Thinking Out Situations Before Jumping Into Them (The Look Deep Before You Leap Mentality).

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There's a fairly popular saying that goes "Look deep before you leap." I can't remember exactly how old I was when I first heard that remark, but it was one that struck me, and has stuck with me for a good portion of my life. The making of mistakes is something that most of us will experience on a regular basis. One of the unfortunate aspects of our society is that it has conditioned us that the few are perfect and never make mistakes, while the many are condemned most for our shortcomings. Regardless of what your position may be when it comes to making mistakes, no person can deny that mistakes are a part of life that EVERYONE will experience. While mistakes will always happen and can vary in their degree of severity when it comes to our lives, the ones that we make from lack of proper planning normally have the biggest consequences. There will also constantly be times in our lives where we may find ourselves in certain situations that we're not entirely sure about. I believe this aspect of life applies to every human-being on some level or another. It is a known fact that we all have general doubts and concerns about certain situations that we find ourselves in, but the truth of the matter is that many of us jump into situations that we don't entirely think through. I like to refer to this as the look deep before you leap mentality; a mentality that I feel we must work on implementing more often.

What's going on people? It's your boy young Brad H. coming back at you once again, and welcome to another edition of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! I hope everyone has been maintaining since the last time I wrote and if this happens to be your first time stopping by here, let me be the first to say thanks and welcome. We've found ourselves nearly at the end of May, which means that many high school students either have or will be graduating this week. One of my cousin's will be graduating and walking that stage this upcoming Friday. I'm very proud of and happy for his accomplishment, and a good portion of the family will be out there in full force to support his moment. Big shout out to all the high school students that are graduating no matter where you are located. I also want to acknowledge and give a shout out to my younger sister for another successful semester of college. She is now only three courses away from obtaining her degree, so I'm very proud of her as well. I just wanna give a big shout out to everyone out there that are achieving their goals regardless of how big or small they may be. Now that I've gotten on my soapbox for a bit, lets go ahead and get into this week's topic of thinking out situations before jumping into them.

Like I always aim to point out in my writings, a person's individual viewpoint on any topic will always vary. The goal here isn't to focus on what is considered to be right or wrong, but rather to give anyone that reads something to hopefully think about and evaluate further. My mission here is to use this platform as a way to express some of my ideas and opinions. If anyone happens to feel differently or disagree with my views on this or any of the topics I write about, that is totally okay with me. Now for this week's topic, I'm going to be talking about the importance of thinking out situations before jumping into them so quickly. I know for many that this particular topic likely applies to the youth, however, I feel that a person is never too old to learn the lessons of life. Even if you're well versed on certain life lessons, it never hurts to get a refresher course every so often. Another reason why I'm addressing this topic is to hopefully encourage more people to think certain things through instead of just acting. I want to stress that my ears to closet to my eyes and mouth, so anything that I mention here applies to myself as well. Too many people are out here are looking to give advice to others, and many of these people aren't following the advice they're giving. I personally strive to not be one of those people.

Now those who maybe are not familiar with the "Look deep before you leap" saying may think that it only applies to water, etc. If we're being honest here, most people will likely equate this saying to someone going to the edge of something that has a stream of water below, and then examining how shallow or deep the water is before jumping in. From a straight forward perspective, that is exactly what it means. However, it can also be an analogy for many of the mistakes we make that come from not always thinking before we act. See, in some instances, many people do not fully examine certain decisions and situations before jumping into them. Similar to the water comparison, there are times in life where we don't thoroughly examine some of our decisions, and then we find ourselves in a situation where we're possibly drowning. I don't mean drowning from a literal sense, but I mean from a perspective that we often find ourselves in too deep in regards to certain situations that we didn't think through properly. Then again, there are some situations and decisions that can have dire consequences for ourselves, as well as for those that care for us.

So what are the situations and decisions that require in depth consideration before jumping into? Well I personally think it's subjective to how well an individual is able to handle life issues. However, for the sake of this blog entry, one of the biggest examples I can think of jumping into a serious commitment with another person. I'm far from an expert on relationships, but I think we can all agree that a serious relationship with another human being is a serious commitment. Now where does the look deep before you leap mentality come into play? From my perspective, a person must seriously examine anyone and anything that they're considering a long term commitment to. This is important because the wrong people or the wrong situations can ruin your life in ways that can't always be easily fixed. I know it sounds cliche, but many people put too much value only into what they can see with their own two eyes. In order to apply the look deep before you leap mentality, you have to be willing to look beyond what's in front of you. Imagine a person that is only focused on how beautiful someone is, but doesn't pay attention other aspects of this person's character. Just because a person looks good doesn't necessarily mean they are good for you. Like I mentioned earlier, making a serious commitment to the wrong person, place, or thing can have lasting consequences on your life.

I know that I mainly focused on the relationship aspect of this topic as an example, but there are many others out there where improper planning can be devastating to a person's life. Again, the goal here is to encourage more of our society to look deeper into situations before diving head first into them. Like I stated previously, we all make mistakes, but the truth of the matter is that mistakes are no excuse for knowingly making ill planned choices. Furthermore; and this is an even harder truth, there are some situations and decisions that don't always afford us the do-overs of correcting our mistakes. Like the drowning analogy I used earlier, some situations don't always end in a lesson learned. So with all of that said, lets start adopting the look deep before you leap state of mind more often, and this goes for everyone regardless of how young or old you may be. Never ignore any and all situations that you find yourself presented with that find you uneasy or questioning things. Always listen whenever that inner voice tells you when you something isn't right. Mistakes are a part of life and never ending, but I believe that we can at least cut some of our losses if we take out the proper time to evaluate before acting. Lets start looking deep before we leap folks.

Well my friends, I believe I was able to get my point across in this entry. I'm going to go ahead and sign off for now, but big thanks goes to everyone that stopped by again for another edition of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'. My hope is that some meaning and understanding was gained from this installment. If that happens to not be the case for you, then your visit here is still extremely appreciated. I hope everyone has a great rest of the week ahead, and I'll see you all in the next one. Till next time my name is Brad H., and I wish you all peace and positive thoughts.

©2016 Bradrick H. All Rights Reserved.

The Journey Towards Becoming Better Will Not Be A Perfect One.

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I have a belief that there comes many periods in nearly every person's life where some kind of awakening happens. You know the kind of awakening that happens when a person feels something deep within their spirit that sends vibes that there is time for a change? It's almost like an epiphany. While some may ignore these messages and not take any action, many of us choose to embrace these awakenings with a deep passion. Those that choose to listen to themselves and take the steps towards become a better individual, often develop a passion for self-improvement that almost becomes obsessive. That type of obsessive passion can often lead to an added pressure of wanting to be perfect while on the journey of self-improvement. While striving for perfection can be a motivating force, we all know that achieving perfection is virtually impossible. This not only applies to life in general, but also the journey one takes towards wanting to become a better person as well.

What's going on ladies and gentlemen? Welcome to the second entry of 'Brad H.'s Perspective' for 2016. Like always, I hope that everyone has been doing great, and hopefully the year thus far has been both peaceful and positive for you all. As for me personally, the new year has been going pretty good so far. For those of you that read the last entry, you may already know that my grandmother celebrated her 82nd birthday recently. Well now there is another upcoming birthday for another person that is special to me, and that would be my younger sister. Although my sister and still young and will only be turning 24 years old on her next birthday, I'm still grateful for both her and my grandmother being able to celebrate turning a year older. Alright, now that I've gotten all of that out of the way, lets go ahead and talk about how the journey towards becoming will not be a perfect one.

Like I mention in my blog entries, a person's individual viewpoint on any topic will vary from person to person. The goal here isn't to focus on what may be right or wrong, but rather using this platform as an outlet to express my opinions on topics that I think about. Through that process of thinking and expressing, the hope is to leave anyone that may read these posts with something to think about. Back in the year 2012, I wrote an entry titled 'Focus On Becoming Better, Not Perfect'. If you want to check that particular blog entry out, you can read it here. Today's entry will somewhat piggyback of that post, however, since its been nearly 4 years since I had written that post, I'm going to attempt provide a more clearer and fresher perspective on today's topic. Also, with what I've learned from experiences in the past couple of years, along with just becoming a few more years older than what I had written back then, I feel that I have a greater understanding of this topic now. Besides, the awakening that I mentioned people having earlier in this post is something that I can attest to experiencing myself.

There are many different kinds of awakenings that a person can have. Whenever a person has the kind of awakening that motivates them to strive towards acquiring more knowledge or becoming a better person, there will be all kind of emotions and thoughts involved. Now when we say becoming a better a better person, what exactly does that mean? It varies from person to person but from my perspective, choosing to become a better individual is something that starts with something that is often simple. For example, lets say that a person that drinks alcohol or smokes cigarettes has an awakening that calls for them cut out those vices right? It often begins with slowly cutting back on participating in those acts until the individual gets to the point where they no longer crave those things. We all know that any kind of positive change doesn't happen overnight, and you'll be hard pressed to find anyone that can put down any bad habits cold turkey. I'm not saying that it cannot be done, but its not likely. The main point is that whatever awakening that a person has towards becoming better will be a journey full of ups and downs.

I feel that one of the biggest drawbacks that we have towards the journey of self-improvement is pressure. I'm not talking about the pressure that others may put upon us whenever we're on a journey; that's already going to be a given. I'm talking about the pressure that we put upon ourselves. While the proper amount of pressure can be a good thing towards helping in keeping us honest with our goals, the pressure that we put on ourselves to be perfect in our journeys is one of our biggest hindrances from my perspective. We often put so much pressure on ourselves to do well, that whenever we do slip up and make a mistake, we end up on a downward spiral that often puts us right back at square one. Now what happens after that? Normally, all the progress that we've made; whether its been big or small, has likely been undone. Whenever we make the choice to stop a habit we deem as bad, we must understand and accept that the journey will not be a perfect one.

We're not perfect people, so whatever journey that we're on towards improving ourselves will not be perfect as well. Whatever vices or habits that you're trying to break from your life, think of them as stages. Lets say that you go a certain amount of days without participating in a habit you're trying to rid out of your life right? View the days that you succeeded as one stage, and then set goals towards reaching the new next stages and so on. Eventually, you'll build up enough resistance to the point where you won't have the need for those bad habits. When that starts to happen, that's when you'll know you're beginning to change for the better. Again, it varies from person to person, and you should never judge your progress with others. If you happen to slip up and make a mistake or relapse on your journey, don't go and undo the progress you've already made by falling back into your habits permanently. Pick yourself back up, and look to go even further than you did before you slipped up. I'm going to sum this up by repeating something that I heard someone say recently. The goal should be progress, not perfection.

Alright folks, I think I got the point that I was looking to make across. With all of that said, I'm going to go ahead and close out this entry of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'. As always, I'd like to thank everyone who joined me today, as well as in the past. My hope is that some meaning and understanding can be gained here, and even if there isn't, I still appreciate those of you for your support. Feel free to leave any feedback or thoughts on this topic. Hope you all have a great week ahead, and I'll see you all in the next one. Peace!

©2016 Bradrick H. All Rights Reserved.

Opinion On Confidence vs.'Cockiness'.

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Throughout our lives, we are always going to hear the words "cocky" and "confident". A lot of people associate these two words as basically being one in the same, while many others like myself believe there is a difference between the two. I do believe that there is a fine line between having confidence in oneself, and being so cocky that one comes off as being arrogant. I was taking one of my regular evening walks yesterday, and I thought to myself that it would be a good idea to put down my thoughts on what I consider a difference between the two. This is another edition of 'Brad H.'s Perspective', and thanks for taking out the time to check it out.

Before I begin to gives my thoughts on this topic, I want to say that I'm no expert on this issue, and that these are strictly my own views. As a matter of fact, I think that this is one of those topics that is very subjective in the sense that there really isn't a right or wrong, but rather a topic that's subject to each individual's own belief. I say that to say this, if you don't agree with me on this particular topic, you totally have that right. Alright, lets get into it. Now before I begin to differentiate what I consider to be two different meanings, lets define what confidence is.

The most basic and straight to the point definition of confidence is defined as "having trust or faith in a person or thing". In my opinion, an individual that is confident in themselves normally hold themselves and their abilities in high regards. I think that a confident person is someone that rarely if at all beats themselves up for making mistakes, and are proud of themselves and certain qualities they may possess. For example, lets use a basketball player in this instance. In my opinion, a confident basketball player doesn't waver often on the court. He may come down and miss three straight baskets, but doesn't let that break his confidence to the point where he is afraid to take the game winning shot if need be. Now lets discuss the word cockiness.

When I looked up the standard definition of the word cocky, I found the following definition to be honest and straight to the point. The definition I found for cocky was "conceited or arrogant, esp. in a bold or cheeky way." I personally think that definition says quite a bit when you think about it for a sec. Now when I personally think of someone that is cocky, I think of someone that could be confident in themselves, but also has a level of insecurity about themselves that they've attempted to bury deep down within to shield from others. These type of individuals normally use their arrogant ways to compensate for an area in their life that they may not be totally happy with. Now despite all of that and whether or not a person can be classified as being cocky or confident, here is what I personally think that distinguishes the two. Again, this is just my own opinion.

There is something that I've noticed about people that I personally consider to be cocky. What I've noticed is that individuals that usually fit this bill compare themselves to other people a lot. When I say a lot, I mean A LOT! See, I don't think there is anything wrong with being confident in who you are, and allowing that confidence to be shown to others. I think that society in general is normally drawn to confident people, who know how to handle and carry themselves with respect towards others. However, when you're the type of person that is constantly talking yourself up, but comparing yourself or your abilities to that of others, then you've crossed that thin line between confident and cocky in my opinion. This especially applies to people that know they can perform better at something than others, or have certain things that someone else may not have. Since I like running, I'll use running as an example. If a runner tells other runners that he or she is a good runner, that is an example of being confident in their ability. However, if the same person says that they are the best runner in the world, they're not only lying because there is always someone better, but they're also comparing what their abilities are to those of other runners. In my opinion, a confident person doesn't need to do that. Why be overly concerned with what the next person can do? Shouldn't you be content with your own abilities?

I think it's normal for us to compare ourselves to others. Many of us use that as a motivating factor to strive to do our best. However, it's not necessary to look down upon someone else just because you can do something better. Confident people are content within their own skin, while cocky people compare what they have or can do to everyone else. At the end of the day, if you're a person that's okay with being cocky, that is fine. However, just remember that most people are turned off by arrogance, and you just may find yourself losing people rather than keeping them. Just my two cents. So to sum it all up, I do believe that there is a fine line between being confident and being cocky. Again, this is a subject that can be interpreted many different ways, so I'm saying again that I'm not saying that my viewpoints are right. It's just how I personally feel on the topic. Anyway, that's all that I have this time around, so thanks again for reading 'Brad H's. Perspective'. Feel free to leave thoughts and feedback. Thanks for stopping through, and I'll see you all in the next post. Peace!