My Story: Part I
“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” – Mark Twain
Life…we all live it, we all enjoy it. They always say the days are long and the years are short. I truly believe that life is a blessing and we have so many opportunities to learn, grow, and inspire others. I’ve spent a majority of my lifetime learning and growing as well as determining my life purpose.
A picture says 1,000 words and I’ve had a loving family from my early years to today along with a family that believes in me to this day that I’ve contributed to through parenting and teaching them life perspective and moments of opportunity.
Early in life, I was a shy and silent member of society and still found ways to grow, practice resiliency, and ensure kindness through my interactions with others. My shyness often lead me to be misunderstood by others, even when I was successful in school and in my personal life. Everything happens for a reason and I was lucky enough to have good friends who helped me stay content in life and challenged me to grow. My earliest moments in life were more of a quiet and inward looking life focus. As I’ve grown since then and even today, there is more I’d like to share, however, we only have a short opportunity this week. Stay tuned to learn a few of the ways I was able to get out of my shell.
If anyone reading this blog post today has gone through similar challenges of being shy, misunderstood, or leaning on others to find your way, I wanted to share three things that helped me navigate the positive and challenging moments of early life.
1. You Are More Than Enough! – My parents have been my rock throughout life and I’ve taken so many lessons from what I learned from them growing up to become who I am today. As I continued to be misunderstood by others, my mom and dad were there to encourage me, believe in me, and offer a positive compliment on a daily basis. During those more challenging times, I may not have fully believed in myself, however, their encouragement hit me below the surface in a positive way. Even when my shyness may have deflected their positive inspiration, my subconscious below the surface felt loved and supported. I consider myself blessed to this day to have a family that made me feel like I was more than enough!
2. Embrace Your Life Passions – Growing up, I was a huge Michael Jordan and Chicago Bulls fan. I watched every game that was on tv and read every box score in our local newspaper each day to check in on their wins and losses and to follow along on each of their championship runs. Like many others, I truly wanted to be like Mike! I spent many summers shooting baskets day and night in our front driveway. I would emulate being Michael in the moment, making a last second shot, and sometimes being successful and sometimes a failure. Basketball was my life distraction, my moment to shine, and an opportunity to be myself. I enjoyed shooting baskets so much and it also allowed me to be myself. Even when I felt slightly lost in life or that I was too shy, I had the energy to live in the moment and answer the call of a life passion. I’ll remember those times of self care the rest of my life and appreciate the journey this led me to.
3. Find Ways to Serve Others – Another thing that my parents taught me in life is that you can’t ever outserve or limit your abilities to help others. I can remember a major flood in 1993 (Manhattan, KS), where others were in so much need that there were opportunities to fill sandbags that would be used to prevent houses from current and future flooding. Even during the shyest of the shy moments for me, I learned through this experience that I could embrace my hard working mentality and fill sandbags that would lift up the spirits of others. I never got to meet the affected flood victims who would use those sandbags, but I left that day with a heart full of joy and was glad that I had taken the time to inspire others in an indirect way. I can thank my parents many times over and still not offer the appreciation that I feel today from serving others!
My challenge to you this week is to be proud of who you are and where you’re currently at in life. Know that others are there to support you and see the good that you do in life. Never lose sight of opportunities to help others and embrace humility to allow others to see the good you bring each day.
Keep growing and know that I truly believe in you!
Ryan