Things Can Only Improve If You Keep Persevering (Motivation Headed Into 2018).

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Depending on how well you handle things, as well as how strong of a mindset you may have, one of the harshest facts of life is that life can be very difficult to cope with at times. There is so much unpredictability that comes along with living life, and if you don't consistently stay on top of your mental capacity daily, finding peace and joy within can be an uphill climb. In a perfect world, we would all be able to live, laugh and love without any of the stresses or strife that we all encounter occasionally. Just like how perfection is unattainable, a perfect world doesn't exist, which means that we all have to learn how to live in an imperfect world. For many, negative thoughts and feelings can become the norm when you feel like you're on a roller coaster of bad things continuously happening in your life. Some people may say things like "just pray about it", or "think more positive", etc. While this is all good advice and if we're being honest, these phrases are definitely true. However, for a person that has been dealing with so many negative things without a breakthrough coming in, it can be very difficult to remain positive and upbeat when you feel as if there isn't much hope for the future. I believe that this is a state of mind that can become a breeding ground for negativity and hopelessness. Feeling helpless and hopeless shouldn't be a chronic mindset that we have, so it is mindful be aware that regardless of what you're dealing with in your life, things can only look up if you keep on persevering.

What's going on guys? It is I Brad H. back once again, and I'd like to welcome you all to the end of 2017 installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! I am back once again to hopefully dish out some knowledge and inspiration that will hopefully keep us inspired in this wild world that we're living in. Hope all has been good and well for everyone as of late. Well this is the final topic for the year 2017. I mentioned in the last topic that I was probably going to reflect on how challenging this year has personally been for me. Don't get me wrong, there have been some high points for me this year. However, if I'm being honest with myself, the bad has outweighed that good. Instead of reflecting on this year, I wanna talk about something that I mentioned in the last post. I mentioned how so many people usually transition around this time of the year. Well unfortunately, my family has suffered a loss exactly a week before Christmas Day. My grandmother's second youngest brother passed away on the early morning of December 18th. Although he had been very for a long time, his passing was definitely unexpected for most of my family. The last time we saw him as a family was on Thanksgiving. Upon leaving him on Thanksgiving day, I recall my sister mentioning that she didn't really like seeing him in the shape that he was in. She told me a few days after his passing that when she saw him on Thanksgiving that she felt like he didn't have long left here. Mind you, she didn't tell me this until several weeks after Thanksgiving. I say that to say that often time we never know when it will be the last time that we see someone. Life is so unpredictable, so it is essential to try and treasure those close to you. I wanna close by saying that I hope you rest easy uncle Grover. We know how much you have suffered over the years, but you can finally rest peacefully now. Alright, now we can go ahead and talk more about this week's topic of improving through persevering.

As with the usual format I use before getting into the main talking point for the week, I'd like to go ahead and give the regular disclaimer that I use. Every single one of us have different views and ideas when it comes to any topic. The objective here isn't to try to change or alter anyone's beliefs, but rather to hopefully educate and encourage others to view a particular topic in a way in which they may not have before. The basic goal is to provide some insight and inspiration that gets the juices in our brains to flowing. Just like every other part of the body that is working when the blood gets flowing, the brain is similar as well when it comes to thought. I am just one person with an opinion, so I don't expect everyone to share in my views. Regardless if you agree or not, I am happy that you chose to come by and see what I have to say. As for how this topic came to be, I can mainly point to this year in general for the motivation to write this. I've mentioned previously how rough this year has been for me, as well as several other people that I am close to. There have been instances throughout this year where others, as well as myself have thought about giving up on the things we're trying to achieve. I'm sure that some of you can relate to this. These instances that I'm referencing have come and gone, but the fact is that as long as we're alive and breathing, they will likely happen again sometime. Starting right here right now, we have the opportunity to head into 2018 with a more positive and optimistic outlook of how we see our live and goals. The time to give up isn't here, so perseverance is what will be required to keep on going.

Now if you are an individual that is into personal development and motivational speakers, you have probably heard of a very well known speaker named Eric Thomas. He is someone that I admire quite a bit, and I know for sure that I have mentioned him in previous installments. Anyway, there was a video of his that I watched on Youtube where he was talking about perseverance and not giving up. In order to help to get his point across, there was an illustration that was shown within the video. The picture featured two men, both of whom had shovels in their hands. There were diamonds featured in both men's screens, however, one of the men was using his shovel to dig away at the diamonds, while the other was walking away in defeat. Now here comes the important aspect of the illustration. Both men were only a few more digs with their shovel from knocking down the dirt that was directly in front of the diamonds. They were both so close to their goal, but one of them walked away right before the victory was at hand. It was a simple cartoon illustration, but it was one that I think says a lot. Too many of us often give up right before the victory that we're seeking is near. I believe that because we're often not able to see that the victory is right around the corner, we opt to give up and go the other direction like the digger that was featured in the illustration. Just like Eric Thomas referred to in his video, all he had to do was dig just a little more to reach those diamonds. Since he walked away too quickly, he didn't achieve his goal, despite being right at the cusp of it.

So how does this illustration tie-in with this week's topic? Well as I mentioned already, some of you may have dealt with many challenges during 2017. Whatever those challenges may be are totally unique to your situation and circumstances. However, more than likely depending on what those challenges have been, they have likely left you not feeling too optimistic at times throughout this year. There are levels to everything, and from my perspective, optimism or lack thereof is no different. I say this to say that if you've experienced a lack of optimism for your life at sometime throughout this year, you've probably dealt with feeling hopeless also. Now back to the illustration that I referred to in Eric Thomas's video. Although there is no way to prove it beyond the actions that we see, the digger that gave up and chose to walk away likely done this due to feeling hopeless that he would eventually reach those diamonds. Now the illustration deals with diamonds, but those diamonds can represent anything in our lives. They can be something related to academics, business, relationships, etc. Whatever it is that you want to do or achieve requires patience and perseverance, but this state of mind should also apply to life in general. As I mentioned earlier, life can be difficult to cope with at times, and it is okay to get down at times. The point is to rise back up and have belief that whatever is happening in your life can only improve if you believe and persevere.

I often disclaim that I try to promote deep thinking and motivation here. I think that added motivation for this upcoming new year is where I wanted to go with this topic. I know that many of you including myself have faced difficulties this year, but we are still here and kicking because we are fighters that don't give up. Life may bend us at times, but we never break completely. Sure we deal with storms and hardships, and those trials knock us down at times. However, despite those dark moments in our lives, we have a belief that there is a light that is on the other side. I want you all to keep this in mind since we're heading into a new year. If you do no already adopt this philosophy, you don't have to wait till 2018 to do so; you can try and start right now. So for all my people out there that are dealing with things in your life, things can only improve if you keep on keeping on. There is a battle between us and this life that is going on, but remember it is a battle within our minds. The quote that I'm going to leave you all with that deals with this topic comes from one of my heroes; Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I'm sure it is one that you've heard before, but it goes; "If you can't fly, then run, if you can't run, then walk, if you can't walk, then crawl, but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward."

Well that is it everyone. That is all I have for you this time, so I'm going to go ahead and wrap up this final edition for 2017 of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! I again want to express my gratitude for those of you that take out the time to read these topics. The feedback that I receive on Twitter and other formats truly touches my soul. It is very uplifting and empowering to see that there are people out there that want to become the best versions of themselves possible. If you have any comments or feedback, please leave them below, or you can follow me on Twitter @BradrickH. I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and happy holidays. Lets try to end this year on a high note, and keep that momentum going for 2018. Thank you all again for the support. See you all in 2018!

©2017 Bradrick H. All Rights Reserved.

The Importance Of Using Your Time To Develop Yourself.

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I can't recall at the moment exactly what show it is, but there is a quote from this particular show that I'm referring to that has stayed in my mind since hearing it. The quote goes; "Time runs us all." We are all given a limited amount of time to live here on this planet. Exactly how much time that we have here is something that we don't know, nor do we always have control over it. However, what we choose to do with our time is something that we have complete control of. It appears to me that in the society that we live in today, many of us don't utilize the time that we're given to its full potential. Not saying that this hasn't been going on for many years, because it most certainly has, however, the world we live in today seems to value a lot of meaningless things when it comes to valuing our time. We spend much of our time gossiping and paying attention to a lot of mindless and zombie style brainwashing via social media and entertainment. Now in saying that, I'm in no way attempting to bash people that participate in these things on a regular basis. Besides the gossiping aspect of entertainment, which is something that I would never endorse doing, we all enjoy and should be able to engage in things that entertain us from time to time. But when it comes to our time and how we spend it, one thing that we often neglect is using our time to work on and develop ourselves. Because our time here is precious and limited along with not always knowing how much time we have left here, I believe it is of utmost importance to use our time to work towards developing ourselves.

Welcome back once again good people! It is ya boy Brad H. back once again to bring you all another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! We're here again to drop some valuable knowledge and inspiration here that will hopefully inspire us all to become a better version of ourselves. I thank everyone once again in advance if you're taking out the time to read this here. We have arrived at the month of December, which means that the year 2017 is winding down to its end real soon. I'll probably reflect more on this year and some of the struggles that I've had to face this year in the final topic that I write on in the next installment. What I want to use my soapbox to address here is something that seems to happen every year before the upcoming year comes in. Most, if not all of us are always happy and excited for the holidays. The holiday season represents many things, but they mainly coincide with appreciating and spending times with our loved ones. Even though the holidays are a great time of the year for many, there are also many people that are and have endured losing loved ones around this time of the year. I myself can identify with this as I lost someone very close to me on the week of Thanksgiving back in 2013. I'm sure that many of you have dealt with the loss of a loved one during the holidays as well. One thing that I always heard my grandmother say is that a certain amount of people have to leave this world before the new year comes in. After seeing and hearing about so many people die around the holidays over the years, some in ways that you wouldn't expect, I totally get what she was saying now. Many people won't make it to see this upcoming new year, and it can be anyone of us. With that said, I hope that we all can remember to value whatever time we have here. Also, use this time of the year to reflect and remember those that are no longer here with us. That's pretty much all I want to say in regards to that, so lets go ahead and transition into this week's topic of using our time to develop ourselves.

Like I normally address before going into the meat of the topic for the week, I'd like to go ahead and give my regular disclaimer. We all have different views and opinions on how we see things. Trying to change other peoples minds isn't the objective here. The mission is to put out positive energy that will help keep us all motivated in this life. Although I'm not aiming to alter anyone's opinions, I do hope that through this process that I am able to help other people to think about topics in a manner in which they may not have before. Basically we're trying to encourage, and provide some insight that will hopefully get us to thinking about certain things. As I mention in all of my topics, I am just one individual that has an opinion, and I do not expect everyone to share in my views. Whether you agree or disagree with my opinions is totally fine. Whatever your beliefs may be, I am still glad to have you here. As for how this topic came to be, there isn't anything that has happened or I saw that I can definitively say that caused me to write about this particular topic. All I can really attribute it to is just sitting around one day thinking about how much we often waste our time, often on meaningless things. As someone that has developed an almost obsessive love with personal development over the past 3 years, I feel that I should address how important it is that we use our time to work on ourselves. If you're someone that is happy and stable in where you are in your life, this topic probably won't matter to you as much. This is a topic that those of us that have maybe looked back and realize that we could have done more to develop ourselves instead of consistently engaging in meaningless things.

As I hinted at earlier in this post, many of us in today's society are over consumed with being entertained. Again, I'm not saying that it is wrong to want to be entertained, but I think most of us can admit that we give too much time and energy towards it. Think about this for just a second; how many times have you opted to watch television instead of reading a self-improvement book? How often have you mindlessly browsed through social media instead of taking a walk or jog around your block? If we're being honest with ourselves, most of us can probably admit that we haven't properly prioritized our time. There is nothing wrong with doing the things that you enjoy that are related to being entertained. However, reaching your own personal potential and taking care of the important things in your life should always come first before entertainment. I always tell others that spending hours upon hours of time on social media platforms like Snapchat and Facebook should only be for people that have reached the level of success they're trying to achieve in their life. Yet, most of the time we often see so many people using these platforms to either complain about how bad their life is, or they're way too interested in what is going on in other people's lives. Question; how exactly does being overly consumed with what other people are doing in their lives is helping us? These media personalities and celebrities that we worry about following so much aren't doing anything to help better us, yet we spend hours and hours of time worrying about what is happening in their lives. Doesn't seem quite right when you think about it, does it?

So if you're spending all this time keeping up with what everyone else is doing, what exactly are you doing to improve yourself? There are many of us that talk about various things that we want to do in our lives, whether it be the present, or the future. We talk about these things we hope to do, yet we don't always apply the necessary time that is needed to reach these goals. There in lies the importance of why we need to use our time wisely. From my perspective, much of the time that we waste on things that do absolutely nothing to help better us in any aspect of our lives is one of the main reasons we never fully reach our capabilities. It doesn't make much sense to repeatedly say that I'm going to, or I want to do this and that, yet you don't put any time towards what you're wanting to do. Now understandably so, many of us likely feel as if we have time to become the best versions of ourselves. You could probably be right if you do have that mindset, however, there is really no way to really know is it? As I mentioned earlier, we don't know when time is going to run out for us. You have to think of your life as an hourglass, and with everyday that goes by, the sand in that hourglass decreases bit by bit. Everyday that passes us by that we haven't learned anything to better ourselves is another day that is likely wasted. Some of us say that we're going to change "someday", but there isn't a day of the week named "someday". All we have is the present, and what time better than any to take the necessary steps to better ourselves?

The main goal with this week's post is to let everyone know that time isn't on our side when it comes to accomplishing things. I know that sounds simple and it is something that we've all heard countless time. However, I feel that this is something that can never be addressed too much. Again, if you're a person that is happy and content within your life, you can go ahead and indulge in various forms of entertainment and fun. But if you're someone that wants to better yourself and hope to become the best individual that you can be, lets cut out a lot of the bad habits and behaviors that do little to nothing to help us. You don't want to be that person that ends up with health problems later on in life that could have been prevented if you got up off the couch and walked around the block daily. The time is now folks, so use it wisely. The quote that I'm going to leave you all with comes from The Dalai Lama. I think this is a pretty good one. It reads; "Everyday think as you wake up today that I am fortunate to have woken up. I am alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it. I am going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to othrs, to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings. I am going to have kind thoughts towards others, I am not going to get angry or think badly about others, I am going to benefit others as much as I can."

We are once again at the end of another topic for the week. Much thanks once again to you all that peeped out another edition of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! As usual, I hope that there was some understanding and inspiration that could be gained from this. If you have any comments or feedback, feel free to drop those down below. Also you can ask or follow me on Twitter @BradrickH. Well I hope you all have a safe and enjoyable weekend, and an even greater week ahead. Be sure to keep in your thoughts those that have lost a loved one during the holidays, and lets continue to reflect and remember those that are no longer with us. We still got a few weeks left in this year, so lets try to make them the best weeks of this year. Take care everyone, and I'll see you all in the next one. Peace!

©2017 Bradrick H. All Rights Reserved.