Being Secure in Who and What You Are!

 

I have always been different from the rest of my family, not in many ways but a few. I was always a dreamer. I had a very vivid imagination and always wanted to know why and how things worked. My oldest brother was not concerned with such things. Sometimes I wonder if he thought about much at all. But I love him just the way he is, even if we cannot manage to get along and I have to love him from afar.

My 2^nd older brother is a good guy. He knows what he wants and works toward it. He has an attitude very similar to mine, get it done! He never liked school but was very mechanically inclined like dad. Electrician, welder, fabricator, mechanic, and entrepreneur are all monikers that could describe him. Like me if something doesn’t exist he will make it up out of the stuff he has available. I don’t know if this is something we learned from our father and grandfather of if this is just the way we are hard wired.

Me, I’m a thinker and doer. Sometimes my thinking gets me in over my head when it comes to the doing. I love logic puzzles and things that make you go HMMM! I love different foods and tastes that my other brothers wouldn’t even consider. I am the kind of person that goes to a nice restaurant and orders the squid with ink sauce as my main portion of the meal, even if I haven’t tasted it before. Most of my family would never be this adventurous. They would order the steak every time and never look at other menu items because it is what they are used to. I don’t like staying in my comfort zone. Like history if you are studying history and some of it doesn’t make you uneasy then you are being indoctrinated instead of educated.

Dad had a high school education, which was better than his parents. Mom went to the 9^th grade and dropped out. Her family situation was not as stable as dads. She later went back to school when I was about 12 and got her GED. Her mother didn’t have but a grammar school education like many other Appalachian women of the time. However, she was one of the smartest and most common sensible person I think I ever met. 

My oldest brother married before we left Michigan and my middle brother married right after high school and went into the coal mines. I wanted to go to college but there was no money for that, or so I thought. I went to the local vocational school. Tuition then was $20 per month and they had the text books you needed and you didn’t have to buy them. I actually dropped out of high school for a semester to attend vocational school full time. I had gone to vocational school in high school and through the summers, so one semester was all I needed to get my Residential Electricity Certificate. At the urging of the electricity teacher I decided to return to high school and get the diploma. I only needed an English credit but you couldn’t go just for that so I went ahead and got the entire semester. I applied half heartedly for college scholarships never figuring there was much hope but a little college called Alice Lloyd College gave me a full tuition, room, and board scholarship for all 4 yrs, as long as I maintained a B average. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Mom and dad helped by giving me $25 per week and a car to get back and forth. I made student loans for my books.

My mother and father didn’t understand about higher education. I remember one day they said that I took the “easy way out.” What do you say to something like that? In their minds, education was easy compared to a job. A student in a science program in college say physics, chemistry, etc. will spend 30 hours per week in class and labs and 60 hours per week studying. So they put in 90 hours per week to be successful. How many workers put in 90 hours per week? But, to them they did not understand the value of education. I never had a job after college that paid me for what I did. They all paid me for what I knew. I call it mental sweat.

I used to pretend when I was around other people that were not like me. I played football, baseball, and other sports and was pretty good at them. I never really enjoyed them. I loved to fish and hunt but those are not community activities. Could I be a hermit? Sometimes I think I could but I like people. On the other hand, as I get older my patience for dumbassery sure has decreased. This love of people is why I became a teacher and professor. I am proud that over my career I have helped over 18,000 people reach for their dreams. I am satisfied with the person I am and have become.

Being satisfied with who you are is a big deal. I lay my head down every night and am thankful for what I have and the decisions I have made in life. Were all my decisions sound? NO! I have made some real bone head decisions in my time. But I learned more from my failures than from my successes. That is why this get it done attitude is so important. Many people spend their life unable to get things done because they are afraid of making a mistake or failing. Failing is a part of life, just plan so that you don’t fail too big. If you are not failing you will never succeed!

I hope this finds you well and I hope that you have found the inner peace to know who and what you are. I hope you are pressing forward and failing, learning, and moving forward again. It is the journey where the value lies, not in the endpoint. As you work toward your endpoint know that it often moves. Be willing to flow with the swell of the tide and change your endpoint as need be. But, also remember that Life, Like Homesteading is a Marathon Not a Sprint – Slow Down and Enjoy the Ride and if you are not happy - Change your goals. 

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