Changing it up

Sometimes life lessons are easier learned from someone else...

As I was catching up on my Google Reader this morning I came across a rather inspiring post from Ben over at No Ordinary Rollercoaster.

Though the issues are slightly different, I'm still seeing where this whole quit-whining-and-just-do-it attitude can really come in handy in my life.

Here's a little background for those who give a crap.

Lately I've been working my butt off to get a couple of projects off the ground and there are a lot of road blocks to making these things successful. For some, it's just a matter of working past these things and coming up with new ideas, but for others they've really stopped me in my tracks.

And since I'm not one to easily give up, it frustrates me even more to see myself heading in that direction....or at least, putting things on the back burner until further notice.

It's a downward spiral from there, where I think I'm not good enough to get past the roadblocks so I stop trying, then I'm not even good enough to keep trying...you get the picture. It's tough not to get discouraged when your hitting roadblock after roadblock, especially when these barriers are people as opposed to circumstance.

Regardless, I'm putting my head down and barreling through...if I'm persistent something good will come of it all. Of this I am certain :-)

Oh and then I get this little bit of news:

So most of y'all are aware that I picked up skydiving in the last year and I'm totally in love with it. Most of you are also aware that I started a skydiving blog so I had a reasonable excuse to talk about it all. the. time. It's treated me well, to say the least, and I have a very supportive group of followers. Though on the not-so-positive side, in starting a new blog I've neglected this one more than I should....I can't apologize enough. But see, I'm trying. Brownie points for that, right?

....

Right?

Anywhosits, so it turns out this little blog of mine is a bit of a sore spot for some. Why? Got me. (editor's note: though as much as I hear they hate my blog, according to my analytics they continue reading regularly....not sure I get that, exactly, but whatever.)

Normally this is something I'd dig around to figure out because how can someone possibly not like me and not love everything that I'm doing in life...

Yes, I actually believed this for about 25 years.

But this is where I begin to adopt the who cares attitude. As my mother told me, not everyone is going to like me and the things that I do.

"But Mooommmm.......they have to. The just HAVE to like me..."

The challenge comes in sticking to your guns and living the life you believe in, even when there are people out there who outwardly ridicule your thoughts and actions.

Rather than stressing about pleasing everyone, I've found it's much easier to say "f- them" and go about business as usual. After all, THEY are the one's with the problem...not you.

Wait, who am I giving this pep talk to again? I think I switched right in the middle, but that's okay because I'm sharing with you a fabulous lesson that I learned in life, and it's this: no matter who doubts you, ridicules you, or discriminates against you for one reason or another, keep on living the life you believe in and accomplishing the goals you set out to in the first place. You'll be much happier in the end when it's about pleasing yourself and those you care about instead of pleasing those who make it clear they don't give a crap about you.

In the end, these people don't know what they're missing - but you can step back and take pride in your accomplishments and know full well that the people who are standing beside you a true friends and supporters. Why would you wish for anything less?

So tell me dear readers, what are some of the life lessons you'd like to share with the class?

Cheers!

-A