This post is a little bit of a break from the unimportant world of food and wine.<\/p>\n
A couple months back I found out that someone I knew passed away. It hit pretty hard because it was unexpected to me but evidently he had been having some health issues. I didn\u2019t know him extremely well but I knew him and his partner fairly well and respected them a lot. They were actually LIVING their life\u2026like many of us often forget to do. John was a good guy and he will be missed.<\/p>\n
Last night I found out another man, coincidently named John as well, passed away a couple of weeks ago. We knew John and his wife for some time and had grown very fond of them. An older couple but they too were actually LIVING their life. They were living a life of adventure and were extremely active. His death was apparently due to some freak accident so again, unexpected.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t bring either of these stories up to be a downer on Friday. Instead I bring these things up because it leads me to a question\u2026what the %&#$ are we doing?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s cute that we all make excuses about why we have to do certain things\u2026I have bills to pay, I don\u2019t have time, or I can\u2019t; but if any of us think that there\u2019s plenty of time or I\u2019ll do it someday, we are living in a fairytale. If you think having a fancy house or Mercedes or $150.00 jeans is the way to go\u2026I ask you this: When I mentioned to the two men above that passed away, what did I mention?<\/p>\n
I mentioned that they LIVED life. I mentioned that they were good people. They both were doing pretty well to really well financially but I didn\u2019t mention that. I didn\u2019t mention the kind of cars they owned or the brand of jeans they wore.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not necessarily frustrated but I\u2019m disappointed in myself. I\u2019m disappointed that I waste even one second worrying about money, the car I own, or what other people will think of the clothes I wear. I\u2019m disappointed because every second that I do that I am letting myself down as well as my full potential. More importantly I\u2019m letting my wife, my son, and those people in my life that I care about down.<\/p>\n
For those that sit there and choose to ignore this message, that\u2019s fine\u2026I\u2019m not necessarily talking to you. If you\u2019re content with a life where things are more important than people than please, continue on. If you\u2019re content with making excuses for why things can\u2019t be better then please, move on with your day. If you don\u2019t think it\u2019s worth it to get over yourself and stop getting stuck in the ruts of negativity then please, carry on.<\/p>\n
This is about creating a \u201cwhatever it takes\u201d attitude.<\/p>\n
Do whatever it takes to get the stress out of your life.<\/p>\n
Do whatever it takes to laugh more and be pissed off less.<\/p>\n
Do whatever it takes to live up to that potential that you don\u2019t believe you have.<\/p>\n
Do whatever it takes to appreciate the people in your life.<\/p>\n
Do whatever it takes to put people over money, bills, and things.<\/p>\n
Do whatever it takes to live up to and beyond what you think is possible.<\/p>\n
Do whatever it takes to LIVE this life.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know what the answer is. I don\u2019t know why it takes death or catastrophic events for us to \u201cremember\u201d how amazing and fragile this life is. I\u2019m not really sad for those two men that died\u2026I\u2019m sad I won\u2019t ever see them or chat with them again, but no, I\u2019m not sad for them. Here\u2019s why, they lived the way you\u2019re supposed to. They adventured and really LIVED. They LIVED enough to have me write this and have the feelings I\u2019m having. What that means is that in some way they touched me enough to make an impact.<\/p>\n
What are you doing to make an impact?<\/p>\n
Again, this isn\u2019t about raining on your parade today. It\u2019s about two awesome guys that LIVED great lives and it\u2019s also a plea from me to you\u2026LIVE. As long as you\u2019re breathing there is time\u2026LIVE. Make an impact. Make a difference. Adventure. Cheers to John and John, thanks for reminding me how amazing life is and how magical people are.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This post is a little bit of a break from the unimportant world of food and wine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2781,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","filesize_raw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2778","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-lifestyle","8":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\n