Life – Don’t Lift With Your Back

There Is Always An Excuse

Amidst my travels, I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to talk to people from all walks of life. One consistent thing I hear is people’s admiration for me pursuing what I love, and truly living life by my own rules. From, “I wish I could do what I love” to “you’re so lucky!” Which of course causes me to turn the conversation towards them. “Well, why can’t you do what you love? What’s stopping you?” And without fail, an excuse follows.

Now when I say excuse, I don’t necessarily mean something invalid. I hear a bunch of understandable reasons! From parents judgement, to loans, to children, you name it! But then that brings me to the question, “you don’t think someone with those things has ever done what they love?” And follows the response of “well…yeah I’m sure they have BUT…” and another excuse follows.

As this conversation continues, it becomes evident that it’s not as much these obligations as much as it is fear. Most of us are afraid! We are afraid of; failure, the unknown, the judgment of our peers, the hard work, and all sorts of other stuff. That is the root! We are afraid! But that is okay! I’ll be damned if not everyone who has ever accomplished anything has been afraid at one point or another. If we aren’t afraid, we aren’t aiming high enough!

“Okay, so im afraid…thank you for pointing that out. But what the fuck do I do about that?” you ask.

Now it is time to address our fears. We must really sit down and address the fear within ourselves. Why are we afraid? What are we afraid of? Are our fears valid? How do we minimize these fears?

Those first couple questions I can’t answer for you, but how to minimize those fears? That I can help with! Take it one step at a time. Don’t rush yourself into the process. Rome wasn’t built in a day! Things that are truly worth it take time, energy, and an absurd amount of patience. You are not going to be a professional in just one day, but you will be that much closer to being a professional. You must visualize your end goal and then work your way backwards. I’ll give you a good example here!

So about a year ago, I decided I wanted to make music. Having ZERO knowledge about the technical side of making music, but I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to be on stage performing to thousands over songs that I produced and wrote. So now that I have my end goal, what the hell do I have to do to get there? I realized from a production standpoint, I’ll need to understand melodies and how a song goes together. The structure of the song if I may! Upon doing some research, I found out music theory is essentially the key to melody and good song structure so I then realized I need to learn music theory. I then began to look into music theory and break it down into different components, from scales, to chords, then to progrssions, etc! So now I had a loose grasp on what I needed to know to begin as a producer and I started to delve into all of these concepts! And then I began to do the exact same thing from a writers standpoint! All while studying modern day pieces and seeing what made them pleasing to the ear.

In other words, I became a student of music! I immersed myself in it. I began to eat sleep and breathe music, and that’s what must be done! You must train your mind to think in the field you’re going into! Which sounds scary, but it’s as simple as surrounding yourself with it constantly.

The key is to take it one step at a time! Set little milestones and work towards them! Don’t get concerned with the end goal because you will never feel like you’re making progress, but if you make small little goals, you will truly see the progression!

Now it is up to you! Face those fears head on, but at your own pace! Show yourself what you’re truly made of!

I believe in you damnit!

Grant

Stand Up For Yourself

I apologize now for this not being amazingly organized. It just poured out haha.

Everyone is constantly spewing opinions, yet they don’t have their life in order.

DO NOT entertain this bullshit.
People who are constantly giving an opinion have way too much time on their hands. And chances are it is because they’re not dealing with their own issues. Unless you want to end up EXACTLY like that person, kick their advice to the wayside. No two people’s situations are the exact same. Someone may judge you for buying too many coffees, but what they don’t factor in is it may be your only time for yourself throughout the day. Even beyond that, those same people blow an absurd amount of money on alcohol or at the damn casino on the weekends. Just don’t let these opinions bother you. If their opinion has some value, then of course take it for what it is worth, but don’t let these shape you!
Now let’s not get it twisted. This goes both ways! Do not let the opinions of those around you force you to do stuff you don’t want to do. Fuck their opinions. If they won’t like you unless you do something that makes you uncomfortable, kick them to the curb. You need people around you that are going to love you, support you, and not judge you throughout the process. Get some friends that are working towards something greater. Ones who understand what it is like to have a dream. Those who aren’t necessarily drinking every weekend and do things out of the norm. If you and your friends do the exact same thing every weekend, and you want more from life, it’s time to change.

That change starts with how you view yourself and those people you keep around you…

We Don’t Need Your Advice

How many times have you received terrible advice?

It seems that everyone wants to give advice, without having any idea what you are talking about. Those around you can literally never have accomplished what you are trying to accomplish, yet they have advice on it…how does that work?

I’m at a point in my life where I am taking no one’s advice if they have not accomplished what I am pursuing. Why would I?

Often times, people’s advice is just their fear showing through them. They are afraid to take any risks, and in return, they project those exact same fears on you with the possibility of hindering you from pursuing anything worth while.

And don’t get me started on old people giving advice…how many times have you heard from an older generation that you should go into tech or finance because the industry is currently booming? And they say this without knowing a damn thing about your love or abilities related to tech and finance.
Older people completely disregard the human factor of it all and just look at the money. But if it was that damn easy, why didn’t they get into finance? Why don’t they have an absurd amount of money now, and the happiest of lives?

Moral of the story being, do not let anyone steer you off of your path. Only you know where the world is leading you, but that doesn’t come without some effort. Truly listen to the world and to yourself and see what is best for you. See what could truly get you out of bed every morning, and what would truly allow you to live and sustain.

Now let’s pursue our passions with the upmost resilience and see what this beautiful yet crazy thing called life has in store for us.

Love!

Grant

Write Down Your Goals

It is weird how real things get when we make them tangible. It is one thing to think up ideas and discuss what must be done to make them a reality, but it’s a whole new ball game when you see them written on a goal list.

When you see your goals written in your handwriting day in and day out, it eats at you. You see them and you think. You analyze. You start thinking tangibly. You see yourself accomplishing those goals. They truly start to manifest themselves. They’re so close you can fucking taste them.

When you put that energy out in the world, it sends it back. When the world senses that determination, it begins to part and show you your path. That doesn’t mean you won’t have to chop down some brush along the way, and then take a blind leap of faith, but the world offers you a cloud upon which you land. Everything slows down and you start thinking at that rate. That discomfort starts to feel a little more doable. Now when you look into the eyes of discomfort, you put your head down and charge forward. And the world sees this. The world feels this. Those around you feel this. Your goals know they’re in your sights. You’re onto them.

But only because you wrote them down and allowed them to sail out into the world.

Love

Grant

Stop Doing the Easy Work

We all have dreams and ambitions, and we all want to feel like we are working towards those. Yet, there comes a time when we really need to evaluate the steps we are taking towards these dreams. We can literally work towards these goals everyday, but never get anywhere. And I know I’m not the only one who has felt like this. Why is it that we can constantly work, yet make no real progress?

It is because we do the easy stuff. We tackle the easy little goals that are literally jus there to make us feel like we are being productive. If you find yourself skating through a task, 9 times out of 10, it’s too easy and not actual beneficial. If there is a task at hand that is driving you fucking insane, and really forcing you to think, that’s when you are really asking yourself the ugly questions that result in progress.

Now don’t get me wrong, they’re miserable, but when you find out the answer to them, you’ll know so much more about your task at hand.

For example, when it comes to business, asking yourself the financial questions and getting all of your expenditures perfect is one of the most beneficial things you can do for a business, but it is also some of the most brutal work.

We must ask ourselves these ugly questions in any aspect of life if we truly want to grow and progress. Next time you are feeling stagnant, take a step back and this about what you could possibly be doing to progress. The things that scare you and make you uncomfortable are where you should focus. And believe me…you will start to see serious progress.

Now let’s go out and get uncomfortable!

…maybe not the most motivational thing I’ve ever said, but you get what I’m saying haha

I hope y’all enjoyed this read, and it allows you to truly pursue something worth while!

Love!

Grant

Be Someone You Would Admire

I think we all have someone we interact with that never ceases to amaze us. Whether it be how loving they are, or even how determined. Something about them changes our day, and what we don’t realize is that we are that person to someone else…

When we don’t realize our power or potential, we don’t hold ourself to the standard that we should. We fail to realize that we aren’t only letting ourselves down, but those around us. We truly have the opportunity to inspire. Every one of our actions can change the life of someone who we don’t even know is watching, for the better or worse. It it is up to us decide.

Once we start thinking about our actions in this manner, we realize it is bigger than us. Then before you know it, we start to become someone that we would admire…

Today is a short post, but I think this idea carries so much weight that I don’t want to oversaturate it.

But Just remember, you truly inspire. Your actions are watched and your words are heard. Use them to spread love.

Love!

Grant

Shut Up and Start Doing

How many times have you found yourself telling your friends about what you wanted to do in the future? How about your significant other?

Why do you think we constantly talk about what we are going to do? Has anything good ever really come from talking about something? I don’t think so…

I used to do this all the damn time. I would get super excited about these ideas and I would tell everyone about them. But it eventually got to a point where I looked in the mirror and asked myself a couple questions:

Why do you need to tell everyone about these ideas?
Have you actually laid any groundwork to make this happen?
What must I truly do to make these dreams a reality?

So I ask myself these questions, and things began to make sense. I tell everyone about these because I was doubting my own abilities and needed reassurance. Acknowledging this allowed me to see the subconscious self doubt taking place, and caused me to analyze myself and become truly confident. I started then thinking about if I had done any true work to get closer to this dream, and the reality was I had not. I had done little shit, but it was merely to feel productive. Not to truly progress towards my dream. Finally, I asked myself what the hell I had to do to really pursue these dreams, and i realized that I had to really start doing the scary stuff. The things that you get scared thinking about. The things that make you question if you are truly capable. The sort of stuff that will have you learning stuff about yourself you never knew. Yeah…that sort of stuff.

It was when I established this mindset was a necessity to succeed that I started to see true growth. I started asking myself the ugly questions, and started getting well deserved, beautiful results.

We must take the ugly stuff head on. We must do what others are too scared to do. And when we do that is when we start to separate ourselves from the crowd.

Let your work speak for you. Lay that groundwork and it will speak for you.

Now shut up and start doing…you deserve it.

Love!!
Grant

We Are Overrun With Fear

What stops us from pursuing every goal and dream we have ever had? Why haven’t we accomplished everything we have put our mind to? Is it because we are incapable? Do we not have the resources? What is it?

I think many of us wouldn’t even be able to answer that question because we never get far enough to find out.

Fear haults us from even pursuing something because it seems too scary or all around impossible. But how the hell do we know that? We have no idea what we are capable of. Many of us allow fear to limit our lives in every facet. Want a new job? Too scared we aren’t good enough to get it. Want to start a business? What if we fail? Want to hangout with some buddies? Too scared they may not even want to hangout with us.

We MUST start to face these fears head on. At some point, you have to look yourself in the mirror and accept that failure is a serious possibility. But it’s never truly a failure if you tried. As long as you got out, tried, got knocked down, and picked yourself back up, you are successful. By even trying, you overcome so damn much. You allowed your self to try, and that’s a fuckig victory. If you continue to at least “try,” you will be mind blown at where life takes you. You may get denied and knocked down 1000 times, but each little victory you have will be so damn glorious!

You have to trust me, and better yet, trust yourself! You are capable, and you deserve everything the world has to offer you, as long as you keep facing your fears and trying.

Life rewards the hell out of those who step out of their comfort zone and really push their limits. You will truly reap the fruits of your labor, and they will never taste so sweet…

Nothing is ever as bad as the fear of it happening is. In our heads, we play out these terrible scenarios of failure, but when they truly happen, you just pick yourself up and keep on pushing! Life is all about getting your ass kicked and swinging back with a smile on your face.

Now go out there and get knocked down. Learn some shit about the world, and better yet, yourself. See what you are made of…I bet it’s a lot more than you would have ever imagined.

I hope y’all enjoyed this post, and I hope it gave you a little look into the psychology of fear and how much we truly hinder ourselves. Feel free to comment or leave any questions below. I’d love to hear from yall!

Love!!

Grant

Can Alcohol Cause Depression?

I started casually drinking when I was a junior in high school and partied my ass off until I was about a junior in college. Throughout all of this time, I was battling depression. I wasn’t running from it with booze by any stretch. I actually refused to drink when I felt down, so that it didn’t become a vice. But as I decided to really start to battle this depression, I started doing everything in my power to find the root of it. And this is when I drew the correlation between my alcohol use and depression.

I only started feeling down and depressed as a junior in high school and that’s the same year I started drinking…Somethings adding up. Now that seemed way too easy to me so I wasn’t convinced right away. But as I cut back on my drinking, I would wake up feeling like a had a bit more energy. I didn’t have to work so hard to get up and going emotionally. Get this! Some mornings I even woke up, dare I say it, happy…it was a whole different world. And then when I would drink again, I would wake up feeling like I was emotionally on the sadder, depressed end of the spectrum.

I then got to thinking, “I see this direct correlation in myself, but has anyone else investigated this?” And sure enough…http://www.jsad.com/doi/abs/10.15288/jsa.2006.67.837 , and this is just one of an abundance of sources…

The more I read about it, the more I realized how real “substance induced depression” is…all my feelings steered me right. It only makes sense though. If we are using a depressant, our body’s natural functions will be “depressed,” our mood included.

So I encourage you, before turning to any pills or outside sources, unless truly needed, (which if so, I fully support you!) see what you can change in your life. What are your vices and what are they doing to your body?? It makes zero sense to try digging yourself out of a whole in which you are just throwing more dirt…

But believe me when I say this, your life can change. Things can truly get better, as long as you are willing to take these challenges head on and say no to your vices! Try subbing in more healthy vices that you feel good about when you’re done. Personally, I’m a big smoothie fan. When you are going through something and need to clear your mind, go either grab a smoothie and take a walk, or even make yourself one and take a walk.

Also, watch the foods you eat! There are a bunch of fruits, veggies, nuts, etc. that will push your body in the direction of happiness and healthy hormone releases! Shouts out to blueberries!

If y’all have questions, concerns, or even just want to talk. Comment below! I would be more than happy to talk to you!

I hope y’all enjoyed this post, and let me know if there is anything else y’all would like me to write about!

Things can always get better, believe me!!

I love you!

Grant

It Takes A Loving Village

Growing up, I would always here angry parents say “it takes a village to raise a child,” essentially when they wanted to bitch at someone else’s child for something they deemed unacceptable, and always hearing this in a negative manner made me despise this saying. To put it simply, these parents really just wanted to be assholes to other kids like they are to their own, but “it takes a village” is so much bigger than that.

It wasn’t until I got a little older that I realized there is a lot of love and positivity lacking in households and even daily life. You see a lot of kids that aren’t able to be themselves around their parents, or really even express themselves, good or bad, around their parents and that’s so damn worrisome. We must allow kids to be kids, make mistakes, see the repercussions, but at the end of the day, still know they’re loved and valued. We must embrace these children and be the right village there to love and guide them. It is way too easy to get mad and punish children, but what’s not easy, is to constructively love these children, all while guiding them through life. At no point should children or the youth feel like love is conditional. Unfortunately, in many homes, that love is extremely conditional and that is so detrimental to children.

In life, we are all going to make mistakes, and the more we realize that, the more effectively we are able to grow, love, and accept accountability. If love is revoked the second our children makes a mistake, they are way more prone to lie and cover up their mistakes. When these mistakes are covered up and ran from, our children will never accept accountability for the mistake, nor analyze how to minimize it happening in the future. This is a cycle that has the potential to hinder our youth all throughout their future. But none of us are flawless.

We all let anger get the best of us sometimes, and don’t handle situations perfectly immediately. Within the right village, there are other individuals that our children respect and feel loved by that can assure them the love is still there, all while explaining that we can all get caught up in emotions, but the love is still there. Even if the parents handle a situation perfectly, it’s not always the easiest for anyone to tell their parents everything, which is another circumstance in which our children and youth can turn to another member of our right village, and truly confide in them.
This goes both ways though. We also must be these village members for everyone in our village. To truly progress as a society, we must stand with open arms to the youth of our village and hear them out, love them unconditionally, and guide them when they need. Hear them out, let them talk, and remind them constantly that there are people here who love them. Understand that their thoughts and feelings are valid. They are young, but they are intelligent. They form thoughts, but sometimes may not be able to factor in everything. It’s not our job to change their minds or tell them what to do, but rather to offer up other angles. Let them know there are other options and angles. Just provoke thought and love with open arms. You never realize how far love truly goes…

Now let’s go out everyday with the intention of being there for those around us. Let’s not only love, but listen, guide, and affirm. Let’s let the youth know that they are valuable, worthy, and capable. That they are amazing and loved…
I truly hope you found this piece eye opening, or at least thought provoking! If you have any questions or concerns, comment below! I’m more than happy to talk!

Love!

Grant