"If you want to get more out of life, you must lose your inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter-skelter style of life that will at first appear to you to be crazy. But once you become accustomed to such a life you will see its full meaning and its incredible beauty.”

"We've always defined ourselves by the ability to overcome the impossible. And we count these moments. These moments when we dare to aim higher, to break barriers, to reach for the stars, to make the unknown known. We count these moments as our proudest achievements. But we lost all that...

 ...Or perhaps we've just forgotten that we are still pioneers. And we've barely begun. And that our greatest accomplishments cannot be behind us, because our destiny lies above us."

I need another story
Something to get off my chest
My life gets kinda boring
Need something that I can confess

'Til all my sleeves are stained red
From all the truth that I've said
Come by it honestly I swear
Thought you saw me wink, no
I've been on the brink, so

Tell me what you want to hear
Something that will light those ears
Sick of all the insincere
So I'm gonna give all my secrets away

Not Till we are completely lost or turned around...do we begin to find ourselves.

Henry David Thoreau

Fear is a funny thing,

I practiced hard to maintain a fearless way of living.

Bold, brave, adventurous...

And as you get old it evolves.

You no longer want someone to check for monsters under bed.

Rather fear has changed into a feeling similar to falling.

This endless stomach drop adrenaline rush,

and you can't slow,

just spiraling into an endless abyss of unknown.

I thought as you get older make you fear less,

and well that may be true,

I think you fear differently.

Your general understanding of life and how it works,

what you can handle and what you can't.

As you gain life perspective, experience tragedy,

preparing for the unexpected...

When you're young you try to pretend you aren't afraid.

You hid them, for fear of being mocked and teased.

You play a game of avoidance and denial.

As you grow older you try to fight them,

conquer them,

understand them,

change them.

And then you reach a point, as you continue on in life,

where you stop ignoring fear, stop fighting fear..

and you start embracing it.

You learn about yourself in new ways,

discovering unrealized fears.

You sort your priorities and gain a solid understanding of who you are and how you fit in the world.

And then when you fall out of that understanding,

it creates the fear I'm talking about.

Where you begin a spiraling free-fall,

grasping at whatever you can reach on the way down.

I don't wish to be afraid,

and i don't dwell on fear.

But I am thankful sometimes,

to know that it's not always the way I understand it to be,

there is a variable called the unknown that is constantly appearing.

I still practice bravery.

But don't spend time on worrying about what people think.

I"m not afraid of perception,

I"m not afraid of not being able to "conquer" fear.

Rather I"m welcoming it,

and learning how to use fear to create life lessons.

I"m learning to relinquish control,

same as before, but differently.

Because time has changed me.

Experiences has changed me.

People have changed me.

Perspective has changed me.

You cannot predict the future any more than you can change the past.

Just move forward, and create new horizons.

Soak in new experiences and travel to new places.

Because I truly believe that the world is an amazing place,

filled with knowledge, culture, uniqueness...

and there are so many stories to be heard,

and so many lessons to be learned,

and so many faces to meet,

and so many sunrises to see.

This makes the fearfulness healthy instead of debilitating.

You'll never get every answer you want for all your questions,

but you will find some,

and the more answers you get the more you can let it go.

You'll never find answers if you stop looking for them.

And gaze into the past and gain inspiration.

The smell in the air, the sounds of traffic,

an old song, a picture, a feeling...

All that are tools you have to propel yourself into the future.

Ammunition against despair, discouragement, disappointment...

Reminders of the streets you conquered, and the way it all felt.

And don't you remember that you were so afraid.

And you were stuck in an endless free fall,

and it was exactly where you needed to be.

And don't stop with the past,

but let that motivate you to search for new adventures,

to fill your future with newness, change, and new horizons.

Because you'll never find what you want if you stop looking.

Try not to be so angry about the things you can't control.

People make choices that you may never understand.

And as much as you want to find the human connectedness in it all,

it was never what you thought it was.

Perceptions altered by space and time and distance.

You put into life what you want back,

and truly what goes around will come back around.

And even though you don't understand it,

it may have opened the door for something different.

Don't refuse another or deny difference chances.

Just move on into the future,

leave your past in the past.

Let go of anger,

don't let decisions made by other people affect your spirit and passion.

Don't waste time on meaningless relationships.

So much of life happens all the time.

And even when it moves at its slowest,

things are happening.

So move through it boldly.

Pioneer new experiences all the time.

Opportunities are arising, things are falling in place,

and you can't count the time now the same way you did then,

but it's not worse or better,

it's just different.

Allow yourself moments to feel fear, embrace the results.

Stop to appreciate beauty of all types, big and small.

Celebrate small victories,

stop trying to create happiness and keep practicing love.

Because it all matters.