and the bad it holds, you should commit to leaving it behind you, adopting healthier behaviors and perspectives, and moving ahead in a more positive direction. This may also require forgiving those who wronged you, and even forgiving yourself for your mistakes or foolish and self-destructive actions.
Remember, to get better, you have to be better. You have to clean up your act if you want to clean up your life. I’m working on that now and I anticipate working on it the rest of my life. I don’t expect to achieve perfection, but I’m determined to make it my target so I’ll keep striving each day, month and year.
I try not to have regrets because it’s important to keep looking ahead, but I know in my heart that there were many years when I could have done more with my life. I’ve had a lot of opportunities that I didn’t make the most of. I wasted way too much time partying, getting drunk and getting high on one drug or another.
I was carrying on a terrible family tradition. I have friends, including some of my fellow BSB members, who grew up in families where the emphasis was on things like faith and education. Honestly, I didn’t know those sort of families existed until I met upstanding people like BSB members Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson.
DON’T BE STUBBORN LIKE ME.
In the pages ahead, I’ll tell you more about these two cousins. They are humble guys who’d be the first to assure you that they aren’t perfect. They’d probably even say they’ve made mistakes in life too. I look up to them and admire them because, for the most part, they’ve built on the strong foundations, principles and values their parents wisely provided them.
RISING ABOVE
While my parents didn’t teach me much in the way of values and life principles, I did learn those things from reading books and witnessing the examples of friends like Kevin and Brian. It wasn’t until my mid-twenties that I began to see how important it was to have guideposts to live by. I could’ve avoided a lot of problems and been spared many war wounds if I’d been taught them at a younger age. If you haven’t found your own values and principles to live by yet, please learn from my mistakes. Don’t be stubborn like me. Set guidelines for yourself. They could very well save your life.
Without them, I became a product of my environment. But at least now, I’m determined not to be a victim of that environment. I am committed to rising above the life I was handed, so I can create the life I want. You can do the same. You have the power to choose how you will spend the rest of your time on this earth.
Are you like me in that you’ve wasted too much time drinking and doing drugs? If so, you can change all of that by figuring out why those vices seemed like a such good idea in the first place, then deciding you don’t believe any of the myths that those bad habits were built on anymore.
Maybe you haven’t been motivated to go after your dream job. Or maybe you are in a relationship that hasn’t worked out. Think about the last time you were truly happy and excited about your present and your future. What was going on then? How can you get that back? What could you be doing that would fulfill you and make you want to jump out of bed every day? Look within yourself and ask what’s kept you from making a change, then look for new and more powerful ways to motivate yourself to take a positive step toward that change. Next, we’ll look at one very good way to do that. Once you’ve figured out what has made you weak and unable to claim the life you want, you’ll be ready to identify and build on your strengths.
PERSONAL NOTES
CHAPTER THREE
MY BSB FAMILY
M USIC WAS A great escape from the chaos at home when I was a kid. I had a small radio with silver knobs and a chrome casing. At night, I listened to rock and R&B stations and somehow the songs made me feel better. One of my favorites was “Bizarre Love Triangle” by New Order. I
Remember, to get better, you have to be better. You have to clean up your act if you want to clean up your life. I’m working on that now and I anticipate working on it the rest of my life. I don’t expect to achieve perfection, but I’m determined to make it my target so I’ll keep striving each day, month and year.
I try not to have regrets because it’s important to keep looking ahead, but I know in my heart that there were many years when I could have done more with my life. I’ve had a lot of opportunities that I didn’t make the most of. I wasted way too much time partying, getting drunk and getting high on one drug or another.
I was carrying on a terrible family tradition. I have friends, including some of my fellow BSB members, who grew up in families where the emphasis was on things like faith and education. Honestly, I didn’t know those sort of families existed until I met upstanding people like BSB members Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson.
DON’T BE STUBBORN LIKE ME.
In the pages ahead, I’ll tell you more about these two cousins. They are humble guys who’d be the first to assure you that they aren’t perfect. They’d probably even say they’ve made mistakes in life too. I look up to them and admire them because, for the most part, they’ve built on the strong foundations, principles and values their parents wisely provided them.
RISING ABOVE
While my parents didn’t teach me much in the way of values and life principles, I did learn those things from reading books and witnessing the examples of friends like Kevin and Brian. It wasn’t until my mid-twenties that I began to see how important it was to have guideposts to live by. I could’ve avoided a lot of problems and been spared many war wounds if I’d been taught them at a younger age. If you haven’t found your own values and principles to live by yet, please learn from my mistakes. Don’t be stubborn like me. Set guidelines for yourself. They could very well save your life.
Without them, I became a product of my environment. But at least now, I’m determined not to be a victim of that environment. I am committed to rising above the life I was handed, so I can create the life I want. You can do the same. You have the power to choose how you will spend the rest of your time on this earth.
Are you like me in that you’ve wasted too much time drinking and doing drugs? If so, you can change all of that by figuring out why those vices seemed like a such good idea in the first place, then deciding you don’t believe any of the myths that those bad habits were built on anymore.
Maybe you haven’t been motivated to go after your dream job. Or maybe you are in a relationship that hasn’t worked out. Think about the last time you were truly happy and excited about your present and your future. What was going on then? How can you get that back? What could you be doing that would fulfill you and make you want to jump out of bed every day? Look within yourself and ask what’s kept you from making a change, then look for new and more powerful ways to motivate yourself to take a positive step toward that change. Next, we’ll look at one very good way to do that. Once you’ve figured out what has made you weak and unable to claim the life you want, you’ll be ready to identify and build on your strengths.
PERSONAL NOTES
CHAPTER THREE
MY BSB FAMILY
M USIC WAS A great escape from the chaos at home when I was a kid. I had a small radio with silver knobs and a chrome casing. At night, I listened to rock and R&B stations and somehow the songs made me feel better. One of my favorites was “Bizarre Love Triangle” by New Order. I
Similar Books
