20 Brutal Truths We All Need to Hear

Inc. has been one of my favorite publications for years. I think I first found them in a Barnes & Noble long before smartphones and now I most often find them on just that, my phone, browsing the internets. They produce such great work. Cut to the chase, down to the bone, tell it like it is. Some of these following items are "duh" statements, but others are ones that deserve to be reminded of. Time is all we've got. Surely, we're all doing the best with what we have, but there is no harm in looking up to that bright light that is your best self and doing what you can to get there. Application is difficult, start with awareness. Then start giving it your best shot. If you trip and fall, look back, evaluate, discuss, and develop a plan for the next time. Because you know there is a next time. 

I believe the pursuit of the best self. I'm not too great at it for my own person, so I try to lift up others. Maybe that is me being my best self. And spreading goodness and wisdom like this to create that awareness that hopefully adds a light to someone's life. Not all of us will walk away and instill these 20 things into our thought process, but if one, two, maybe three find a home in there, we are on the right path. 

20 Brutal Truths About Life No One Wants to Admit (Originally posted on Inc.com) 

1. You're going to die and you have no idea when.

Stop pretending that you're invincible- acknowledge the fact of your own mortality, and then start structuring your life in a more meaningful way.

2. Everyone you love is going to die, and you don't know when.

This truth may be saddening at first, but it also gives you permission to make amends with past difficulties and re-establish meaningful relationships with important figures in your life.

Fear

Happily, as the Universe once wrote, when you feel fear, it invariably means you're:

   

1. Exactly where you're supposed to be.

2. Doing exactly what you're supposed to be doing.

3. Becoming more than you've ever been before!

Homelessness and all it's complexities.

I'm so incredibly torn on this subject. Having run through this part of town recently and feeling incredibly unsafe, I immediately have one strong reaction to this article. However, being with someone in the affordable housing national real estate market and able to hear first hand the figures on the market and effects of the Seattle economy on the local affordable housing market, makes me think twice about my opinion. It's a difficult subject with a gnawingly frustrating solution. With my short stint in Australia, I was able to enjoy a thriving metropolitan area with similar demographics to Seattle in terms of age and affluence, but they managed their homelessness quite well. What is it that we're doing wrong, or could be doing differently? I don't know. I wish I did, but for the very reason we're in this place reading these articles, no one really knows. It sure as hell ain't easy.

Read and listen: Amid Seattle's Affluence, Homelessness Also Flourishes

watch: SUPing & Dogs.

new beginnings.

So cliche, but I can't help myself. Here I sit, yet again, at the start of a new adventure and this time, I am finding it a little more troubling than usual to get my feet underneath me and start producing. I suppose that is because the stakes are higher because in the end, it's the same as it's always been, but now with so much riding on it, I don't find myself rising to the occasion, but rather experiencing complete deer-in-the-headlights effect. Which is odd. And it could change. I bet you if I went back into my journals and read the entry's that were around the times in which I was starting a new journey, they would all have the same sentiment. And slowly, over time, I would be writing less in the journal, and kicking more butt in the real world.

I had been asking God to challenge me, to push me, to get me in a situation where I no longer had excuses and was forced to be the best version of myself. To grow professionally in the ways that I wanted to grow, as well as an adult. Was that all overrated? I don't think so, but I can't seem to slap myself awake and sink my teeth in and GO FOR IT. What am I afraid of? What is holding me back? Why am I doubting myself, the same person who asked for these challenges because she wanted to prove that she could? Well, now if there is a saying for someone who is their own black kettle, please tell me because it's applicable here. Hm, the other saying, "she knew she could, so she did" was often one that I garnered a lot of inspiration & motivation from. Not applicable here because I have no idea. It's like this is an exercise in proving that saying to myself. Perhaps I'll start to see a light that makes me feel differently. I guess that if you sat me down and asked me, in my heart of hearts, do I think I can do it? Can I win? Can I accomplish these tasks and lead this machine? Yes. I do. I suppose where I sit today in my headlight stance, is not a matter of wether or not I can move, but an information overload that has frozen my personal RAM. Totally capable, just, not in this capacity.

Like I said, I have been here before. I know what this place leads to and I know that you must go through it to gain anything. So, smarty pants, since you know all of the things, it's high time we just start doing them. One foot, in front of the other.