Charging Through Life

There are small pockets of wisdom I have gleamed from my Father and have been able to adapt to actual functional advise over the years. You need to understand that my Dad and I come from completely different worlds. If women are from Mars and men come from Venus, then my Dad hails from Mercury and I hang out in Uranus. Growing up, there wasn't a lot of relevant life lessons the old man could pass down to his closeted gay son that were going to stick. However one bumper-sticker phrase of his has been popping up in my mind lately...

If they meant this to be easy they'd let Women and Children do it.

A strange sentiment for someone to comprehend who was himself a child at the time; and during a time when gender roles were decentegrading faster than the Berlin Wall. But understanding my father's '50s rural Indiana upbringing, I think I understood what he was saying. Nothing worth achieving ever comes easy.

Yesterday was sorta a shit day. I had it fully scheduled and it was suppose to be quite productive all around. But through a series of unrelated circumstances, none of which instigated by me, every meeting got canceled and I was left with a lot of unproductive alone time to think. And what kept popping up in my head was the uncertainty of success in my new business venture. I've put all my eggs in one basket (to steal another phrase from Dad) and I'm taking a huge risk on something that is more likely to fail than not.

The architect of this corporation, Richard, is more of a thinker and a player than a planner and do-er. And I'm finding it difficult to keep him focussed and on track; which is making me wonder if I have a partner who can hold up his end of the bargain and see this company through to profit. It's becoming more and more apparent that I must assume a leadership role and begin making decisions for the group and the company. Question is: will the millionaire who's idea this all was and who's funding the whole damn thing yield to my business decisions? Or is he only interested in acting like a well-funded frat boy on spring break in exotic places like South Beach, The Caribbean, and Brazil?

I kept thinking yesterday, wouldn't it be easier for me to just go get a desk job at Disney? There was that online video job that I could try to go interview for. Shouldn't I try to do things like a normal person? "Normal" people go out and get jobs and get steady paychecks. That would be a far easier route to take.

And that's when I realized what Dad was talking about. Creating this company is not easy and it's not suppose to be. The Universe has engineered this time in my life to be full of difficult tasks. I'm attempting to completely re-define my life and how it will be lived from now on. If it were easy to change your entire life or start a successful and profitable online company, then everyone would be doing it - women and children included.

I think 2011 is going to full of tasks and challenges meant only for Men to attempt. Getting myself into peek physical shape, creating and launching this corporation, seeking out my true passions in life -- these are not simple things to accomplish. Most people will never do any of these things because they are difficult. It is far easier to just sit on the couch and eat chips, get a job and have someone else tell you what to do, and spend your free time getting drunk; and so that's what the majority of people choose to do.

It's a test of a Man's character to rise to the challenge and say, "I'll tackle this - this thing that is difficult." Failure is an understood risk that must be part of the equation. Most people don't want to fail so they don't do things that come with risk. A true Man welcomes the threat of failure and sees it as worthy opponent to spar against in gentlemanly battle. While others watch from the sidelines, a Man sizes his obstacles, chooses his weapons, forges his alliances, and marches forward towards his goal. It is in these times a real Man is defined and becomes separated from the women and children in life.

So. Bring it on, Bitch!