letting go...

of yourself every now and then feels so good. However you do it, whatever the venue I recommend just......letting go.

For me..letting go comes when listening to my favorite songs on the radio or google-video. I remember waking up in the middle of the night and just leaving my town, riding the highways until the early hours of the morning. Maybe it was the thrill of speeding on the parkway, maybe it was the feel of wind rushing past my face, or maybe it was the almost-deafening stereo system pumping out my emotions. Whatever it was...I miss it. Sometime life just gets so hectic and so cramped with all of the things that we convince ourselves actually matter, when really, they are unimportant. I think we all need to slow down and remember a time when we were simpler people, a time when the feelings of others meant more to us than any thing we could ever own or accomplish in our time that we have.

I truly believe that real happiness, you know the storybook kind, really does exist. However, I think we all look for it in the wring places. We spend so much of our lives looking for a good time, or a way to just forget, or we get by on simple distractions. I think I've learned in the past few months that these distractions do more than just take our attention away from stress, they change us, make us dependant on them, and eventually we can't function without them. Distraction is truly an addiction in every sense of the word.
If we put all of that crap behind us, if just take the time to care about ourselves, and more importantly each other, not only our lives, but the world, will be a better place.

I'm honestly sick and tired of people who have no drive in life, who just sit on their ass all day and accomplish nothing. "What man can call himself so, who does not change the world in which he lives!" This quote has been ringing in my ears for a while now, and the ringing has become true. Our purpose, our very existence on this Earth is conditional on how we make our mark; not on our professionalism, our looks, our talent, our fiscal situation....none of that amounts to anything. IT'S HOW WE TREAT EACH OTHER that has the lasting effect on the world.

Take for instance the fireman... He runs into burning buildings....why...Is he crazy, does he get paid the big bucks, will he ever become a millionaire......no. He does it because he knows that he will help someone, make a lasting, positive difference in someones life. Even if there is a large chance that he won't make it out alive, he still goes into the inferno, because somewhere beneath the flames, someone is in need of help, someone is in need of saving; and I bet that he goes to bed each night happier than the richest person in history, knowing that he has made a difference, that he has helped someone who otherwise would have come to harm.

This post started out about ways to vent frustration and stress, and ended up as a stress reliever in itself. I hope all of you who read this (if anyone does) takes something away from it. Remember what it was like to put others before yourself, and strive to be a better person, to make a positive difference in the lives of everyone you meet. For it is only in the happiness of others that wee can truly be happy ourselves.

-Pete