The End of the Line

My dearest readers,

it has been exactly 1809 days since I’ve started #MomentumToGo, since I wrote my very first post—a piece on Langston Hughes titled “Get Momentum!”—in a dark corner while laying on a couch about half my size. These words right here come from the same exact spot, and with this final post I don’t just want to proclaim that all good things must end, but I want to thank you all, from the bottom of my heart, for making this #blog become exactly what I wanted it to be: some momentum to go!

When I started this blog series, I had no idea it was going to reach people in 10+ countries, all reading, liking, and sharing it with family and friends. A special moment in all that time was when I met a stranger in Frankfurt and when we got to talk about reading and writing he told me not only had he read my blog, in fact, he’d even shared it with his family back in the U.S. and they were waiting for another post. There were other special moments, people telling me how one of the posts could cheer them up, would help them get over a loss, a break-up, or just motivated them to chase a long lost childhood dream. And then there were special moments, in which readers would just summarize a post to see if they got it right, wondering what they could learn. It were moments like these that delight me most as a writer, because they’ve shown me that my blog was not just a vague vessel for empty words but something that could speak, something with a purpose; and I can stress here that if my blog helped only one person to get a little inspiration, or motivation, or simply a smile, it worked and was a successful endeavor: mission accomplished, and major key alert!

But what I truly loved about all of these five years was your engagement, your comments, thoughts, critique, and anything in between, because you prevented this blog from being or becoming a one-way street. It was not about just throwing something out to you, in fact, most of my post have been inspired by your thoughts and comments, the manifold contributions by a faithful and loyal readership, and that you truly were, giving me some momentum to go, and go on, and go hard, and go for it, and go further. However, there came a point, recently, times in which my soul has grown deep like the rivers, when I decided to end it after this year, because we have reached the end of the line. It has been nothing but a pleasure and an honor to write for you all, and whether it helped you to grow or not (I hope it did in one way or another), it helped me to grow, and this is what I’m also truly thankful for. A part of my heart cries to think about no longer writing it, but what makes me stay positive is that you know it all by now, what I wrote, getting things started, chasing dreams, finishing strong. You know all about passion, patience, and perseverance, about momentum, overcoming obstacles, and growing with every step. This blog has been my song for the genius child, for you! You are “MomentumToGo!”

And for cuffing and holiday season, where you get to inspire by the fire, I want to close this blog with words by the same inspiring figure that started it all in January of 2012, Mr. Langston Hughes, who wrote:

I tire so of people say,

Let things take their course

Tomorrow is another day.

Thank you all so much for making this so special, so much fun, and so great! Goodbye Momentum, look at your watch, it's late, it's time to go! #M2G

...on second chances!

Dearest readers,

my loyal followers already know what to do with the year closing. They already know how to get things started, how to keep the momentum going, they already know how to turn lead into gold* and rise. But what about the ones who come up short, are frustrated, and wonder why none of this sh*t is working? In the last veritable, 24-carat #MomentumToGo post I want to stress something that got caught up in the whirlwind of hot pursuit: the secondary protocol!

In most of my life, especially where I am right now, there has been little or no room for mistakes and every single day demands my everything. But what shall we—who are constantly on the rise—do when mistakes happen? We’re all human and, whether we want to admit it or not, full of flaws. Mistakes happen. I was always certain that “[a] lifetime isn’t forever, so [you would have to] take the first chance, don’t wait for the second one! Because sometimes, there aren’t second chances!” (C. JoyBell C.)—truth being told.

However, if you did mess something up, don’t be discouraged, because life wasn’t meant to be easy, rising was never meant to be easy. If rising were easy, why wouldn’t everyone do it already, and why are you not at the top yet? C. JoyBell C. writes further: “And if it turns out to be a mistake? So what! This is life! A whole bunch of mistakes! But if you never get a second chance at something you didn’t take a first chance at? That’s true failing.” We must understand that nothing is handed to us, the little things we have, passion, determination, perseverance, all of that is our lead. It’s on us to turn that into gold, where knockbacks are simply a recurring part in the process. For someone who always thought poorly of second chances I must say these are, in fact, the most valuable, because we all learn from mistakes and get to do it better the next time around.

With first chances falling by the wayside it is natural to be frustrated. Bear in mind you are only human, we all are, but take courage and work toward a second chance, earn it, do it better next time. Sometimes missed opportunities and failed first chances are the only way to make second chances happen. How dare you wait for a second chance, knowing you haven’t even taken the first chance?

We shouldn’t strive for a perfect season, but be aware that no rookie QB makes it to the post season with a 16-0 record, no scores allowed on defense, and every drive ending in a TD. What would life be, if everything worked the first time? How would we learn? How would we walk with every road already paved, what would be the point, what would be our purpose?

We must pave our roads, step by step, piece by piece, and build our walls brick by brick. And you can easily think in binaries here, there is no high without a low, no success without failure, no rise without a fall, just as there is no light without darkness. If you want to rise like the Phoenix, I suggest you must first fall to ashes, because if you were to just fly that'd be all you're doing, right next to anyone else who's doing just the same. You want life to be easy? Well, then make it as easy as a Luke Bryan tune, M-O-V-E and love it when you get that deed!

*Big S/O to my brother Rich. Check out #AllThisGold

...on falling leaves!

My dearest readers,

in the break of autumn we might celebrate the remainders of not only a promising summer but (perhaps) already the recollection of a successful year. However, slowly approaching a cinnamon finish we must be aware that the outcome still hangs in the balance and it will stay that way until we hit the ground. As for now we're floating like falling leaves, and it is up to us on what side we land by the end of the year. Until then: keep floating!

With only a couple of posts following after this, I want to start you of with a few lines by Roman Payne: "It's not that we have to quit this life one day, but it's how many things we have to quit all at once: music, laughter, the physics of falling leaves, automobiles, holding hands, the scent of rain, the concept of subway trains… if only one could leave this life slowly!" To not stretch it too far, we shall interpret these lines in a temporal manner, annually, and not necessarily in context with our lifeline, for may there be many more years to come. Therefore, bear in mind that busy times on so many ends are most likely yet to come and it is our task to manage and balance, to pan them all out until our deeds come to a halt after the work is done.

It is "Finish Strong!" all over again, in good ol' fashion. And to keep the "changing-colors-in-fall" rhetoric: we are still required to conform to the arboreal adaptation (in the sense of adjusting to the cause of the year). The year still holds leverage over us and can affect, even shape how we feel, for instance "like a little wave person, floating around on the stormy sea of life" (Ruth Ozeki). But the good news is: there is still time to do (or act)—a little less conversation, a little more action, if you want to take twenty sixteen to the house (without showboating).

It might be tiresome, exhausting, and too demanding (or might only feel as such), but if you want that reflective "finishing" moment to recall this year and garnish it with a little learning twist that floats just below the surface of your success, finish what you started and keep floating until you hit the ground and contribute to the beautiful color scheme of dirt roads covered in fallen leaves. You don't want to land upside down, do you? Then keep floating, not in terms of floating as an idle flowing (cf. Criss Jami), but more in the sense of surprising ease and keeping the momentum up.

Consequently, I want to make you all perceive the fall not as a depressive period to whine after a summer passed. See it more as an opportunity to add a little flavor to your (overall) year—a little less fall season, but a little more seasoning added to your fall. Spice it all up in the end; it's not too late (yet). Let the wind (and sometimes a heavy wind chill) carry you along the course you've set earlier this year, and make sure you look good and content and beautiful when you hit the ground. #MomentumToGo

The Difference pt.2

My dearest readers,

in this conclusion to the previous post I want to stress what Orrin Woodward once wrote: "You can't make a difference until you are to be different." Far too many have the desire to be outstanding, but only a handful are willing to accept that only being possible if you stand out and are different of some sort. "Why spend your life trying to fit in, when you are born to stand out?" (Ziad K. Abdelnour)

Difference often has a negative connotation, because it strongly opposes the mainstream, contemporary commonalities we either afflict upon ourselves or have society do that for us. Who wants to fall out of line and be approached as someone different, non-compliant with what culture dictates at a given time? It often resonates in how we present ourselves and how we are perceived, eventually coming down to a "somebody versus nobody" debate; but the matter specified therein is our standpoint.

Are you somebody, or willing to be nobody? Are you a nobody, because you stand out and don't quite match with the rest of the bunch, are incapable of meeting our society's demands, or are you a nobody, because you do fit right in and no one (yourself included) sees you as someone special, as someone different? Conversely, you could ask yourself whether you're somebody because you are just like your peers or somebody because you're not. Understanding that standpoint and interpreting these tenors is often only a matter of confidence, because "[c]onfidence is knowing who you are and not changing it a bit because […] someone's version of reality is not your reality" (Shannon L. Alder).

What is your reality? Are you the one with jeans and a tee, the one to mimic the "appropriate" attire policy, or are you the one to break the code of culture, suited up with people a week later still chit-chatting about your choice of tie and handkerchief (or dress)? There are certainly times when your choosing is to match with what is required, but likewise are there many opportunities when it is just not the right thing to do. Be strategic! It is on you to make that choice every day. "Strategy is [all] about making choices; it's about deliberately choosing to be different" (Michael Porter), but we're talking about the kind of "different" you can back up and wear with distinction.

"Be different so that people can see you clearly amongst the crowds" (Mehmet Murat İldan), but be different in a way that reflects who you truly are. Don't be different simply for the sake of being different, but be different because you never intended to be just one out of many. And even if it might be intimidating at first, all of us who have been different at some point know how much comfort actually comes with it, and, more importantly, how much confidence these situations can teach us. If you want to be the difference, the key player, the game-changer, you first, of all, need to be different, because there is only one way of being outstanding: by standing out! Know that "[b]eing different and thinking different [is what] makes a person unforgettable. History does not remember the forgettable" (Suzy Kassem), but it remembers you if you're original, special, and willing to stand out. #MomentumToGo

The Difference

My dearest readers,

with the year moving along I want to refresh your memory and touch on what it means to do things differently, and I mean not only differently from how we've handled situations previously but how we sort them out compared to the people around us. We are to decide whether us "being" makes a difference in the world, because that decision will be a determining factor of how we can review our lives at some point. Let me show you the difference…

Nelson Mandela once wrote: "What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead." I could end this post right here, because with those words all has been said. We can strive for so much renown or legacy, but is not what we seek this: knowing that what we do makes a difference? Is not our mission accomplished when we can honestly say that we have made a difference, that in the end it did matter we were there? We don't need to seize everything at all times, but it can't hurt to consider it and claim a thing or two.

When you wake up in the morning, do you tell yourself you want to go out there and make a difference? When you're struggling, don't you want to take on whatever needs fixing, find a solution, and be different and not give in, but do things differently this time, better, with more confidence, so you and nearby or distant observers see you were the difference in the end? I'm not saying we shall enslave ourselves for recognition, but if we make a difference, others will notice, because it comes with results and it's important to realize the effects to our causes.

Imagine a warehouse, untidy, filthy, an uncomfortable place that dust, rats, and mites have vanquished long ago. This warehouse has been in the same condition for a decade or two, business was "alright," and no one felt the urge to clean up. "It's always been like that," they said. When you'd walk in on your first day, would you float alongside your peers, or would you be moved and bold enough to roll up your sleeves, play in the dark, and turn a gloomy hellhole into a pleasant storage facility, a thing for a decade or two no one else would've dared to do?

How dare you!

Fortune favors the bold, they say, the ones who dare. The bold are the ones that want to make a difference, the bold want to be the difference and do what no one else would (want to) do. If you dare, you will definitely note how impressed your coworkers, even the management was that you had the compulsion to finally clean out that sordid store where custom and carelessness had taken over. They notice. No one might talk to you face to face and tell you about it, but they sure as hell talk about you.

There is no need to dare or save and change the world every day. Although, at times you should realize this: "I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do" (Edward Everett Hale). Do something. Dare! Do something worth doing, something that makes a difference and something you will be known for. Do something that still echoes long after you vanished, when a once small storage facility has ultimately become a global logistics enterprise, because "[t]he best the world has to offer comes from the best you have to give to others" (Matshona Dhliwayo). Take courage and be different; and if you haven't been different before, why don't you start with being different today, just this one time? #MomentumToGo ...to be continued!

Let It Be

My dearest readers,

following the last post on living large I must stress that doing an extra step is not entirely a subject grounded in our sense of motivation and inspiration. Sometimes we have to give it a bit of time and be patient, give it time to grow, needless to say that we cannot control it all at all times. Sometimes we just have to whisper words of wisdom to ourselves and let it be.

On our way to making dreams come true there is no one size fits all, there is only a need for action in due time. We have to wait for our shot, take and catch a breath, observe, prepare, and be ready for when our time has come. "The sun will rise and set regardless. What we choose to do with the light while it's here is up to us" (Alexandra Elle). Therefore we must, in fact, know when to stand up and when to stand down, know what is right that day, this very hour, what is right in the present moment, because we have to make decisions and are—personally—held accountable for whatever decision we make. We have agency, but what we must not or don't need to do is succumb to the urgency of inspiration, and we often tend to wonder whether we're doing enough.

We can pump inspiration and motivation into our lives with thousands of pounds per square inch every day, but we must be aware that there is a vortex of circumstance beyond our control. "You don't get to game the system of your life. You just don't. You don't get to control every outcome and aspect as a way to never give in to the uncertainty and unpredictability of something that's beyond what you understand. It's the basis of presence: to show up as you are in this moment and let that be enough" (Jamie Varon). Let it be, but don't let it slip.

A hunter doesn't go out into the woods for a minute or two and expects to bring home some game, he prepares, studies maps and terrain and more, veils himself in camouflage to sit out in the cold long before the sun comes up. He can do so much and be in the prone for hours, but there are days nothing shows and he goes home only to try it again another day.

We can think of all things up front, before going out and hunting dreams, but we must also be aware that we are not in control over when we get our shot and can throw our lucky punch. "Patience," David G. Allen writes, "is the calm acceptance that things can happen in a different order than the one you have in mind." The timing you have your mind set on is often not the right timing for your wishes and dreams to come through and true. But preparing for that one shot can give you the necessary confidence that when you have eyes on the target all you've got to do is pull the trigger. Be patient, but be prepared, because when you're prepared the question whether you're doing enough or not is redundant.

Lose yourself, in your dreams and in your heart, full-heartedly, with a clear focus through your scope of passion and faith, your finger sliding the trigger backwards with the tranquility of an ancient Stoic. And ask yourself: If you had one shot, one opportunity, would you capture, or just let it slip? Let it be, but when it is, let it be yours and snipe and make things happen and shoot...bang! #MomentumToGo

...on living large!

My dearest readers,

after recently hearing a lovely song about living large in a small world, being young and timeless, and flying, I was carried away by this stark collective proposition that dealt at large with previous posts on living in the moment as well as breaking free, consequently on living (life) in general. Therein I find it quite necessary to express again: “Don’t fear death, fear the un-lived life” (Natalie Babbitt)—this is on living large!

In spite of the daily rush in which we tend to drown out in the crowd too often, it is not always simple or given that we can rise in order to make moves. It becomes even more difficult, once we perceive the world around us being small; often we fail to belong or feel like not being strong enough to rise and make moves, accompanied by a little lack of life (and sense, or purpose) and far-reaching love we ought to have for and within our lives, but it is necessary for us “[t]o enjoy the beauty of love, [and to] be a big person in this small world” (Debasish Mridha).

It is not so much about the purpose we serve, or the business we pursue; it is more so the involvement and the devotion we bring along and ultimately to the table. The famous writer Walt Whitman once wrote: “Do anything, but let it produce joy.” And that is, in the end, a strong value that always helps us to rise and make moves, and even more so, to enjoy it, ourselves, and, eventually, have others enjoy it as well.

I’ve written about the extra mile quite thoroughly and what it means to be on it, for when we are given an opportunity we shall always do a little more than the small world around us would do. And we’re not exclusively talking about the extra mile, but about the extra step, because we move forward in life step by step, and then—after many and many more steps—we make miles. Step up! Know when to step up, and when to stand down, because the difference between the two is determined by the courage we all need in order to live large.

When you are given opportunity, or when you’ve earned yourself opportunity, make an extra step and do a little more than what you think is required, a little more than what you think is enough. “Do more than belong: participate. Do more than care: help. Do more than believe: practice. Do more than be fair: be kind. Do more than forgive: forget. Do more than dream: work” (William Arthur Ward). In a small world it is often these little things that count the most; and even more often the lack of doing a little more than needed.

We might live in a small world, a very small world, with too many small things making a difference of who we are and whom we are to become, but out of these minimalistic circumstances, drenched in succinctness of the aforementioned courage, it is neither magic nor a miracle to rise and make moves. It is a choice we are all given, some call it "agency," others call it "free will," some might call it "determination" or "dedication," but regardless of what anybody might call it, it is only a small step to escape a small world, and might only be another small step to rise, and perhaps another to make a move, and possibly not many more to live large! #MomentumToGo

Expand Yourself

My dearest readers,

I recently stumbled across an article on "The Importance of Breaking Free of…Yourself," which I found to be too vastly grounded in Chinese philosophy on the one hand, yet had it made valuable claims concerning the expansion of one’s horizon on the other. Since I’ve written about breaking free before and refrain from comfort zone discourse at large, I tried to find a way that is tangent to both, forged into a short proposition: Overcome yourself in order to expand yourself!

Recording artist Drake sings in one of his songs "I’m leaving, I’m leaving, you know I got my reasons." About a year ago, however, I wrote a post against that, about coming home once all of the work is done, little of which was and is true, because a year ago I couldn’t entirely grasp what all was awaiting me once I had come home. It seemed like there was always another departure hanging from the ceiling, watching, judging, and demanding. And with that overseeing the course of what was to follow, I soon came to notice that it was never—in itself—the premise of coming home once my tasks were in the books, it was and is by no means this pleasurable feeling to let lose a drive and motivation I (and figuratively we) formerly had no idea existed. What is more, it were the willingness and the amenability to make new moves out into the wide open that kept me going, and it is concisely this dynamic between departure and return that distinguishes the shrewd from the careless in general.

I do not (primarily) want to talk about leaving the comfort zone in order to make moves in life, but I want to bring to (your) attention that in order to expand ourselves we must continually thrust outside of what we’re comfortable and familiar with, or at least have the appetence to do that. There is a tremendous amount of potential within you, within all of us, so why compromise that with the lack of desire to exploit it? This being said, let us all be aware that leaving what we know, at times leaving everything behind, is generally a reasonable personal concern that often prevents us from trying new things, which eventually barricades up the extent of opportunity we either have or could have; and is trying to avoid that alone not a damn good reason to take your coat and your leave and bust into the wide open to not only see what is out there, but to see what is within you?

"Go hard or go home!" they say, and you shall know that you can always go home; but it is for the shrewd to go out there, and explore and exploit. In the end, everything we do is just everything we’ve done (cf. Corey Taylor), but be aware that we are also held accountable for the things we haven’t done. "Your perspective on life comes from the cage you were held captive in" (Shannon L. Alder). In that sense, it is all up to you whether you stay home or leave (and break free) in order to expand yourself, because that will determine the quality of your opportunities, and separate the ones you have and the ones you could have from the ones you could have had.

Expand yourself! Be present not only where you or others expect it. Be present elsewhere, in pain and predicaments; be unexpected, unpredictable—and do so every step of the way; for then you are to find your true potential, the self-affirming ego boost we so often strive for—and let that be thy personal #MomentumToGo!

...on heavy lifting!

My dearest readers,

a good friend recently told me about his new-found determination in life and career and how no one would stop him anymore, at least not himself. It delighted my to see such finesse, such awe-inspiring astuteness to defy former aggravating circumstances—and all of that coming from someone of whom I always spoke highly whenever I saw the audacity and passion he carried along for all of my grad and most of my undergrad time. Nothing is but what is not…but it must be lifted and carried!

I often wrote about the way we must walk, or the path we have to stay on; but what you cannot ignore is the weight you must carry all along. I wrote about the obstacles we have to overcome, but never wrote about the burden that is tied onto our backs. And neither did I write about the load we’ve piled up over the course of our lives, lives that bear nothing but onerous responsibilities. And in the midst of walking through our lives we are heavily laden with frustration, anger, rage, disappointment after disappointment, being shut down and out, being convinced or told one is not good enough—pick one or two or more, the ones you tend and are told to carry.

But with our entire burden we are given a chance to grow. The longer we carry that load, the longer we’re forced to lift it, the longer we feel the weight of the world, of our worlds, on our shoulders, the stronger we grow over time. Alexandra Bracken once wrote she were “coming to see the heavier your heart got, the stronger you had to be to keep carrying it around.” There might be people around you who are more privileged with a smaller torch to carry, but the gigantic torch you’ve carried all along, all that time, will at some point shine brighter than you can fathom, than anyone can fathom. Carry it with pride and sense of purpose, for then you get to light it and have it shine as beautiful as a sea of candles floating downstream on a river. Let your load be your inspiration, your weights on the bar when you’re all fired up to lift like there is no tomorrow.

It is a tremendous, unimaginable number of tons we’re dragging along, and there’s no end in sight, for “[w]e are all tied to the burdens of this existence, and it seems as if everyday renewal is occurring in our lives and those around us” (Kat Lahr). If you recall the very first post of #MomentumToGo, you may have felt that it all sags like a heavy load, or does it explode, that deferred dream, that once-highly-regarded motivation of an ambitious you, or that fading confidence of a private who first waded his or her way through basic training only to find out that it was just the beginning of more things they carried.

It is not only the way, the distance we have to travel that determines who we are and how we handle it, but it is also the number of checked bags that must get to the final destination. Can you be Atlas, the son of invincible spirit, when you board that plane and take your luggage with you all the way? Welcome aboard, but be aware that in life often nothing is, but what is not, because this load you’re carrying is life, your life, and your heavy load. Lift it, carry it, and don’t stop believing that your time will come, your time to light that Olympic torch of yours and make it shine for the whole world to see! #DoYouEvenLift

Rise Up

My dearest readers,

after recovering from a bad virus infection I am reaching out to you in the midst of this rare occasion of me being sick and, of course, under the shadows of the annual Easter festivities. With these two occasions crossing, what is more apparent than to write about rising, about how we can rise up out of the challenges and the at times given profound monotony in life?

Andra Day has put ‘rising up’ into a phenomenal song I’m sure we’re all familiar with. She sings not only about rising like the day, or rising unafraid, or rising up in spite of the ache, but she sings even more so about doing that a thousand times again. Now this implies not only that she has the capacity and the need to rise up, but her voice is also a testimony that she has done it before. How often do we get trapped in life, hoping to somehow rise up—not only in a conventional sense but in that of rising above ourselves? Often just that is needed, necessary, even mandatory in order for us to go further. And we must have confidence, knowing that it is our time to rise up; and we must be aware that we have the ability to not only do it once but again and again. When you know you can rise up, you know that you have done it before, and not just once, but quite a few times. You can do it, you can rise up, and you know so; you know that you can rise up and make a move and move mountains. But the question is: when your life calls you out, are you willing to rise?

In the center of the many city lights that surround us, in all corners of a speedy life, where we are nobody, one of the millions and masses in the flesh, right there and right then we tend to drown out in the crowd(s). We may wonder why we would matter, why what we do would matter. In times like these it is tough to rise up, because when that feeling of being nobody kicks in—and I’m certain it appears to all of us sooner or later—we feel like no more than a cog in a giant wheel that is beyond us, exceeding what we can grasp. But if we want to go further, it are times like these, exclusively, that demand our rising.

We might get intimidated, overwhelmed with what is at hand; but exactly in that time we shall remember that we can and must rise up, we should know that we have the ability to do it. And we should further have confidence that we are given an opportunity to do it, and do it again. After many knockdowns in life it can be tiresome to rise up again, but these many knockdowns shall be our source of confidence to just rise up again when our lives pull us down and under. I’m sure you’ve done it before, you have risen up. And “[h]ow can you rise, if you have not burned?” (Hiba Fatima Ahmad); and how can you rise up, if you haven’t fallen before?

Rising implies that we have fallen before. Imagine a plane that can only take off when it’s still on the ground. You might still be on the ground, but it is precisely that state that puts you in a position out of which you can rise up. Andra Day does not begin her song with rising in the first place. She begins her first verse with the words “[y]ou’re broken down and tired of living life in a merry-go-round.” And out of that she rises up, high like the waves, again and again.

Rise and shine, they say…and we shall note that “[t]he beauty of a morning glory, is that of its patient wait for the sun to bloom in the morning!” (Mary Kate). Your time will come, and when it comes all you have to do is rise, rise like the sun, morning after morning, every morning, and shine across the world every day.

...on cruising!

My dearest readers,

with the new year and your life in motion, with forged success in progress, and spring gradually approaching, we slowly (should) get to shake off the cold and frozenness of a rusty winter mood and hit the road. If you want to push forward, and if we want to #make #believe, we cannot keep our speed down; we must hit the pedal to the floorboard if we want to go further, and keep our #MomentumToGo up, roll our windows down, and cruise!

Some consider speed—or a quick pace—in our lives a liability. But it’s not the pace that becomes a burden, it is more so inattention, sheer apathy to capture the moment, or a lack of delight in a fast-paced life that bothers us. If only we became more aware of our moments in life and time; can a fast-paced life not be fun and can we not have joy in seizing each of these moments? When you drive wide into the open, are you not filled with a sense of freedom running wild?

Being aware of all our moments is mostly a tall order. We tend to float with whatever is at hand, and we’re destined to give in to the fast-paced world around us. But in the midst of the rush and worldly or personal demands we forget to “[s]tart the daily practice of joyful living” (Bryant McGill). We can grumble about missed opportunities, closed doors, and the incapability to keep up with everything—and it is by no means preposterous to be upset about any of it; but why don’t we add a little joy in this dispute with ourselves? Are you aware that “[y]our sacred time is now” and you should “[b]egin to live passionately” (Lailah Gifty Akita)?

If we live joyful and not let our hearts sink, we can walk on air. And then we can—regardless of challenges—hover over and beyond the blacktop and rev our engines all day long, and every day. I am not saying there won’t be others trying to slow us down; and neither am I saying there won’t be traffic ahead…but if we keep our foot heavy on the pedal, we can keep our momentum and push forward and eventually go further. We’re rolling already, and if we do so “in joy, happiness is close behind” (Todd Stocker)—often almost unnoticeable in our rearview mirror, hiding in our momentum’s slipstream; but we should know it is there, it is close, it is following us and catching up.

You’ve pushed start already, your engine is running. Isn’t it about time you set your drive on cruise control and (be) ride or die on the open road? In fact, ride free or die, keep on rolling on your road, because you’re the driver, not someone else…there is no speed limit, you’re steering and you set your pace. Whether you pass others is entirely up to you, all you’ve got to do is crank up your cruise control at a given time, and then you get to ride into the spring. And “[s]pring work is going on with joyful enthusiasm” (John Muir), even where the blacktop ends.

Make Believe

My dearest readers,

I am deeply humbled to return and write another year’s #MomentumToGo, and (as is custom by now) I want us all to catch a good start—if you haven’t done so already. The year is still young, and fresh, so why don’t we open our eyes and look for all stacks of opportunity out there, stacks over stacks just waiting for you to collect them…the time is right, and it is time for one more thing: make believe, for “[b]elieving is half the cure” (Toba Beta).

If you can recall, I am (still) not a fan of New Year Resolutions, because a certain date alone can and will not make vast anticipated changes or a difference concerning who we are. Experiences do that, and not all life-changing experiences (or those of fewer impact) happen on New Year’s Eve. If we intend to make changes, improve, progress, and grow as a person, do we really need a date like the first of January to implement? Does it need a date to be refreshed, renewed, and all of a sudden this entirely different person?

After a long year of work we do take the holidays to wrap things up and wind down and get ready to grab life by the horns again; a year ending and a new year starting has that impact on us, and that feel to it, but the truth is that even though we feel our lives at a brief halt and suck up this little pause, that break to refresh, “[t]here is no pause in life, the moment we pause, we stop living” (Lailah Gifty Akita). Therefore I want to trace this opening post in 2016 back to last year’s opening post, take it back to starting in mid-action and the (not so) unwritten law of showing versus telling.

We don’t want to tell ourselves and others what we’re capable of, what all we can do, no; we want to show ourselves and others what we got, because talk is for those kind of people that have gotten weary and intimidated, fearful of life. Let them talk, let them tell everyone and all the world what’s going on; because that is all they can do, and all they want to do. But showing, in the sense of going out there and marching into this life—and as for now marching into a new year—is for those who love action, the ones that take action. Showing means leaving the comfort zone, exploring, and conquering. It entails confronting dangers, and it involves failure(s), often lots of them. Talking, on the other hand, means watching from a distance, while dwelling in a safe house. Why don’t we give the ones staying at home something to talk about and show them, back in their comfort zone, what we’re made of? We out there may fail a hundred times on our pursued path and are susceptible to fall for (their) talk, but then there is that one hundred and first time when we will cross the Rubicon, when they wish they had come across but only saw how we would conquer and stand firm in the end. They can tell, all of them, what you’ve shown, because seeing you succeed is the one thing to make them do what you’ve done all along: believe!

It is showing that makes people believe, because they are watching, everybody’s watching when you struggle out there, striving for completion and fighting for your dreams. And at first they may be happy they never left their comfort zone, but the moment will come when you overcome all struggles and made it to the other side, because “what really matters is not what you believe but the faith and conviction with which you believe” (Knut Hamsun). That is what you’re made of, faith and conviction, and seeing you succeed will do what shall be our creed in 2016: #make #believe!