Month: October 2011

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If It’s What You Love To Do, Stay Hungry and Stay Foolish

October 17, 2011 jcladyluv

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.”

~Steve Jobs

When Steve Jobs died on October 5 he left behind so much more than just his extensive contribution to the technological world. In my opinion, what’s worth far more than his Apple Company is the determination that it took for him to reach his level of success and the words that he expressed in his 2005 commencement speech at StanfordUniversity. I must admit that I had not actually took the time to watch the speech until after his death but there was so much that I got out of those fifteen minutes. One thing he said that stuck with me was to not let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice.

Another memorable thing that I took away from his speech was his last four words; Stay hungry, stay foolish. It seemed to be words that he lived by until his dying day and I found these words to be both intriguing and inspiring. When you stay hungry you never really lose sight of what is at stake for your dreams. You stay focused and steady. You stay driven and determined. You never settle if you have not gotten to where it is you want to be. When you allow yourself to stay foolish you give yourself permission to have the courage to do the things that everybody else might think of as stupid or crazy. Those that remain foolish have the ability to ignore the logic that might be telling them that something will be too difficult or impossible to make happen.

In the last few weeks I have been continually told, in so many words, that what I want for my life is not going to happen and that I am wasting my time with it. I should just go make a career out of working behind a desk and be content with that because it’s a good living. They say writing is not practical, writing will never make me rich or even provide enough money to live off, writing is a great hobby but it’s not realistically possible to make it, especially in the current economy. Well I say to hell with anyone who tells me that doing what I love to do, what I was born to do, is a waste of my time. It’s who I am and it’s all I’ve ever wanted to do.

It’s not as if I just woke up a year or two ago and said hey, I think I want to be a writer now. I have known since I was six years old that this was what my purpose in life was and I have never, in 25 years, wavered from that belief. Honestly, at this point I’ve put in so much time and sacrificed so much in the effort of making this work that I can’t go back now. Sure I’m not where I would like to be within my career at this point, nor where I thought I would be, but I know it’s coming because I know it’s meant for me.

So many times I hear about or see people who have spent their lives doing something that is practical and might have garnered them success but it wasn’t what they wanted for themselves. It wasn’t the way that they wanted to achieve their success and they weren’t very happy. They spent their lives living up to others’ standards and other people’s ideas of normal and practical. They lived a life, but it wasn’t theirs.

I’ve already wasted too much of my limited time on this earth living the way someone else thought I should, doing what was practical all the while longing to follow my heart. I am not going to leave this world feeling like I didn’t at least try to live the life I was meant to live. As Steve Jobs also said in his brilliant speech, “Remembering that you are going to die is the best way to avoid the trap of thinking that you have something to lose…” What good is living if I am not going to go for it all, come hell or high water? I’ve always wondered what it would feel like to really throw caution to the wind and just jump feet first without worrying what will go wrong. I think that I’m going to start finding out. I thank you Steve Jobs for being brave enough to Stay hungry and Stay foolish. Until next time…Imagine all of what you can do if you were just a little more foolish and a lot less logical.

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

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http://www.passionatewriterpublishing.com/thediary.htm

Visualize That You Are Already There

October 14, 2011October 14, 2011 jcladyluv

“See things as you would have them be instead of as they are.”

~Robert Collier

There are people who say that you become what you believe. So it’s simple, right? If you visualize something you want in your life, then you will eventually achieve it. However, it is difficult for a lot of people to believe in things that have yet to be seen; to believe that what you visualize could actually be tangible.

We are told to step out on faith. We believe that through God all things are possible and we stay true to that (for the most part), but we can’t see God either. So just as we blindly trust in God to always be there for us and guide us in the right direction why are we not so trusting in our own instincts and our own belief in ourselves? Why is it that we can’t trust that what we envision for our lives is not what we can actually have?

In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, Jim Carey said that before he made it big he would drive around and he would visualize what he wanted for his life and he would envision that he actually had those things but that they were just temporarily out of his reach at that moment. That’s an ingenious way to look at things because in reality, nothing that any of us wants for ourselves is impossible. What takes the possibility out of succeeding in our goals is the lack of determination and persistence at going after them because as Jim Carey also noted in his interview, visualizing does nothing if there is no work done to obtain that vision.

When you think about what you want your level of success to be and what you can achieve, you should not set those standards according to what others may be thinking your level should be. Your calling in life has nothing to do with anyone else but what you see yourself doing and what you see yourself achieving. Visualizing your goals and not just the possibilities but the realities can allow you to see that they are right within your grasp, if only you would just reach out your hands and grab a hold of them.

So the next time you start hearing yourself say you wish you could just achieve this or that and you find yourself feeling as if there are nothing but what ifs hanging over your head, just stop and visualize that you are already wherever it is that you want to be and that you already have the things that you wish to have. It’s a lot better then thinking that it will never happen. Until next time…Grab onto the image of success that’s right in front of you instead of the possibility of failure!

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310

http://www.passionatewriterpublishing.com/thediary.htm

What Would You Do If You Were Not Afraid?

October 11, 2011 jcladyluv

“Whatever you fear most has no power—it is your fear that has the power.

~Oprah Winfrey

I was watching the interview that Oprah did with facebook’s COO, Sheryl Sandberg the other night and I managed to get some really inspirational things from it, but that’s no surprise considering it is Oprah. I think that the most insightful thing that I got from it was when Oprah talked about the fear she had at starting her own cable network. She said that one of the ways that she was able to move past that fear was to make a list of all of the things that she would do if she were not afraid to do them. I immediately jotted down a few notes and started pondering what my list would look like.

Now anyone who knows me knows that I am the queen of list making so of course I couldn’t just sit and ponder what would be on my list, I had to actually make my list. The funny thing was that I put quite a few things on that list that I didn’t even realize that I actually had a yearning to do. There were things that I am so afraid of doing that I had somehow convinced myself that I didn’t want to do those things simply out of fear. In writing them down and being completely honest with myself I realized that I do want to do those things, I’m just scared to. But what kind of existence can I possibly have always being afraid to do what it is I really want to do?

We are all afraid of something. Fear is just a part of life. We are going to be afraid of something, and it is even going to trip us up for a while, but how long do you let that fear control the destination of your journey? I know I can’t kick that habit of fear overnight, hell probably not even in a month or so, but I know it’s not helping me meet my goals. I think that I am going to put my list up on my bulletin board in an effort to remind me of all of the things that I am missing out on by being afraid to do them, or at the very least try.

So since I am a little bit afraid to share any part of this list with the rest of the world for fear of becoming vulnerable I am in fact going to share a part of that list:

Open my own bookstore
Go to culinary arts school and pursue opening my own restaurant.
Write a soap opera and present it for production.
Write a stage play and get it produced.
Hound a national magazine or newspaper until they hire me to write for them.
Start my own internet talk/radio show.
Audition for the X-factor.
Start doing motivational speaking to kids and teens in elementary and high schools about the dangers of bullying.

Okay so that was only a small part of my list but I don’t want to go sharing everything. So I think that everyone should go make their own list of what they would do if they were not afraid. If you don’t mind sharing maybe you could leave a comment and share one of those things that you would do. If it’s out there, then there’s no reason to be afraid anymore, right? Even if you don’t share make the list anyway, you just might find it liberating. Until next time…Do what it is you are most afraid of!

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310

http://www.passionatewriterpublishing.com/thediary.htm

Should I Really be Content?

October 8, 2011 jcladyluv

“If you are foolish enough to be contented, don’t show it, but grumble with the rest.”

~Jerome K.

I am not a perfect person. I am a good writer, but by far, I am not the best that there is. I am driven and overly ambitious but I do, a lot of the time, tend to let my fear get in my own way. I will not do everything right all of the time and I am sure to get many more things wrong in this life before I leave it. It is a waste of time to pretend that I am anything close to what people might wish I could be.

I read online somewhere the other day something that said ‘until you make peace with who you are, you will never be content with what you have’. The only problem that I have with that saying is that I don’t think that anyone should ever really be content with what they have if their goals in life far exceed where they are right now. I have made peace with me and with all that I am, and more importantly with all that I am not and it took me a very long time to get to that point where I could be at peace with myself.

However, I can not say that I am content with what I have. Not out of some sense of being greedy and wanting more. And not because I don’t appreciate the things that I do have right now at this very moment, but because I know that there is so much more that I can be doing and goals that I am striving to get accomplished, and I can’t say I’m content yet. I know I could be doing better.

I think a state of contentment happens when a person gets to that point in their life where they can check off the majority of the things they set out to achieve, when they are where they need to be in life, and they don’t necessarily have to be rich, but rather self reliant and independent, and more importantly, stable. I am grateful, and very aware of the good things that I have had happen in my life, and of the potential that I have to do more with my life, but I do want to do more. I am not content with being ordinary, but rather, I strive to be extraordinary.

I think that sometimes people get complacent and they settle for what they have managed to achieve. Maybe they get in this rut where they honestly feel that they can’t accomplish the rest of their goals that they had wanted to achieve. That is not being content. That is settling for what you have managed to do so far. I think that it is okay to be at peace with the person you are and still not feel as if you are content. Once you reach the point of contentment, what else is there to strive for? Then what will our purpose be? I am who I am and I am okay with that, but I don’t think I will ever think that I am done doing what I was put on this earth to do. Until next time…If you think there is more in your life that needs to be done, are you really content?

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310

http://www.passionatewriterpublishing.com/thediary.htm

Let Me Not Wallow Anymore

October 5, 2011 jcladyluv

“There is no advancement to him who stands trembling because he cannot see the end from the beginning.”

~E.J. Klemme

I was thinking the other night, yet again, about how bad things are and how I can almost see that light at the end of the tunnel but I’m getting frustrated because I feel as if that light should be much closer by now. I was thinking of how I just wish things, for once, could be going the way that I need for them to go. What I was doing was wallowing, and it wasn’t the first time. I was focusing so much on what isn’t going right that I wasn’t thinking about the things that are going right.

My best friend, Ms. L., hates it when I get so far down in the dumps that I can’t see any possible chance of something positive happening. She doesn’t like to hear me speak of all of the things that I think I can’t do because of this, that, or the other. She tells me that she doesn’t want to hear it and that she’s there for me but she can’t be around the negativity. To tell you the truth she actually has had the nerve to hang up on me once and I was mad. Those times when she would shut me down when I’m just simply trying to express what I’m feeling at the moment I could not understand how she couldn’t just be there for me and listen. But more and more I realize that she was being a friend, a really good friend.

Not only was she not going to let me tear myself down and make light of my goals or my potential, but she also wasn’t going to let me bring her down into my pit of negativity. I can appreciate that now because I have a person that is in my orbit that constantly tries to find one way or another to bring me down to her level of negativity and tries even harder to keep me feeling that way. I find myself constantly having to cut her off in the midst of her trying to make me commiserate in her own misery and negative feelings just so I can maintain my optimism that I find myself having to work at maintaining on a daily basis.

Sometimes I get stuck feeling a certain way, I get in a funk and too many times I allow myself to stay in that funk for far too long but it is having a friend like Ms. L. that can give me a good shaking (not physically of course) to make me see that wallowing is not going to change anything, but rather allow things to continue on being the same. Changing one’s circumstances can only happen once you stop questioning why me, and why did this or that happen, and actually do something about the situation that you don’t want to be in anymore. It’s good to have a friend that will risk hurting your feelings and upsetting you in order to save you from yourself. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Until next time…Stop wallowing in the things you can’t change and get out there and make the changes that you have the power to make!

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310

http://www.passionatewriterpublishing.com/thediary.htm

And Now She Can Breathe Again

October 3, 2011 jcladyluv

“We’re given second chances every day of our life. We don’t usually take them, but they’re there for the taking.”

~Andrew M. Greeley

Today someone has been granted a second chance at living the life that they should’ve been living all this time. In an Italian appeal’s court, Amanda Knox was acquitted of multiple charges that two years ago got her sentenced to twenty six years in an Italian prison. She was falsely accused and then wrongly convicted and now after spending far too much time already in prison, she has a second chance at freedom. Now she can really breathe again.

What will she do from this point on? She’s had this stamp placed on her now that when people look at her they’re only going to think about the girl who went toItalyand was put on trial for murder. For those that still believe she is guilty, she will be known as the girl who got away with murder. She is the girl who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. She was thrown off the road to success that she was on and everyone has to be wondering the same thing that I am; what’s next for Amanda Knox?

Many people might say that her life may be forever derailed. I, however, think that this would be the perfect time for her to show the world just how strong she really is. There is an opportunity that can come from this tragedy. There is a story that she has to tell that can help to steer someone else that may soon be going off course. This can be a new beginning for her and a chance for her to use what she went through to enhance her greatness and propel her future.

Perhaps we all don’t share the same hardships and tragic events that Amanda Knox has had to go through but the lesson is still the same. She persevered, and she fought for her future (along with her family), and she never gave up, not for one second. When I think of the little minor things that I have gone through, at least minor in comparison to being on trial for a murder I didn’t commit, I am made to feel foolish. I don’t have the stigmas that she will now have and I don’t have the long road of adjustment ahead that she will have to make. Compared to her struggle, what do I, or any of us for that matter, really have to complain about?

Many times I have wanted to just give up and throw in the towel and I didn’t have nearly as much on my plate as she did. And she never gave up. So why should I? Why should anyone? I am thankful for Amanda Knox having this second chance at living her life and that her family will have the chance to support her in living that life. I am happy to know that there are second chances for those of us that consistently loose our way. I think I’ll take God up on the one he’s always giving me. Until next time…be thankful for all of the second chances you are given to make something right!

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”