One Year.

i don't really want to tear up and really write about this, so i'll put it as short as i can.

One year ago, Jackpot was born. May 3rd, 2012.

He is my inspiration. He is what makes me smile.

I owe him the world, as he has given me mine.

Slip, Fall, Get back up. Or not at all?

Striking your feet to the ground, step by step, you walk. There is ice under this thin layer of recently fallen snow, that you are trekking over, but somehow you are not slipping. You see footsteps of others who have walked this path ahead of you. You see the ice. It terrifies you; what if you fell? Falling isn't half bad, really. It's not terminal. But it sure does hurt.

In life we slip and we fall, but we have to decide how it affects us, how to deal with it, and if we are going to get off our asses and take a stand. Some of it is pure chance and luck, while the other half is our own beings and everything that we are.

"Everything you need is already inside." Nike 

Coincidentally, sometimes all it takes is 20 seconds of insane courage. 20 seconds that could potentially change your life. In the agility world, 20 seconds could be half of your run, parts of it, or maybe just walking up to the start line.

Although, maybe you're scared of the potential embarrassment.

"It's like you'll embarrass yourself if you say something, and you'll embarrass yourself if you don't." Dylan Mee, We Bought a Zoo

Either way, don't you think it would be worse to look back on the matter and wanting to kick yourself for not trying? Would you rather have the possible embarrassment then, or would you want to forever have all that embarrassment of not seizing the day, and taking a chance?

Adding to that, your past doesn't matter. This is a here and now thing. Carpe diem, seize the freaking day. I don't care about what you think might be holding you back, or your fears, doubts, thoughts; you can do this. Courage over fear. Mind over matter.

Now, you continue walking and you see other's falls, their slips, and marks on this path. The fear rises. The doubt sky rockets. 

The thing you don't see along that path is experience; the mistakes made and lessons learned. Nothing in this entire world can replace experience.

Courage isn't about not having fear, its about taking that first step even though you are shaking in your boots.

The thing society calls change.

The toughest step is always accepting it. Taking a deep breath and gulping it down. Knowing you have to change. But, wait, the tougher step is CHANGING. Because you know what? Change just doesn't create itself. You have to be willing to feel fear, doubt, longing, and all the emotions, for change to occur. Yes, it may be a physical journey on a physical planet, but, in reality, it's more emotional than anything. And it's all up to you.

"Unless you're willing to do that work, and to get angry and to get sad and to get scared and to get uncomfortable, and all those things that need to happen for change to occur, then you're right. The choice is yours. What do you want to do?" Jillian Michaels

People see change as something different, really. And a lot of people are scared of change. I don't blame them. When you are used to one thing, and that one thing is getting taken away from you, what do you do? Now, don't get me wrong, change can come in a lot of different ways. But either way, the thing society calls change, I merely call it evolve, or evolving.

Take a look at this...
Change: the act or instance of making or becoming different.
Evolve: develop gradually esp. from a simple or more complex form.

Some may say I see change as evolving because I am an optimist. Maybe it's because of the way I see life. Forget that. I see changing as evolving because in life we evolve. Simple as that.
In life we start as a much simpler form, a baby. But as we go through life we grow, gradually. It's not one day that we are an infant, then suddenly the next morning wake up an adult. Gradually we transform, we learn, have new experiences, we feel, we love, and we lose some things too. You decide what you take from it, and really, in any situation in life. It's all part of our continuous journey. Its what makes us evolve in life and without any one of the elements, we would be different people.

Remember, change doesn't happen all at once, it's constant. It's waking up everyday and pushing through, evolving, until you are satisfied, and realize that it is where you want and where you need to be.
Think of it like this, change creates building blocks of a stair case, that only you have the key to. Each change, each failure, each triumph, makes you who you are today.

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." Gandhi

What do you want our human race to evolve to? What do you want your fellow man to be, say 50 years from now? What kind of person do you want to be walking this earth in the future? Show me.

The science of the extraordinary.

"The extraordinary are crazy, and without that, what would they be, why just ordinary."

The extraordinary do things that ordinary people may have thought about, but never pushed. Never challenged. Never exceeded their expectations or limits they have set for themselves. Never broken down walls. And why the extraordinary, they strive for, challenge, breakthrough, push, plan, dream, believe, and achieve all these things.

And, really, when we think about it, the extraordinary are a little crazy. Kookoo. Out of their minds. Crazy. They think of and believe in things no one could have ever imagined to become true, and they achieve them because of this. It's the kind of good crazy though. Like how a good crazy is doing all these things that no one would ever think to be sane or 'normal', but you do them anyway, and for a good reason. Also, you can turn it around, and you get crazy good. And aren't they always crazy good at what they do?!

Normal: the usual, average, or typical state or condition.
If you want to be extraordinary, you won't be normal. Or ordinary, for that matter. Some of us are chosen to be extraordinary, some of us have no choice, and some of us work our buts of every single day to achieve it. If you want to be extraordinary you have to work harder than the usual person, believe more than the average person, be and do more than the typical person.  Be a little crazy.
Remember, being extraordinary is the victory over yourself, not anyone, or anything else. It's about pushing your limits, being the best you that you can be. I think that's when you really become extraordinary.

In reality, if you want to achieve it, you have to be different. Because extraordinary people are different from ordinary people.
Extraordinary - ordinary = extra
They've got that extra. Extra oumf, extra push, extra hard work, extra drive, extra passion? You decide. Make your own extraordinary.