This is week sixteen in my personal “If… Project” in which I answer questions from the book “If… (Questions for the Game of Life)”

There are 125 pages of this book, each with four questions. I plan to take one page each week and answer the questions as thoroughly and honestly as I am able. In addition, I invite you to answer the questions along with me, whether it be in the comments section, your own personal blog, or just within your own thoughts.

Perhaps in doing so, we will get to know each other better, but even more importantly, get to know ourselves better.

This week’s questions:

If you could only keep one of your five senses, which would you save?

I do not which one I could live my life with. I would miss all my senses. It would be hard to just pick one. Being without touch would be quite interesting but I will assume I would survive. I am only to choose to keep my sight. It would not be easy but I am sure with support from family and friends I could make it.

If you could have lived during any one period of time in past history, when and where would it be?

I would choose the Renaissance. So much art was created during this period. It would be a fun time just to see what life was like during this period. Of course people did not live as long and I do not if gay people were so welcome. I still think it would be fun.

If, one by one, you had to place each of the people with you right now in another period of history that you think suits them best, when and where would you place them?

Why would I want people in my life to be moved from me into different time periods? I would choose to keep them exactly where they are, with me. It maybe selfish but I would push people away.

If you had to describe the saddest thing that ever happened to you, what would you talk about?

I do not want to dwell on the sad things in my life. Yes there are quite a few I could think of but for the most part, I moved on to better times as well. I believe life is full of up and downs. It is all how you handle them and look at them that makes the difference.

Those are my answers to this week’s questions. What are yours?

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There are so many rules for life. We create them ourselves or others push them on us. For some reason we stick to them as if they are written in stone. We act as if the life police will come strip search us and arrest us if we do not follow these rules.

 I believe you need to create your own rules for life. It is your life; shouldn’t you be the one who makes the plan you live by?

Here are some rules I think should be broken:

Always try impress people – Why should you spend your life impressing people? Wouldn’t it be easier to just be yourself. Who you are is more impressive than trying to sell yourself to others. Better yet, how about I change the rule to – You don’t need to impress others, they need to impress you.

Work is work, play is play- NO WAY. Why can’t work be fun too? I always work hard on making my work as fun as play. I love what I do so it doesn’t even seem to be work. I do not separate my life into categories. I am just me all the time.

Act professional to get ahead – Stop acting! Why do we have to pretend to be someone else to be successful? I am who I am and that makes me unique. I do not want to hide what makes me stand out of the crowd. If you ask people what professional is, they define it in so many different ways. I define it in my own way which allows me, to just be who I am. No act at all.

Decide with your brain, not your heart- Do we always have to do what is logical? Falling in love really places you in a vulnerable state. It is easier not to allow yourself to get hurt so the logical choice is to never fall in love. I don’t want to live without love. Sometimes my heart just knows better.

Don’t rock the boat – Making waves is how we make changes in our lives. Sometimes we have to get shook up to really get out of comfort zone and move our lives in the right direction.

Conflict can be healthy when handled the right way as well. We can not all go around thinking the same or we would never grow.

Speak your mind – I believe you need to stand up for yourself. I believe you should share your ideas. I believe you shouldn’t be afraid to be different. I know there is a lot of things I think about that do not need to be said out loud though. There is a thin line between speaking your mind and being a bitch.

I also believe we all have opinions and we do not need to share them with the world. If we ask if we can share, it is welcomed feedback and that is completely different.

Save the best for last – Life is way too short to save the best for last. I want to enjoy the best now and I want to create other opportunities to enjoy the best in the future. Best is not something we delay until we are ready for it or only for a nice holiday. I want to enjoy it as it comes.

Work hard – Why should work be hard? I always do work that I have strengths in. I play to my natural talents. If giving a presentation is hard for you, but easy for me, shouldn’t I do it?

I am committed to what I do. I am very productive and driven in my career. But it is not struggling or working hard that moves me forward, it is simply my passion and motivation that propels me forward.

What are some of life rules you break?

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When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the jar… and the coffee…

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in
front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very
large and empty jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.

He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it
was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar.

He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas
between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was
full.

They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar.
Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if
the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous “yes.”

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

“Now,” said the professor, as the laughter subsided, “I want you to
recognize that this jar represents your life.

The golf balls are the important things. Your family, your children,
your faith, your health, your friends, and your favorite passions.
Things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your
life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter.
Your job, your house, and your car. The sand is everything else. The
small stuff.

If you put the sand into the jar first,” he continued, “there is no
room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you
spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have
room for the things that are important to you.

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play
with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your
partner out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to
clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls
first, the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is
just sand.”

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee
represented.

The professor smiled. “I’m glad you asked. It just goes to show you
that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a
couple of cups of coffee with a friend.”

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Do you celebrate your achievements? Do you only celebrate when you finish or when you take the the steps?

Celebration is so important to keep you motivated and moving in the right direction. I use to be so bad at celebrating my successes. I would always be thinking of what to do next and not enjoying what I just did. Yes it got me to a lot of achievements but they never felt as fulfilled.

Once I started to truly take the time to celebrate, it became easier to achieve more and more. It wasn’t that I stopped planning what was next. I just learned to take the time to celebrate what I did. This helped me stay motivated and encouraged to keep striving for more.

I am now moving on to another way of celebrating. I am not only celebrating when I succeed but also when I achieve a step in a goal.

Right now I have been very excited about this new opportunity that has knocked on my door. I really have wanted this for awhile and took steps to make it happened. I just completed a major step and I have to wait now to see if all the work will pay of this time.

Regardless of the way it turns out. It won’t stop me from trying again. Just getting this far is important enough and shows I can do it. So I celebrated.

I celebrated by enjoying a wonderful red velvet cupcake from a place in Orlando called Sweet! They make the best gourmet cupcakes. So rich, so pretty and oh so good.

If achieving a dream has a taste, that taste would be a Sweet! Red Velvet cupcake.

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I said I would do it and many of you have been emailing about it so the time has come. This Friday, July 18th at 9:30pm I want you to call me!

I am going to be hosting a teleconference where we can all talk together! How much fun is that? I want to have the opportunity to talk to you over the phone instead of through text this time.

A lot of you have asked me about creating a life list so I will also talk about that and how to get results from it. It should be a great call! Check out this site to see how you doing with 100 things you should do before you die.

So mark your calendars! This Friday, July 18th 9:30pm.

Call in number: 712-941-0216

Participant Pin: 101218

I look forward to talking to you!

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I have always wanted to go to Florida’s first theme park, Gatorland. When I was 10 I had the chance to finally go but on the way we stopped for a quick minute to look at models for new condos being built. 8 hours later, my Uncle and Aunt bought a condo and I still hadn’t seen a gator…

It has been almost 20 years since then and I am still waiting for someone to take me to Gatorland. I decided it was time to take myself! Gatorland was bigger than I expected. The park takes about 4 to 5 hours to see everyting and there was enough to fill an afternoon.

Justin and I were able to feed hot dogs to gators as they swam by. It was a lot of fun until they started really catching the food. It was like out of a movie and you could see how powerful they really are. We saw a show where they feed chickens (not live ones) to the alligators to show you how high they can jump. Another scary sight especially when you live in Florida.

We were able to take a small train ride around the park and learn its history. We also got a great view of other gators and crocs along the back of the park. As you get off and on the train, they have a nice sign to remind you not to bump your head.

Lastly, we saw the gator wrestling show and I was lucky enough to jump in the ring and catch one myself…

…OK maybe I just got to pose on one but it is a real live alligator. I was a little nervous but it was the highlight of the how experience.

This may have been a small item on my life list but one that I have wanted for many years. It was a great feeling to be able to cross it off.

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Do you ever forget who you are? I am not saying your name, or where you live but sometimes you get so caught up in living your life that you forget that some people see you as different.

Justin and I were walking in a shopping center to sit at a table to enjoy desserts we had just purchased. As we were walking past a huge table of young adult males at a restaurant on our way, a guy starts elbowing his friend and says, “Hey, Look. Two fags!”

I always try to make my mom proud by being friendly and always smiling. I am not afraid to talk to strangers and listen to their stories. I always treat people as people and try to get to know people’s names. I just feel I am a nice guy who just lives his life.

I forget sometimes that people judge me just on being gay and their judgement is negative. I didn’t say anything to the guys. I didn’t do anything to the guys but he still found it important to point out I was different from him in his view.

These situations always shock me when they happen. I never expect people to still act like this but it still happens. We are coming a long way but it is still just small steps.

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This is week fifteen in my personal “If… Project” in which I answer questions from the book “If… (Questions for the Game of Life)”

There are 125 pages of this book, each with four questions. I plan to take one page each week and answer the questions as thoroughly and honestly as I am able. In addition, I invite you to answer the questions along with me, whether it be in the comments section, your own personal blog, or just within your own thoughts.

Perhaps in doing so, we will get to know each other better, but even more importantly, get to know ourselves better.

This week’s questions:

If you could have one specific power over other people, what would it be?

I would want the power to make people happy. Wouldn’t it be great? When people were around you, they would just get a great sense of happiness. Maybe I would even be able to help people themselves through a rough spot.

As a coach, I do that a lot but it does require the other person to WANT to do it. With this power, I could just do it and see the results.

If you had to lose everyone you know in a tragic accident except one person, who would you choose to survive?

This is a horrible question. At least it is not another question about who I will eat dinner with.

I could never pick one person. First, I would be so upset because EVERYONE else was gone. Second, I would hate to leave with the guilt that I selected the one person to live. Would not be a great place to be.

If you could have one meal from your past exactly as it was, which would you repeat?

I would love for it to be one of the great places I enjoyed a breakfast buffet. I love breakfast and being it was a HUGE selection I wouldn’t get bored. Maybe the one at Hark Rock Hotel at Universal. That would be nice. Does this count, or am I cheating?

If you could become famous for doing something that you don’t currently do, what would it be?

I would love to host by own reality show. A show where I went around and helped people achieve something of their life list and then celebrated the accomplishment with them! It would be a blast! Think of all the cool things I would get to help people do and be there to take part in it!

Those are my answers to this week’s questions. What are yours?

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Each morning when I pull out of my neighborhood to go anyway, I face a lake with a chain link fence around it. It is nice each day to see this beautiful sight as I go on with my day.

Recently, Justin noticed that someone painted a picture of a squirrel and just attached it to the fence. Justin thinks this is so weird. He doesn’t understand why someone would do that. He thinks it is silly.

I think it is wonderful. I feel someone was inspired by the lake and must have painted a picture of the squirrel from around the wooded area and decided, when they finished, to share it with everyone.

I see the beauty in the lake each morning as I leave and I see the beauty in the painting. I love knowing someone wanted to share with us their talent and art.

I think it is so important to find the beauty in each day. What is something that you find beautiful in you life each day?

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Not all days will be winners but we can always make them better.

Here are my 10 ways to make the day better:

1. Go to lunch with a friend
2. Curl up on the couch to watch one of your favorite movies again
3. Sing to your favorite song in the car
4. Write it, to right it
5. Enjoy some dark chocolate covered pretzel chips
6. Lose yourself in a good audiobook
7. Buy some fresh flowers for your room
8. Do a random act of kindness
9. Get outside and enjoy the sun
10. Blow bubbles like you did when you were a kid

What are some of the ways you make your day better?

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