It Is Perfectly Okay To Be Yourself (Not Conforming To Society's Standards).

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There is a trend that I'm sure has been around for ages that I notice happening more and more on a regular basis. I'm sure many of you notice it quite a bit as well. It is something that is discussed and talked about frequently, yet regardless of how many times the downfalls of this practice are mentioned, our society still keeps it relevant. What exactly am I talking about you may wonder? I'm referring to how the world often conveys the illusion that everyone should look and act the same. No matter where you go or what you may read, there are always people putting out information on how we should be. Within our society, it seems that the only kind of male to be is an "alpha male." By society standards, for a woman to be classified as beautiful, she should be a certain size or dress a certain way. These are just a couple of examples, but I think you get where I'm going with this. People everywhere are doing all kinds of extreme things to fit into society's bubble when it comes to what is acceptable. This happens so much so that many people begin to lose themselves in the process of trying to change. Of course there is nothing wrong with wanting to improve ourselves, but should it not be happening to conform to society standards. I feel that is okay to just be yourself.

Hey, how's it going everyone? It is me Brad H. back at it once again, and welcome to another edition of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! Hope everyone has been doing well, staying up, and continuing to maintain. I also hope that 2017 has been treating you all well so far, and for those of you that make those resolutions for the new year, I hope you're sticking to them. Not a whole lot to talk about this week besides the disappointment that was the Dallas Cowboys this past weekend. Some of you may already know this, but I'm a fan of the Dallas Cowboys. Unlike many other Dallas fans that I know, I was actually a bit nervous about them playing Green Bay. Although Dallas beat Green Bay during the regular season and lost to the New York Giants twice, I just felt like it would have been harder for New York to beat the Cowboys three times. Also, we all know how well Aaron Rodgers had been playing leading up to the game. Of course the Cowboys would go on to lose, and although it was a disappointment, they have a lot to look forward towards in the future. I feel that both Ezekiel Elliot and Dak Prescott are the real deal based on how well they both played for being rookies. I'm not a Packers fan at all, but congrats to them for pulling off the victory. It was a great game overall, period. Alright, lets go ahead and get into this week's topic of not conforming to society's standards.

As I normally do before getting into the topic for the week, a person's individual viewpoints will always differ. The goal here isn't to focus too much on what is considered to be right or wrong, but rather encourage others to think about various topics differently from the norm. Of course I don't expect everyone to agree with me, and that is totally fine. Whatever thoughts and opinions others may have are welcomed here. As for how I arrived at this topic for this week, it's just something that I happen to ponder on quite a bit. I think it's a topic that many of us that probably go against the normal standards of society think about on occasion. Also, I believe regardless of who you may be, I think it is normal for all to us to feel out of place or different from everyone else. We are all indeed and unique in our own ways, but so many of us try to fit in to be accepted. This week's topic's goal is to hopefully serve as inspiration to those that maybe struggle with this to realize that it is perfectly fine to be just how are you. It is okay if you want to change certain aspects of your life in order to better yourself, however, that isn't the same as aiming to impress society.

Now getting into the topic at hand, I feel that there is a distinct difference between an individual wanting to better themselves compared to changing themselves in order to conform to others. When I personally think of a person wanting to better themselves or aiming to become more well versed in certain aspects of their lives, I think of a person that is wanting to improve to feel better about themselves first. This is something that begins from within a person, and starts with something that is emotionally compelling from my perspective. On the other hand, a person that wants to change for the sake of fitting in and impressing others is doing it for all the wrong reasons in my opinion. Now there are certain situations that may require us changing for others. For example, a couple that may have just had a child will likely want to change aspects of their lives for the sake of being the best parents they can for that child. Another example could be a man that maybe lives a reckless lifestyle, but decides he wants to change his ways to accommodate to his family or a woman he may be interested in. It is okay if you want to change for people that inspire you to change, which is something that society won't do for us most of the time.

Something else that we must keep in mind is that regardless of how much a person may want to change certain things about themselves, sometimes it may just not happen, or you may not reach society standards. And you know what? That is perfectly fine. If you are an introverted person that doesn't like to be around a lot of other people, that is a part of your personality that you can probably only change so much. You can go out and pick up books, manuals, hire coaches, etc and no matter how much you work towards becoming more extroverted, you will only improve so much if you're naturally an introvert. It's similar to doing a puzzle and trying to force a piece that doesn't fit. See, our society has created an illusion that there are certain traits and characteristics that we must possess in order to be accepted. I'm sure many of you have have of the term "alpha-male" right? By society's standards, an alpha-male is the only type of man that a man should be. You now see all kinds of guys going to all kinds of extreme measures in order to become one of these kind of men that society talks up so much, and it is honestly ridiculous. Again, if you're not hurting anyone or stepping on anyone else's toes, there is nothing wrong with just being who you are.

So for everyone out there regardless if you're male or female, it's okay to want to improve yourself, but always focus on remaining true to who you really are as a person. Every single one of us for all our flaws and shortcomings are unique in our own way, and the way that you are as a person should already be good enough. You never have to feel pressured into doing anything that you really may not want in order to impress others, nor should you have to. I realize that this is a topic that we hear about all the time, however, it seems to remain relevant despite so many people already knowing the potential pitfalls of conforming to the world. As I stated earlier, the most important thing is staying true to yourself regardless of what others may think. I'm going to end this topic by leaving a great and popular quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson. I hope that it, along with my message on this topic can serve as inspiration to anyone that battles with this. "Real men don't conform to the beliefs of others, even when society has concluded on what is good and true but maintain the integrity of their own mind."

Alright, we've reached the end of this week's topic, so it is time for me to go ahead and sign off for now. Thank you once again for everyone that tuned in to another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'. My hope is that it was able to reach someone else out there. As I stated earlier, I hope the new year has been treating everyone good so far, and hopefully you're sticking to those resolutions. It has been extremely warm here in Texas as of late, so if it is warmer in your area, try to get outdoors this weekend. Alright folks that is it for me this week, so have a great weekend everyone. Till next time, I wish you all peace, wellness, and positive thoughts.

©2017 Bradrick H. All Rights Reserved.

The Biggest Battles We Face Often Come From Within (In A Battle With Your Own Mind).

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Everyone has enemies right? Growing up during our youth, we would often hear people categorize people as either friends or enemies. We've been taught to believe that an enemy can come in the form of a friend, family member, or someone else that we may have close ties with. We've also been taught that society in general can be our biggest enemy. Everything from money to the government, food, etc have all been deemed as potential enemies to us. While the list of things I mentioned can all be potentially harmful to our lives, there is often a potentially enemy to our lives that we either overlook, or choose not to face at all; ourselves. Yes I did say ourselves, and it's true that we can often be our own worst enemies. If anyone is surprised to hear me say this, please don't be. If we really think about it for a second, we as a society in general have been our own worst enemies for centuries. However, I don't want to focus too much on society, but rather the internal battles that we all face from within. Yes it is indeed true that we will face many forms of battles throughout our lives, but the biggest battles will likely come from within ourselves.

Happy 2017 party people! It is I Brad H. once again, and I'd like to welcome everyone to the first 2017 edition of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! Yes we have arrived at 2017, and I hope that this brand new year has been treating you all great thus far. I'm sure many of you have made resolutions for the new year, and while I personally stopped making them years ago, I don't knock anyone that still does. However, as a reminder, I just want everyone to keep in mind that the changing of a date isn't going to instantly change you as a person. Any changes that you plan on making towards bettering any aspect of your life for this new year won't work unless you commit to it. This means that despite facing any setbacks that may occur in whatever you're hoping to become better towards, you have to remain steadfast and consistent throughout a daily basis. This is something that we all may be aware of, but it never hurts to rehash it again from time to time. Again, I hope 2017 has been going well for you all so far. With that said, lets go ahead and tackle the topic of how the biggest battles that we will face will often come from within.

Normally, I would only use this portion to talk a bit about how this week's topic came to be. However, I want to use it for this moment to address a change that I plan on making to this blog going forward. I still will be updating on an every other week basis, however, I plan to keep the posts a bit shorter going forward. One thing that I've come to realize in the past view years is that many of our attention spans are pretty low, and many people often go the the other direction whenever they encounter something that they see as being too long. I don't feel that my topics were long in general, but I do plan to compact them down a bit more to get straight to the point. I think that would probably work out a little more better for not only potential readers, but also for myself. I feel that I will be able to put out better quality write-ups implementing this tactic going further. Besides that, I plan on keeping the same formula when it comes to any topic that I write on. Now that I've gotten that out of the way, I want to say that individual viewpoints will always vary. The mission for me here isn't to focus on what is right or wrong, but rather to encourage more in depth thinking on various subject matters.

Now as I referenced to earlier in the post, a good many of us put a lot of energy into the external battles that we face on a regular basis, but we often fail to give enough energy to the battles we're up against internally. I believe that much of this has to do with so many people being in denial about issues that may be happening in their lives. However, regardless of who you are or where you're at in life, every single one of us are battling something internally. An internal battle can be anything that may be troubling us or hindering us from finding that peace within that we're constantly striving for, and I feel that there is no shame in admitting to having an issue or issues in life. Think about all the celebrities, athletes, and people with a certain degree of status that have struggled with addiction. These are individuals that many people deem as having everything that life has to offer, but they still had internal battles that they tried masking with their addictions. Masking our issues isn't only limited to people of status, but it is something that so many of us choose to do rather than addressing whatever issues we're facing. It's similar to putting a band-aid on a wound; it only hides the bigger issue at hand.

Life in general is probably the toughest test that we will ever face, however from my perspective on this topic, the finding of the necessary motivation and willpower from within to pass on daily basis can be even harder. There is so much temptation and negative forces in the world that are constantly working against us daily. However, from my perspective, the reason many of us struggle with these things is due to not properly training our minds to overcome these things. Too much emphasis on being entertained and engaging in activities that don't really help in bettering us as people often takes precedent over the addressing of our internal issues. Just like anything else in life, it is important to prioritize things, and there are so many of us don't make ourselves a priority when it comes to facing the battles that are happening within. This is something that we have to work on changing right? Nobody is perfect, and it is indeed true that we will all fall short every so often. But, the idea of potentially falling short doesn't mean that we shouldn't address the issues that we may be internally facing.

So with everything being said, I think we as people should address and focus on the battles that we're dealing with internally. I'm not saying that we should ignore the outside factors that may be enemies to us, but what I am saying is that everything starts within you first. Being able to equip our minds first to handle the things that life may throw at us should be the first priority. I was watching a video on Youtube by actor Terry Crews yesterday, and he said something in the video that I wanted to make sure and put in this post. He said; "We don't battle people, we battle mindsets. You battle mindsets that attempt to hold people back, that's what I'm battling. I don't battle people, I battle the way people think." I'm glad that I happened to come across those words, because they speak to the idea that while other people and outside forces may be an enemy, it's not them that you're battling. The real battle comes from the ability to adapt to whatever comes at us. It's all about training and strengthening the mind, and then being able to change that mindset for the better.

Well we've come to the end of this particular topic, so I'd like to once again thank everyone that came through for another edition of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'. Whether you made any resolutions for the new year or not, lets try to make 2017 a great year everyone. I'm sure some of you out there are sport fans, so like many of you out there, I'm excited for the NFL playoffs that kick off tomorrow. My team (Cowboys) have a first round bye, so they won't be playing tomorrow. However, I will be tuned in anyway because I love watching football, but also to find out who they will be playing. Alright everyone, I'm out so I'll see you all in the next post. Until then, I wish you all a Happy New Year, as well as peace and positive thoughts.

©2017 Bradrick H. All Rights Reserved.