When life gets me down, I have found one thing that never fails to ease the pain is to focus on the positive and not so much on the negative aspects of my life. Something that always brings me back to realizing I am one lucky dude is to think about my amazing friends and family. I have always believed that I have the best in the entire world.
My friends are the reason I am the person I am today and why I am not completely insane. Any time I need advice or feel lonely, I have a wonderful support system to turn to. While I know I am not perfect, my friends have always accepted my imperfections and have forgiven me when I sought forgiveness. I have always tried to do the same.
My family always proves that unconditional love does exist and we always have each other’s backs. The truth is, I consider my family my friends and my friends my family. The lines between the two are quite blurred. And I love that.
The other night, I was texting back and forth with my friend Jerielle. We were writing to each other about how much we miss performing. At one point, she mentioned that she wants to write sketch comedy with me. We ended up sending each other the most encouraging words, concerning each other’s talent and potential. I started thinking about how awesome it is to have artistic and gifted people in my life who I so badly want to see succeed and who really want me to succeed as well. I meant every word I said when I told her how much I miss our voices singing together. I love that soprano!
The painting I included above is one my Grandma Jean had framed for me yesterday. She has always been such a great painter. She and I painted this piece together when I was little and had just moved to Georgia from Ohio. She pretty much held my hand for the bits that I contributed, but I remember feeling like I knew how to paint afterwards. She has told me many times that she remembers me, when I was young, encouraging her to paint more and pushing her forward with her art. I don’t really remember what I said, but I do know how passionate I can be when someone I love has such potential; I always appreciate when a friend or family member pushes me forward in that way, too.
In a world where it is so easy to turn on the television, look at social media, or pick up a newspaper and see negativity and crap, I am so happy to have a team who all make it very easy to find optimism and love. They are the best. I am just so grateful.
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