Growth

Growth comes in many different fashions in today's society. I have the pleasure and privilege of seeing growth happen every single day I wake up. Being a father is something I always thought would be exciting but I will have to admit that my previous expectations don't come close to how awesome it truly is. Not only do I have a direct impact on guidance and advice I can provide but I can also sit back and watch them become incredible young woman making the right decisions in life.

The baby has allowed all four of us to realized how precious life is. If at anytime we are having a bad day all we have to do is walk up to her and talk in baby language (I have gotten really good at the goo goo ga gaas) and the smile of pure love makes all the negatives melt away. I have witnessed the two older daughters mature into the big sisters I always knew they could be and yes from the looks of it the baby likes to eat.

Growth also comes in how we approach life. Part of being successful in anything you attempt whether it be business, relationships, sports or self confidence is always revolved around failure. Not to sound over confident but I have been blessed in accomplishing lots in my 37 years (more than I could ever have imagined) but it hasn't come without failure and self-doubt.

What stops most people from success in life is the fear of failure or they do fail and don't think they have what it takes to give it another shot. This is the flaw that I feel everyone can work on and push through to accomplish anything they set their minds to. All failure does is teach us what not to do the next time and how to think outside the box on what it would take to succeed. This is where GROWTH really takes over and allows us to succeed and teach the world that nothing can hold us down.

Just look at the recent success of Diana Nyad swimming 110 miles non-stop. She could have easily just thrown in the towel but her determination and ability to learn from her mistakes allowed her to believe in her abilities and push past the previous failures and GROW as an individual. Now her accomplishment is out of this world amazing but I bet if you take a minute and think of your biggest accomplishments you will see how you grew during the experiences and how it has made you a better person for it.

My oldest never ceases to amaze me with her determination and constant drive to push past any limits she may have on herself and grow as an individual. This past weekend her and I ran a 5K in which she told me she wanted to run it by herself and not with me. After I finished the race and cheered on a few people, I told my wife that I wanted to go see how she was doing so I started to back track the course but didn't have to go that far. To my amazement I looked down the road and saw her tiny legs speeding towards me. As she approached I asked her what she was doing (couldn't believe how fast she was) and she simply just told me "I am running dad". She crossed the finish line in 28 minutes holding her head up high and stating that she didn't walk and she was proud of her achievement.

What I would challenge all of you to do is put down on paper what your biggest goals are in life. Draw out a plan of attack and know that along the journey you may fail but if you learn from your mistakes and GROW your dreams will come true. If we could all apply this to our life's and know that nothing can bring us down then the world we live in would be amazing.

Make It Count!!!!