A man one day was walking down the street and he passed this porch where some people were talking and there was this dog that was moaning and groaning. He was curious as to why the dog was moaning and groaning, and he went back and asked the owner,”Why is the dog moaning and groaning?” The guy said, “Because he is laying on a nail.” “Well, why won’t he get off?” He said, “It’s not hurting bad enough for him to get off…just hurting bad enough for him to moan and groan.”

– Les Brown

Les Brown, a very famous motivational speaker, was in my headphones today and he made me say out loud “I refuse to die and unlived life.” He then went into a short segment that was very similar to my definition of hell and made me realize that I was given these specific and special gifts…by not making them come alive, they die with me. I have to make these things shine as bright as they can.

A long time ago, I saw an old lady stand in front of a group of people and tell everyone that she had lived her life feeling worthless because her grandmother had hit her with a spoon when she was 5. Everything after that point, she felt that she wasn’t good enough…and if there was anything that could confirm this belief, it would. I looked on, astonished, and I knew that I had to turn things around.

You have to be hungry. You have to want it bad. Most of all, you have to eat all the “No’s” that are told to you like vitamins. Feed off of them. Because no one else can live your life but you. “You can’t get out of life alive. You have to die to leave here.” Find something worth dying for and then live for it. That is the way I am going to go out. All engines burning.

Evan Sanders
The Better Man Project