That's me with my wife and my niece on board a big beautiful plane about to cross the Atlantic Ocean. As you can see, my wife is peacefully closing her eyes enjoying a moment of rest, my niece is having fun just hanging out with her awesome uncle and aunt and well, there I am, trying to hide my fear and anxiety with a lame, no teeth, smile. Yep, I really don't like to fly. I've flown a lot over the last ten years or so. I couldn't even really tell you exactly how many times I've flown over the Atlantic. It's quite a few. Even with all that experience; all those uneventful, smooth flights under my belt, I still get nervous. Remember Bob from the classic movie "What About Bob?" As he walks outside of his apartment onto the streets of NYC he says out loud to himself, "I feel good, I feel great, I feel wonderful..." That's pretty much what I look like when I'm about to get on to a plane. I get my music pumping and say to myself "I feel good, I feel great, I feel wonderful." I put my head down and focus on my little video game and just hope the flight seems quicker than it really is. It rarely does. 

Everyone has dreams. Everyone has destinations in their mind they want to get to. Sometimes along the way, we encounter difficulties. We think to ourselves, "wow, if this is really what I'm supposed to do it wouldn't be this hard," or maybe "is my dream really worth it?" Yes! Your dream is worth it!

Maybe your issue isn't with flying. Maybe you have an issue with public speaking, or doing something your family thinks you're crazy for doing. I don't know. You know. I'm willing to bet though, somewhere, somehow, sometime, along your journey, you will face something that will scare the heck out of you. You won't want to keep going forward. You have the dream in your heart, but it just seems too scary. Don't give up! Put on your seatbelt, hold someone's hand and keep going! The world needs you! Don't let fear stop you from getting to your destination! You can do it! If I can fly across the Atlantic you can too! 

I've always loved Superman. When I was little I would dress up in my Superman pajamas and go outside and pretend the sprinklers were laser beams. I would put my hand out and stop those lasers from hurting anything. Of course I would always get really wet and dirty. Thinking about it now, I'm surprised my mom never really got mad at me about that. Thanks mom. Anyway, I always loved Superman, but there has long been a part of me that maybe liked Batman a little bit more. I mean, Superman is an alien, I could never really be him, no matter how hard I try. It is possible to be Batman though. With enough money and some awesome training someone really could be Batman. Maybe that would make a good infomercial? For only 5 easy payments of $599 you too can be a Dark Knight. Anyway, I digress.

You know, none of us could ever become Superman, but according to the movie Superman II, Superman could become one of us. Remember that one? It was pretty good. Superman was in love with Lois Lane and in order to be with her, he had to relinquish his superpowers and become a human. There's some obvious Messianic parallels here, but that's not really want I want to talk about today.

Up until this point, Superman was not like any other human. He didn't bleed. He didn't hurt. He could run fast. Leap over tall buildings with a single bound (yeah, Superman was a leaper before he was a flyer.) He was practically invincible. When Superman fell in love with Lois, he was so focused on his love for her, that he was willing to do anything. He had a dream and he was willing to do whatever it took to fulfill his dream. I think maybe Superman didn't think this one all the way through though.

I think it was the next day after he got rid of his powers that he finds himself at a little diner, grinning from ear to ear, with Lois his love by his side. He comes out of the bathroom and finds that some jerk has taken his seat. Well, you remember what happens. These two guys get into a fight and Mr. mild-mannered, Clark Kent does not win. In fact, he gets beat up up pretty good.

Superman had to give up his powers for his one true love. He quickly found out that being human ain't easy. Humans can get hurt. Humans have to deal with anxiety because we can get hurt. The world can be a scary and dangerous place for us humans. 

So what's my point? In order to succeed at pretty much anything you have to get rid of your protections. You have to become vulnerable. You can't have love without the possibility of getting hurt. You can't be 100% secure and take a risk at the same time. You can't pursue your dreams without the possibility of failing. It's part of the deal. What have you been unwilling to give up to pursue your one true love? You can't get out of it. You can't avoid it. Being human ain't easy, but it's worth it.

Check out my other posts.

People wait around wishin too much. You got to get up and go baby. Stop waiting for a big break. If you're a writer, then start writin. If you're an actor, start actin. If you sing, sing in the shower until someone hears you. Do your thing. Don't wait for outside validation before you do. Just do. Don't wait for your mama or your friend or your wife to make you feel good about yourself. Get up and go! Training is good. Experience is good. But stop using those as excuses to not do. Go out and do! Now!

Of course, at some point, if you receive ZERO outside validation for something you've been doing for awhile (awhile being three years according to Twain), then in the words of Sinbad on the classic movie Houseguest, "If at first you don't succeed, give up and try somethin else." Seriously. Some folks need to check themselves before they wreck themselves. I will never be a WWE wrestler and that's ok. 

Check out my other posts.

I got up way too early this morning to go downtown and support my wife in the Dallas Rock n' Roll half marathon. It was a gorgeous day. I always enjoy going downtown and walking the streets in between the tall, big buildings. Even though I'm a skinny guy with a mustache, I always feel like Batman when I'm downtown. I even keep my eyes a little more wide open in case I see any crime that needs to be dealt with. 

It amazes me to see the masses of people that run in these things. They pay fifty dollars or whatever it is to take part in what seems to me to be an almost religious experience. As runners whizzed by me while I walked down Elm Street, something occurred to me. I was traveling on the same street as the runners and yet I wasn't really in the race. If an outsider had been watching what was going on they may have thought I was in the race as well, albeit slower than everyone else, but I wasn't. I was just an observer. 

You see, the real competitors had to sign up and pay money to participate. They had to train and sacrifice to take part in this event. It doesn't matter what the situation looked like. I wasn't as involved as it may have appeared. These people were running 13.1 miles. That's a long stretch. I was just walking around.

Ok, so what's my point? I think I have two actually.

1) If you want the medal, you have to work. 
It's not enough to just be in the vicinity of successful people. That's nice. That's motivating. But you, yourself, have to get up and do something. Nobody can run your race for you. YOU have to do it! Just cause you're in the race doesn't mean you're in the race.

2) Watch out for people who show up for photo ops. 
I looked like I belonged. I may have even looked like I was in the race. But I wasn't. I hadn't paid the dues. I hadn't trained. I just showed up. 

There are no shortcuts in life. You have to pay your dues. You have to train. You have to be in the race to be in the race.

I did do a good job cheering on my girl though. She did awesome! And it was pretty cool to see Blues Traveler live.

Check out my other posts.