Letter to myself...

I sit here trying to stay warm on another cold night in Lansing, MI. There have been many thoughts running through my head, as always, and I have been thinking on what my next blog topic would be about. One idea has stuck out over everything else and this was the idea of writing a letter to myself that I designate to open at some set time in the future. I had never thought of this before until I met a woman who wrote herself a letter that she opened on her 30th birthday. I asked her what she had written to herself and she said that she wrote goals that she wanted to achieve, talked about her current situation (at the time of writing the letter), and a few other topics. This struck me as such a phenomenal idea.
So, over the next couple of days I will be constructing a letter to give to myself. I will open this letter on my 30th birthday (hopefully I make it to see that day). I chose 30 because I didn’t want to set a date out to far and be too impatient to wait, or possibly even forget about the letter.
So now it’s time to think about my goals, my ambitions, and where do I want to be when I am 30. How do I feel about where I am now and how far I have come. All of these topics and more will be in that letter.

Let's look in the mirror

I can’t deny the historicalness of the events that occurred this week, the United States of America’s first non-white President. Now I don’t want to take anything away from this event. But I want to look at it from another perspective. Is this something that we should be surprised about? Was this not bound to happen? Throughout American history there have been many first for non-white Americans. The first slave allowed to be in the masters house, the first slaves allowed to eat at the table with the master, the first slave allowed to “own” land, the first slave/blacks allowed to own a business, the first black mayors, governors, senators, representatives, etc. I hope you see where I am going. Again I don’t want to take anything away from Mr. Obama becoming President. I know many people didn’t think they would live to see that event happen and that it means a lot to them. I’m happy that we were all able to see this happen. But as people, we still have many things to do in order to improve ourselves and the people whom we surround. Regardless of who the mayor, governor, senator, or even the President is. We still have to handle our business (if you want to improve or “make a difference”).

We cannot sit back and wait (nor expect) for Mr. Obama to change things for us. Take the initiative to make things happen for yourself. If you lost your job, explore other possibilities for school or employment. Lost your house. Explore why you lost it in the first place. Were you living above your means? Take responsibility for yourself don’t expect a “black man” being in the Presidential office to all of a sudden make things different for you.

Do I think that we as an economy need help? Yes I do. Do I think that they should have bailed out the creditors and banks? No I don’t. Nor do I think they should have bailed out the “Big Three”. But regardless of that, the American people have many problems that need to be solved. But if WE want to solve these problems we cannot sit back and wait for anyone else, white or black, to solve them. There have been many non-white mayors and governors that didn’t make a difference to “us”. There will be more. The main point that I want to make is just because he is a non-white American doesn’t mean that he is our savior. He is the first but he will not be the last. I don’t know him any better than I know the person living down the street from me. Yes I watched him on TV and I listened to him conduct interviews. But what does that mean. Nothing. I’m just being real. I am not saying that he is a liar or that he is not going to do any good. I’m just saying that I don’t know and it remains to be seen. How many times before has a politician, or a person for that matter, said they were going to do something and it not happen? Many times.

Lets keep it real.

Reflections...

As we approach the end of another year, we as people have the habit of reflecting on what happen over the last 365 days. I, myself have experienced so many things, learned many lessons, made some mistakes, and thought about so many things. I am who I am. I am the mistakes that I have made. I am the lessons that I have learned. I am the experiences that I have had. I am so many things. I’m not going to say this year I am going to do this or that, as many people tend to do this time of year. But what I will say is I will continue to strive to learn more about myself and the people around me. I know that life is short and that I have to cherish and enjoy everyday. I will try my hardest to do that.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday. Don’t be afraid to SHOW people that you love them.

Freddie

SNOW!!!!!!

I guess I never really realized how much I dislike this thing called snow. My car doesn't like it either because I slip and slide everywhere while I'm driving in it. I knew this winter was going to be difficult for me, but I guess I didn't imagine it like this.

When I leave Michigan I can honestly say that I will not miss these winters.

Don't blink or i'll be gone....

Where is this country going? I seem to ask myself that question every once and a while and lately it seems to happen more frequently. The economy is in the toilet (just like my 401K), we are at multiple wars, people are losing jobs and losing their houses, and so many other things that I’m not going to list.

With all of these things happening I have been toying with the idea of retiring (when I am financially able to do so) to a remote island or small area in a peaceful country. A friend of mine mention this to me a couple of years ago and before then I had never thought of doing this before and I have been giving it more thought lately. I’m a big fan of the simple things in life and I truly believe that our culture has brain washed us into wanting things that we do not need in our lives. I have been brain washed and I know that I have things that I don’t need. I want my life to be simple, especially when I retire.

The thought of waking up with no alarm clock and walking or riding the bike into town to get some breakfast. Saying hello to every one on the way there. Then after breakfast going for a hike or laying by the beach or reading a book on the porch while looking at the scenery. The main thing is just having a more simple life and not having to worry about that place where I’m living being at odds with other countries, having a financial crisis, and wondering how long it is until my next vacation. Why not be on a permanent vacation.

I remember when I went to Dominica on my cruise my driver was telling me that they have no crime there. To me that was unreal. He said the only thing that happens is theft, but even that is rare. Now they do have to worry about something called a hurricane. But there are plenty places like Dominica that don’t have hurricanes and have a similar way of life.

We already make our lives difficult enough. I would like to make mine more simple when I retire.

So don’t be surprised if I just up and leave one day and send you a post card from a remote location…

How you feel and whats real....

I have so many things on my mind as I sit here after a long day of working from home and catching up on being behind on work. So many thoughts, so many ideas. Then while I was watching a movie I heard a quote that really made me think (even more lol). “You need to decide between what you feel and what is real”. I really liked how this was put and it made a lot sense to me. This is not far from my last post where I was talking about syncing my inner self with my outer self. Sometimes (probably a lot of times) our feelings can mislead us. Feelings are such a reactive thing and you need to think things through in order to move forward and understand things that are going on in your life and your surroundings. I have met many people in my life and the most successful people tend to be the ones who think before they act. Now I’m not talking success as in being wealthy or having material things. I’m talking about being happy in your life and being more than just that average person a lot people except being. The reactive people that I have met in my life tend to stay stagnant and sometimes I don’t think they understand why they find themselves in the same situations day in and day out.

I have a hard time keeping my feelings in control when it comes to some situations and I focus on getting better at that everyday. I don’t want to be a person that just reacts but a lot of times it is extremely difficult. I will continue to push myself to stop, think, and understand reality. If I can do that, I know that I will reach a better understanding about my life and the people I choose to have in it.

On another note….I have been living in Lansing almost 6 months and it has been an interesting time. My life is much different here than it was in Virginia. I love being able to go to all my brothers events, help them study for school and do homework, go to the movies with them, see my mom and dad, and be away from the busy city. But I can honestly say that when I was considering the move back, I didn’t think it would be like this. I find many days where I don’t leave the house because I work from home and I work a long day. Other days I may be gone for an hour, maybe two, and then I back to house. The “friends” that I had here aren’t interested in the same things that I am and it has been difficult hanging out with them because I don’t want to fall back into the same habits that I had before I left Lansing. I don’t enjoy going out to the bar 2-3 times a week and hanging around young minded (not all of them are) college students, and I’m not interested in going to other bars in Lansing because it is the same people I have seen my whole life and most of them aren’t doing anything with their lives. In DC it was nice being around young professionals. That doesn’t seam to exist here in Lansing.

I’m not upset that I moved back, because if I didn’t try it, I might have regretted it in the future. But no matter where I live, I will always be there for my brothers and my family. My brothers were the biggest motivation to move back and I love them dearly. But I might have to get more creative and figure out another way to be there for them and not be in Lansing. This will take some thought…

Love life. Live life. Learn and just Be Happy!!!!

Still Learning...

I guess one of these days I will get on the ball and start posting regularly in my blog. There are a lot of things that I need to make into habits. As I said in my last post, reading is back to a priority, I already have a list of things I want to read about, writing in this blog should be a regular, continuing to produce well with work, and just continuing to learn as a person.

There are many things and people that inspire me in my life. I look at these things and people as motivation to improve myself everyday that I am given on this Earth. I have learned more and more that I need to sync the person who I am on the inside with the person I am on the outside. I found that things are much better in my life when I am inline with myself. I hope that makes sense to you as it does to me.

On a side note…we have just experienced a historical moment recently and I have been toying with the idea of talking about my thoughts on politics on here. But I am still undecided because that can be a touchy subject for some. I don’t take it personally, but many people do. The main thing I hope people understand is that we all have our own opinions about things and there is nothing wrong that. Either way, I hope that things improve in our economy and in this world because things are not looking good right now.

Until the next time…