New Year

                                                       Happy New Year!!


I guess I can still say that right? I mean, it's still January, soooo...yeah. It is MY blog anyway, right?...RIGHT??.....Okay then :).

Well, if you really get to know me, you'd know that I say sarcastic lines like I did above. My hope is that just like that line, my lines would get a chuckle out of the person they are directed to. It's either that or the not-so-subtle "Daniel-you-are-so-dumb" look I can get pretty frequently. Either way, my jokes demand a response usually.

When the new year is approaching,a lot of people seem to brace themselves for some kind of new life full of new hopes and dreams. I mean, that's what resolutions are made of right?? People have hopes and dreams that they feel they should accomplish in the new year. It's funny(not really but..), in my experience, people seem to make resolutions from the great ideas in their heads.
That's good and all, but if I can judge anything, I'd say that many of these endeavors aren't done out of desperation from the heart.

On January 1st of this year, I addressed this on Facebook. Here's what I posted:

"Just a thought: People make a lot of a resolutions for the new year. That's not a revelation, and it may be done with good intent. IMO however, only a few people make the resolutions out of a place from where their soul DESPERATELY wants that change. Resolutions may come from a thought in the mind as a good idea but not from a place of desperation. I'm reminded of the character named Killian from Iron Man 3. Sure, he's the villain but he thanked Tony Stark for something: Desperation. He achieved his status of power from desperation and almost defeated Iron Man and all that he had built.

My encouragement to you all and myself is to think about what your soul needs. I will add to seek God about these things too. Go beyond the good ideas and search your soul DEEPLY and go after what you truly need and get desperate. If its social justice, pray for change, seek organizations who support the change and do something about it. If it's exercise, if you can-stop reading this post and start by taking a walk. If it's getting to work on your spiritual life, read Matthew chapter 6 and see how Jesus prayed and pray for someone you know. Start somewhere and get desperate! A journey usually starts with a single step!"

See, I think desperation can be used in a good and bad way. It depends on the motive, goal and way of acting out of that desperation. For instance, a guy likes a girl at school. His goal is to ask her out to the soon-to-come homecoming dance. He strikes up conversations with her, but she keeps blowing him off. If he is a respectful guy, he'd had the courage to ask her out for the dance. And she says no the first time, but say she is a patient girl who needs to know that a guy truly cares about her by showing real interest in her? Well this guy writes her a poem, slips it into her locker,she opens and reads the poem that ends with asking her out to the dance, and her heart is so smitten by his words that she she checks yes under the poem, then everyone is happy and no harm was done. What if he was a jerk though, and after she says no to him the first time and he goes ballistic towards her in front of the entire school because he's desperate for her to know his feelings and that she hurt them?? What way was more honorable?? The first, right? Of course, depending on the situation and the people involved, but no one wants to be heckled, especially in front of others. The goal was to get a date with her to the dance, the motive was because he likes her but the different ways he acted on his feelings were on opposite sides of the spectrum of respect. To put a spin on it, what if the goal wasn't really because he liked her, but it was because he wanted to have sex with her?? Then that's when motives come to play.

If I didn't confuse you with that totally made up scenario, then you know what I mean. Desperation can lead us to do awesome things or terrible things, in awesome or terrible ways. My point, however, is that people should search within themselves what they need to do in life and find the amount of desperation they need. Go after that  goal with tenacity and fight until you reach it! That's what I'm doing. 

Soooo.....my life can be chaotic.

                                                                         Ahhhhhhhh......

   
That, my friends, is the sound that my mouth just now made. I know that seems insignificant to you, but I have come to find that in my adult life, it's good to get a nice breather in. It's especially good during the chaos most of us experience in life. Am I right or am I right?......yeah, you know I'm right, gosh darn it!


    Since this is my first blog under my new user name, I bet there is a 99% chance you know me. With that said, you may ask, " How is your life chaotic Daniel?" Good question. Well, for one, I work a typical forty hours per week (give or take) at my job(will reveal in another blog.....maybe), and am involved with various church stuff. I absolutely love the church stuff, but I am involved in a lot of it. I am involved in the youth group as a leader, an outreach ministry once a month, two home groups (gatherings in peoples' homes) that meet every other week, while handling(or not handling) my responsibilities as an adult such as budgeting, chores and all that jazz. Granted, I am a single male who does not have to worry about kids and think about a wife that I care for everyday. I get that, but still, I too need to take a breather.

 


    I mean, has anyone truly figured out how to juggle between all the things they are involved in while keeping the others that they are involved with, happy? I would love to meet the man or woman who has mastered doing everything they are suppose to do, go to where they are suppose to go and not offend one person in a month's time due to themselves running out of steam because of life's chaotic-ness. Oh, and they have to be an extrovert. IMO, being an introvert would make all that so much more easier.

    Speaking of which, I think I am friends with a lot of introverts, and just noticed why. I just read an article that talks about the differences between introverts and extroverts. I won't get into all the details of it but one thing I will mention is that the author talks about how extroverts can get an introvert to open their bubbles to themselves, the extrovert. Basically, while not being in a festive environment where there is a gazillion people around, the extrovert takes initiative to get to know the introvert. More than likely you will end up in their personal bubble. I strive to do that with folks that I meet. I love meeting different kinds of people, introvert and extrovert alike. However, as much of a thrill that is, I realize that I make my life more susceptible to numerous invites and vulnerable to disappointing them in case I can't deliver on a promise or go to some event they ask me to make to. Either way, it makes my life chaotic at times.

     Don't get me wrong, I do not blame people at all for whatever chaos I have. I am a huge extrovert, so I need people in my life. That is how God designed me. It's just relationships can be hard to juggle around for usually you are emotionally involved with someone you are in a real relationship with(and no I'm not talking just girlfriend and boyfriend). All relationships can bring chaos into our lives. I know this because I'm in some of those kinds of relationships and witness some of those kinds of relationships on a weekly basis, for instance, marriage. I love to see husbands and wives love each other, but I also see the ugly side of marriage when the gloves come off. When that happens, I heard that one of the most popular things to do is walk away,get some fresh air, then re-group later. That would be what I call, a long breather.

       All in all,  I may not know chaos like you mothers, fathers, full-time teachers, presidents, school principals, mayors of cities, CEOs of Fortune 500 companies and all the other highly positioned people in the world, but man, I can use a little less chaos.