Be Reliable

It took me a long time to embrace my fathers philosophy that dumping passion in everything you do is the only way to live your life.  Honestly, it’s hard and it can be exhausting.  Our instincts generally tell us to choose the path of least resistance.  The most challenging part of his message wasn’t being passionate about the things I enjoyed in life because that became easy.  The true challenge came with being passionate about the things I didn’t enjoy.  The boring stuff.  Among his most notorious phrases to our football team, “everything matters” quickly rose towards the top.

He preached that every aspect of everything you do has a purpose.  Even the tedious aspects of life or the boring parts of football practice.  Everything had it’s purpose.

I wanted to be passionate about something but it was just hard.  I wanted to listen to his words but it was hard.  I wanted to be just like him…but it was hard.  Then came my revelation…

Life isn’t about me and it never was.  I was put on this earth to live for others and show the world that it could rely on me.  That is when the passion began to flow through my veins.  Whether it was being a soldier, a coach, a student, a writer, etc. I became passionate about standing strong for others to lean on.  I wanted to be the light at the end of the tunnel.  I wanted to be the motivation people turned towards.  I poured my heart and soul into EVERY aspect of my life and I still do.  To be completely honest, it’s exhausting – but I love it.  I love the feeling of knowing someone is counting on me.  Being reliable doesn’t mean we can’t make mistakes, it just means we can be relied on to get back up each time we fall and get right back in the fight.  

I’m not perfect and I never will be.  I wouldn’t want to be if I could.  I will fall.  I will fail. I will F*$@ stuff up.  But I will always get up when I fall.  I will always try again.  I will never quit.  I will show the world that it can lean on me.