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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Dear Mikey,

Hi! It is Michael! (yes you will go by Michael when you are older) I am writing this letter to let you know some information to help you along the way.

Here are some helpful hints to get you along:

People love you for who you are. I know you are going to waste so much time trying to change things about yourself and wishing you were different but in the end you will learn that it is all those things people most love about you.

Never stop laughing. We love to laugh and there will be times when we will stop laughing. Remember in those moments, that you need to do whatever it takes to bring laughter back. Our sense of humor is how we survive.

You are going to make a lot of friends. Some are going to change your life, some are going to teach you life lessons and others will be true friends who stay with you. No matter what type of friends they are, you are going to have a great time.

I want you to believe in yourself. You can do anything you want as long as you believe. You will amaze yourself with all the things you will achieve. Never give up and just know you can do it.

You are going to get scared at times. I want you to know that you are not alone. Just as I have you with me now, you will have me there with you. There is nothing wrong with being scared and when you are, just remember I am holding your hand.

Make sure to trust your instincts. Your intuition is very strong and you need to listen to it. It will guide you down the right path. It is OK if you don’t, you will just learn from it and continue on.

Always have fun. You will do a lot of crazy and silly things. And trust me, even as you get older you will only do more. You are going to always enjoy living life.

I want you to take care of yourself. You are going to do a lot of things and sometimes take on way too much. Remember to always take time out for yourself. You will need to relax. When you get older we will be spending a lot of time learning how to do that.

There are going to be rough times in your life. Times when things aren’t going as you planned or hoped. You are going be betrayed by friends, hurt by people you love and deal with a tragedy you could never imagine. I am not going to warn you about any of them because you get through them all. You are stronger than you think and these events never take away your spark for life. I promise you the good times will tower over the bad.

Lastly, I want to tell you that I love you. I love you because you make me who I am today. I love you because you are who you are. I love you because there will be times when you don’t love yourself and it will be OK because my love will get through that.

Well, Mikey, get ready to enjoy life because it is going to be more fun than you will ever know. I do not need to wish you luck because you are blessed and you just need to be grateful for it.

Love always,

Michael

PS. You are going to start losing your hair. GET OVER IT. Just part of life. What is more important is that you will NEVER lose your smile.

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Do you have a goal you have been working on but have not shared it with anyone? Why not?

I think one of the main reasons we do not share our goals with others is accountability. We are afraid once we say it out loud to then we will really have to do it. Not only because we have now verbalized it but because our friends and family will know if we succeed or fail.

I know I always achieve better results when I share my goals with my friends and family. It makes me take my goal serious and really put the work into making them happen. Now I have cheerleaders helping support me along the way and they keep me motivated to achieve my goal.

With that said, I am going to share a goal with all of you. I have set a goal to increase my email blog subscribers. I am hoping that I can gain more people who will enjoy my blog and decide to receive my blog updates in their email each day. I am hoping all of you will help me out by forwarding my blog to people you feel would enjoy reading what I have to say. Please encourage them to even comment because I love the interaction.

Maybe they will even subscribe by email and help me achieve my goal. Who wouldn’t want a little Michael in their email each morning?

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My coach (yes as a coach, I have to have my own coach as well) mentioned how I haven’t been working on my life list lately. This is true so I had to get myself to look back on it and Justin and I completed another thing off my list. We went to the Orlando Science Center.

As a kid in Orlando, I had been on many fields trips to the OLD science center but since it was completely redone, I had not been and have been wanting to.

The beautiful new Orlando Science Center has a living Florida wetlands in the bottom level where you can see turtles and alligators swimming and laying around. Next to it is a small coral reef with all kinds of fish.

We went on the Titanic Ship of Dreams tour where they showed us tons of real life objects from Titanic and told us facts from the ship. At the end, they leave you with the sad stories of people who did not make it and how the ship sank. Of course, I got teary eyed thinking about how scared those people must have been.

They had exhibits about Dinosaurs and the Giant planets in our solar system. The last exhibit was a walk through of Norman Rockwell’s work. They had a lot of his work made into 3D stand ups. They ended with a room with every single cover he ever did.

It was a fun day and another item was crossed of my life list. Maybe not a HUGE item but still creating more meaning in my life and an experience I will remember. I can now say I have been.

What have you done off your life list lately?

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