I want. I can save up money and spend it on ridiculous things, or I can give it to whatever charity I choose. I can use my days off to sleep in and goof around, or I can use them to do something constructive and meaningful. I can spend my time learning to play guitar and understand ASL and make art and sing and read and all those other awesome things that make life worth living. (I’ve been doing that quite happily since leaving college behind, ha ha.)

Why didn’t I understand this earlier? Why didn’t I make the connection as soon as I was a legal adult that I had around seventy years of life left and I could spend them doing whatever I wanted? Why did I automatically think, “okay, time to adhere to the same old plan that every other person my age is following.”

It scares me that it took so long to reach this conclusion. I would like to think I’m just a bit slow on the uptake (don’t get me wrong, I totally am), but I suspect that I’m not the only one who spent several years laboring under the delusion that there are only a few paths available and that you can’t really do what you want—you have to do what’s expected. Even after I took the plunge and withdrew from OU, nervous as a cat and terrified of living on my own, it took me three or four months to grasp the magnitude of my decision to forsake the well-worn path.

Anyway, this realization has pretty much brightened my entire month. I don’t think I have words that can adequately describe the happiness bestowed upon me by this revelation. All I can say is that you have to remember that only one person can really tell you what to do. Only one person can really rule your life and make you follow a certain direction. Obviously, that person is you, and if you don’t like where you are right now, you have to start fixing what you don’t like about yourself.

See y’all next week, angel faces.

The Renaissance Man/The Higher Self

Hello, angel faces. Today I’m going to share with you my perspective on goals right now. Basically, I want to do everything. I want to be a published author and illustrator. I want to design t-shirts. I want to be a model. I want to sing and play instruments. I want to teach. I want to be an actor. I want to travel the world. I want to learn to speak a different language (or two, or three). I want to do a ton of stuff—so much stuff that I wonder if I have time to do it all before I die.

Put simply, I want to be a Renaissance Man.

According to dictionary.com, a Renaissance Man is “A person with many talents or interests, esp. in the humanities.” That is a pretty apt description of who I am—and more importantly, who I will be. See, right now I feel like I have maybe two talents and a whole boatload of interests…but with time and effort, I would like to have many talents. That’s why I’m practicing guitar and piano every day. That’s why I complete a lesson of American Sign Language every night. Ultimately, that’s why I’m even writing this blog.

If you’re like me, you probably have a ridiculous amount of goals. But…occasionally…you might feel worn out. You might get tired, or you might think, “this will take way too much time/this will never happen/I can’t do it.” When I am in that kind of rut, here is something that helps me.

I picture what I call my Highest Self: the version of me that has become the Renaissance Man. This version of me is smart, strong, fit, and capable. He has traveled the world and acquired knowledge and wisdom from his journeys. He has many friends and he has become a role model for others. He has many artistic talents. He uses his knowledge and artistry to help make the world a more beautiful place, and to assist others however and whenever he can.

My Highest Self is a long ways away, and I have a whole lot of work to do before I can be anything like him. But when I get to feeling down, I just picture that person in my head and think, “if I want to become him, then I can’t give up now.” I don’t know if that will help you, but it definitely helps me.

Maybe, the next time you’re in rut, think of your Highest Self, and ask, “how will I become that person?”

Before I go, here is the obligatory Friday Fitness Pic. I can’t say I’m seeing a lot of progress yet, but in this for the long haul. Talk to you guys Monday! Have a good weekend!

The Harpies

Hello, ducklings. First things first: here’s the obligatory “Friday Fitness Goal” pic.

All right. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s get on to the subject of today’s post. Today I want to share with you something that might explain my outlook on life. Perhaps you will find it useful; inspiring, even.

There is a trilogy I have loved since I was little called His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman. The first book is titled The Golden Compass, the second is The Subtle Knife, and the third is The Amber Spyglass. I cannot recommend these books enough—especially if you have an interest in parallel universes, quantum physics, religion, and the psychological development of children, all wrapped up in a positively epic fantasy—but I want to talk about something specific.

In the third book, it is revealed that everyone in the trilogy’s universe goes to a strange, barren world after they die. This world is dull and lifeless, and is guarded by horrible shrieking harpies. (If you’re familiar with Greek/Roman mythology, you’ll know that a harpy is a foul creature that is half bird and half woman.) There is no possible escape, and until Lyra (the heroine of the trilogy) intervenes, the inhabitants of this universe are forced to stay in the desolate afterworld forever.

Long story short, eventually the harpies are swayed by Lyra and her companions, and a new law is enacted: when you die, you go to the harpies’ world, but if you share your life story, and the harpies find it suitably interesting, they will let you leave.

Think about this for a moment.

What if that’s what happens to us? I’m not saying that when we die, we must tell our life stories to strange bird-ladies or otherwise we spend eternity wishing we were dead. But what if you chose to live that way? What if every decision was based on “what kind of interesting story will this make?”

Examine your life for a second. What is today’s story? “Today I woke up, ate cereal, went to work in my office, came home, and watched TV until I fell asleep.”

News flash: if I were a harpy, I wouldn’t let you pass. Heck, I probably wouldn’t even let you finish.

What if we made an honest effort to lead the most interesting, strange, unique, adventurous lives possible? What if we lived as if we had to tell our stories to those harpies or they wouldn’t let us go free?

Well, boo, that is how I have been living my life lately. I make decisions based with the following criteria in mind: “what kind of story will this decision create?”

Sometimes I slip. Sometimes I do boring things, or things I’ve already done. Sometimes I opt for the less challenging (and usually less adventurous) option. But I’m getting better with practice. Already, my life has led to some pretty remarkable places, and if I keep this up, I know I will have an awesome story to tell.

What will you tell the harpies? If you died now, would your story set you free?

The Run

Hello, angel faces. So, I just got in from today’s 5k (I run a 5k six days of the week as part of my workout, more on that in the near future) and I have to say, running has definitely saved my life. I know that sounds really freaking dramatic, but I mean it! Running is so vitally important to me that one of my deepest fears is losing my legs. (Another of my deepest fears? Wooden puppets.) Anyway, let me tell you about some of the benefits I have gained from running. If you need a little inspiration to add running to your workout, maybe this post will help.

First, running can be done solo or with a friend. Personally, I prefer running alone, but as a general rule, I’m kind of a lone wolf (which is code for “anti-social loser.” THE INTERWEB IS MY PEER GROUP.) The solitude I experience while running is a large part of what makes the run so valuable. For about 20 minutes (or more if I’m running a longer route), I am disconnected from other people: no internet, no phone calls, no text messages, no idle chatter—just my thoughts and I. However, if you would prefer to run with a buddy, there are definitely some benefits there, as well. Running with a friend encourages you. If you are new to running and you need some motivation, it will definitely help to have a buddy be your cheerleader. My cross country coach always made us run in pairs and he encouraged us to talk to one another. Apparently, it helps your breathing patterns and lung capacity.

Second, running is the perfect way to get outdoors and soak up some vitamin D. It seems like most people spend their day in front of a screen of some sort, whether it be that of a computer, TV, tablet, or cell phone. Sunlight—in healthy dosages, of course—is really good for us! It’s warm and smells good and is a source of vitamin D, which is essential for healthy bones (among a host of other things; click the link for more: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/161618.php).

Now, sometimes you can’t run outside. Maybe the weather is unfriendly, or maybe there isn’t a good route near your home. (I personally avoid running in any weather below 65 degrees Fahrenheit, because apparently I am a cold-blooded reptilian freak-baby.) In that case, running at the local gym is a great option. I’m an introvert by nature, but going to the gym and even taking some fitness classes has gained me several good friends over the years. Unless you want to be a neck-bearded basement dweller with no real-world companions, then I suggest you use your gym visits as an opportunity to meet some fellow humans. Granted, there seem to be a lot of douchebags—particularly in the weightlifting sections—but eventually you’ll learn how to steer clear.

The final benefit of running that I want to address may not apply to everyone. In fact, I need to do some research and see if I’m the only one who experiences this particular benefit, which is, basically, happiness. And I don’t mean the standard “I feel good because I wasn’t a lard-ass today” happiness, I mean the “I was totally depressed and bitter before this run but now I feel like bluebirds and chocolate cake” happiness. I’m not kidding. If I’m feeling depressed, lonely, anxious, etc., then a run never fails to boost my spirits. In fact, if I go too long without running, I notice a definite decline in overall happiness. I guess it could be the endorphins, but I’m wondering if there’s something more.

All right, ducklings! Thanks for stopping by. Please feel free to share your running stories in the comments section below! See you tomorrow!

The Vision

Hey! Good to see you again. Before I get started with today’s post, I should let you know a few things. Don’t worry, it shouldn’t take too long.

I’m worried about this whole “living my dream” thing. In fact, sometimes I think about it late into the night, and I get scared. Sometimes I shake a little. That’s how nervous all this makes me. As silly as it sounds, I even get anxious over this little inconsequential blog. But I suppose that’s just the way I am, ha ha. However—and this is important—the fear actually confirms that I’m on the right track. Here’s one of my favorite quotes: “if your dreams don’t scare you, they’re not big enough.” And sometimes, all my dreams downright terrify me…yet, it’s that terror that drives me to keep going. I’ll probably make a longer post in the future about this quote and how much it has transformed me.

But anyway: back to the worry and fear. See, I’m afraid that I won’t get a following, you know? I’m worried that no one at all is interested in what I have to say. But, I have a plan. I know that it’s going to take a lot of hard work and elbow grease for this little blog to attract some followers, and I think the best way to draw ‘em in is to post quality content, every day. So, that’s one of my new goals: every day, I am going to post something of quality. It might be a review of a neat gizmo I bought, or it might be something inspirational. It might be some artwork I made, or—once my tripod comes in—it might be a video of me performing a song. Whatever the case, I know that if I post quality content every day, eventually people will find me and follow me, and hopefully I can make someone’s life a tad more interesting.

 

“If you build it, they will come.” Right? Right. Sounds good to me.

Okay! So, now that I’ve established that, it’s time for today’s post.

Recently, I purchased a book for my Kindle Fire called The Type-Z Guide to Success: A Lazy Person’s Manifesto to Wealth and Fulfillment by Marc Allen, author of The Millionaire Course. In the near future, I will post a full review, but for now, I’d like to address a specific exercise Allen describes in his book that has particularly impacted me in a positive way. In The Type-Z Guide to Success, Allen details the four-step process that has enabled him to succeed. The steps are 1) Dream, 2) Imagine, 3) Believe, and 4) Create. The exercise that I will be sharing today is outlined in the first step of the process.

This exercise is called the “Ideal Scene.” The instructions are pretty simple: get out a piece of paper (or, if you’re like me, open a new Word document) and describe your life in five years if everything you could possibly want has gone your way. That’s it. Spend a paragraph or two outlining your future home, family, career, car, and whatever other achievements you can think of.

Now, as I’ve mentioned earlier, there are a lot of fears and doubts scuttling around in my brain. And almost as soon as I began typing my own ideal scene, they all began saying “no, you can’t, that’s a stupid dream, you’ll never make it, it’s impossible,” ad nauseam. They almost stopped me, too.

But, see, here’s the thing: I have spent way too much of my life listening to those damn voices, and you know what I have to show for it? A big fat load of nothing, that’s what. And as those voices were clamoring for me to give up, that quote came back to me: “if your dreams don’t scare you, they’re not big enough.” I repeated that quote to myself, and for once, all the voices shut up. A few minutes later, my ideal life was summed up in a couple of paragraphs.

I won’t share my ideal life here. Not yet. But let me tell you something: I read that document every day, and every single time, I am filled with such inspiration and passion that I can hardly contain it. See, before I had sat down and typed out everything I wanted—everything, not just the reasonable stuff—I was in a sort of rut. I had a vague idea of what I wanted, but I lacked the jump start I needed to get going. Now, however, I just have to reread that page on my computer and I am supercharged with energy. Something about seeing my dreams typed out in front of me was just…moving. That’s the best word for it. Honestly, that one little exercise is what gave me the boost to actually get this blog out of fantasy land and into the real world.

So, the takeaway from today’s post is simply this: try the “Ideal Life” exercise (be sure to ignore any negative voices, because what have they ever done for you, hm?) and see if it changes the way you think about your dreams. Maybe—hopefully—it will inspire you and revitalize you just as it has done for me. Let me know how it works out! That comment box down there is all yours!

The Introduction

Hey!

Okay...so you know that thing where out of nowhere, you suddenly realize that you're 20/30/50 years old? And your life is steadily slipping out from between your fingers? And you have all these dreams and big ideas, but you've not actually done anything to achieve them? And you've let all these people tell you that you can't do what you want, that you have to do this, or that, or this other thing?

So you realize this, right? You get it. You're like, "well, crap, I'm growing older every second and I haven't done even a fourth of what I really want to do." So what are you going to do about it?

Well...I don't know what you're going to do about it. I mean, I barely know what I'm going to do. But I have a vague idea. Let me tell you.

Okay, so first I should introduce myself. I'm Jordy Branam (my real name is Jordan but I've gone by the family nickname for a while now). I'm a twenty-year-old guy living in the glorious city of Norman, Oklahoma. And for the past two years, I've been attending the University of Oklahoma. On the surface, my college record looks pretty freaking slick: 3.9 GPA, member of the Honors College, recipient of several prestigious scholarships, blah blah blah. Don't get me wrong--I'm pretty proud of my accomplishments. I don't mean to knock the hard work I've put into achieving those things.

However, about a month ago, I officially withdrew from OU, with absolutely no intent of returning. I'm sure some of you have just gasped in horror and spilled your beverage dramatically. "What?" you shriek in dismay. "You...you dropped out?"

My answer, of course, is a resounding "yes."

"But...why?" you ask, incredulously.

Well, that is a post for another time. I have a lot to say about the so-called "college experience," and believe you me, I intend to say it. But not now. Right now, I'm still letting you know what I'm doing. So, as I was saying, I dropped out of college (for a multitude of reasons, upon which I will elaborate in the near future). Now, it's the summer of 2012, and I am going to spend the rest of my life trying to achieve my dreams.

The thing is, I have a very acute sense of my humanity. I know quite well that I could die any day--any second, really--and that my time here is limited. I absolutely have to take advantage of the time I have left and do what really makes me (and hopefully others) happy. All around me, I see people just plodding through their lives, living paycheck to paycheck, wishing desperately that they could be doing something else. But why?

Seriously. Why all the misery? Why all the unhappiness? You say you hate your job, your major, your life, whatever. Why not do something about it?

You have a million answers, of course. "The economy is horrible right now." "The major I really want will never get me a job." "This is what normal people do." And the list goes on...

Do you know what all of that really boils down to? One word. I'll give you a clue: it's four letters long and starts with the letter "f." (No, not that word--although I have to say I'm a big fan of that one, ha ha.)

The word is fear. We're all scared. We're afraid to try something new, to quit our jobs, to move, to change our majors, to drop out, to give something else a try for a while. What are we scared of? Well, that differs from person to person. Maybe you're afraid you're not smart enough to do something else, or that you don't have the right set of skills. Maybe you're afraid of what your friends/family/demon overlords will think. Maybe you are just afraid that it won't work.

Guess what, my ducklings? I am done with fear. I'm done letting it rule my life and dictate my actions. I'm doing what I really want to do. I have a lot of dreams, you know. I want to sing and write and illustrate and make money and build a paradise on earth, for starters. And that's just the beginning of a long list. But the point is...I'm getting started on these things now. One of my dreams is to have a blog with thousands of visitors, so today I sat down, made an account, and began working.

I would like it a lot if you came along for the ride.