…try try again. That’s how the old saying goes. Or as Aaliya, may she R.I.P, put it: pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and try again. So here I am, 3 years later, reviving my blog. Hopefully, I will be successful and stick with it this time. I must remember that I am my own worst enemy because I set my own limitations.

If at first you don’t succeed, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and try again. It’s a very profound statement sung to a phat dance beat. Over the years, I have come to realize that there is something more important than talent, intelligence, or skills, and that is tenacity. Pure stubbornness. How many legends have failed time and again, before they finally got it and succeeded? Where would we be without their successes? Many of them seem to have one trait in common: They keep getting up after they’ve been kicked down so many times they’ve lost count. When everyone else says no, they say yes. No wonder the legends are a minority.

It’s easy to give up and say that’s it, I’m done! I will just be happy and content with 8-5 mediocrity, expect less, and live for the weekends; it works for most people. But there’s always that lingering what if? What if I do the unreasonable and have a chance of happiness and great success? What if I live 7 days a week instead of 2?

The pursuit of happiness is not as easy as the term implies. First, there’s that pesky business of figuring out what you want. If you were writing the story of your life, what would it look like? Where would you live? What would you be doing? Who is sleeping beside you? Now the obvious thing would be to say “I’m rich and famous and I live in Madrid/Paris/Caribbean Island/Playboy Mansion with Haifa Wehbe/Brad Pitt” but the answer should start with your core values; what are the most important things to you? Family? Career? Love? Money? Fame? Beauty? Happiness? What would you do for free for the rest of your life? What would your ideal mate be like?

Figuring out what you want is the first challenge. Then, there are all the other responsibilities and fears we have that hold us back from going on a happiness quest. “I can’t because I have to…..” or “I can’t because he/she won’t let me” or even “I can’t because I can’t risk failure” statements. Sometimes they are legitimate and sometimes they are just excuses to compensate for our own fears. The fear of failure is very real. It is possible that you will fail the first time, the second time, and even the 17th time. But what if you succeed? What if the only thing stopping you from being happy, is yourself?

So blame your parents, blame society, or blame your flat feet. In the end, life is what you make of it. Time is shorter than we imagine so let’s live like we’re dying.