As individuals get older what do they see when looking in the rear view mirror of life? Many people chase their entire time on earth and at the end there is nothing but despair and bitterness. What is happiness and contentment? Money comes and money goes, but no one can ever take away a person’s education, life’s experiences and memories. If an individual is content and secure with themselves then they are in complete control of their mind no matter what comes their way. Obstacles and calamities are nothing more than bumps in the road. It all really comes down to how we individually take the hits that are thrown at us during our lifetime. Keeping our state of mind relaxed and strong assists us in handling problems and disappointments so that we do not spiral uncontrollably downward into a depressive abyss. A positive attitude and being grateful for what we have is probably our best defense against adversity.

Playing the blame game for our problems and feeling sorry for ourselves only will bring sorrow and suffering. Life is not fair! Misfortune is around every corner. We can manage many elements in our life, but then there are other times we cannot control what is thrown our way. Wouldn’t it be nice if life was perfect and every move and decision we make is the correct course of action? No! If everything was handed to us on a silver platter then we would take for granted our good fortune and our existence would become extremely boring. We all make mistakes throughout our lives; the key is to learn from our missteps. There is no point in beating ourselves up when we make a mistake. We are only human!

Many young immature celebrities that obtain great fame and fortune without much effort are extremely narcissistic and turn heavily to drugs and other self-destructive tendencies because they never had to work very hard to achieve their success. Further, a lot of these young stars end up no longer being famous and lose their money. Hard work and a slow climb up any ladder is no longer respected as it once was. Today worship of celebrities is commonplace and people especially in America do not give the recognition to the true heroes of our society.

Each person has to ask themselves what is important in their life? Then go and reach and achieve that goal or set of goals. Do not let others discourage you in the pursuit of your dreams. Many people will say that it cannot be done and you will fail. Do not listen to these people. Most folks who are against your idea are either jealous or have an alternative agenda in mind. Take their advice with a grain of salt. On the other hand, some very close friends or family members in your life wish you success and their advice should be considered because they may see negatives and they can shine a different light on your ideas or goals that you did not initially notice since you are so enthusiastic about your idea.

There is nothing worse than becoming older and have many regrets. I should have done this, I could have done that and I would have accomplished that if only I could have…. These are statements heard time and again by older bitter people who let the years just roll by and did not chase their dreams or never even knew what their dreams even were. Day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, and decade after decade rolls by and then one day we are all old and our life has just flew by page after page until we are at the end of the line and time has run out. When we are older we do not have the steam and the hunger that we had when we were young whipper snappers. Yes, there is nothing worse than driving down that hot desert highway and looking into the rear view mirror of life and seeing an empty long unfulfilled existence.

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Thank You

The Hermit Poet