Why Self-Care is CRUCIAL!

November 2, 2019 ~ Donald "Nugget" Arteaga ~ 1 Comment

🛑 𝙄’𝙑𝙀 𝙃𝘼𝘿 𝙀𝙉𝙊𝙐𝙂𝙃 𝙊𝙁 𝙉𝙀𝙒 𝙔𝙊𝙍𝙆!!! 🛑

It was only 3 hours ago the clock hit noon. 🕛 But I had already made the decision: Time for me to head out of New York City, and time for me to head back to my AirBnb in New Jersey to call it quits for the day. 👍

Have you ever had a moment where you’re in the middle of something and the realization hits you that you are BURNED OUT? 😪 That moment hit me this morning!

I had gone back into the city to do some more sightseeing, and then…

🚧 ＢＡＭ！ＲＯＡＤＢＬＯＣＫ！🚧

I had been ignoring the messages my body was trying to tell me the past day. 📬 But now they had reached the surface of my mind and it became clear as day: I needed to rest! 😴

Reminding myself of the marathon tomorrow, I knew this was the best option. While you bet your bottom-dollar I’ll be at the starting line tomorrow, I can’t be there with less than a half-tank of gas! ⛽

🌟 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧’𝐭 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝟏𝟎𝟎% 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝟏𝟎𝟎% 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞! 🌟

So, I’m taking some Me Time the rest of the day. To introspect. To refocus. To be present again with my thoughts, away from the excessive noise of the city. 🧘‍♂️

To be fair, I’ve heard over a couple dozen cars honking outside my window as I write this but it’s better than nothing! 😅

If there’s one thing I’ve learned traveling so much is you need to make sure you’re taking care of yourself. ❤️ When you travel, you are stepping outside your regular routines, adapting to your new surroundings, and that will take time. You may even at times be required to simply improvise. 😅

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐁𝐄𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐃𝐎𝐢𝐧𝐠. 🧘‍♂️

That’s why I’m back at my AirBnb now. 𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐍𝐄𝐄𝐃 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓. 🛑

I got to tell you: it can be the greatest form of self-love you give yourself today! ❤️

🛑 𝙄’𝙑𝙀 𝙃𝘼𝘿 𝙀𝙉𝙊𝙐𝙂𝙃 𝙊𝙁 𝙉𝙀𝙒 𝙔𝙊𝙍𝙆!!! 🛑

Now that I’m giving myself the time to introspect, I’m able to take a step back and reflect since I arrived here. I’ve had some great moments in New York so far, especially ones with local friends of mine. ☺️

But even more, I’ve experienced many opportunities for growth. These may also be referred to as “problems”, but they only remain problems so long as you don’t grow from them. 🎁

As much as I may not have initially enjoyed experiencing these things, I’m grateful I did so I could learn from them:

🧳 Not knowing how to fit my luggage through a train’s turnstile

🎫 Not knowing how to purchase bus tickets

🚌 Getting on the wrong bus, wasting a bus ticket I bought for another

💸 Rode a bus which only accepted cash and all I had was my credit card

👣 Not anticipating how much I’d use buses, trains, and my 2 feet to get around

🦵 Not anticipating how much my leg muscles would be aching after a single day

Perhaps some of you, my urban-dwelling friends, are reading this list and laughing at how trivial it sounds. 🤣 I don’t blame you! I was raised in the quiet suburbs of Chicago most of my life, so I understand how silly these will sound to some. 😅

But this post isn’t about throwing a pity party or talking to you about first-world problems. It’s to remind you that while we may at times purposefully take on goals which challenge us, like running a Marathon, we’re always going to run into goals we never planned on taking on. 😲

🌟 𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐮𝐩𝐨𝐧 𝐮𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐢𝐭, 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐟 𝐢𝐭𝐬 “𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭” 𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐨𝐭. 🌟

And our willingness to take on the goals we didn’t ask for is where the greatest opportunities for growth will come in! 🏋️‍♂️

And so I lay here, in my AirBnb bed, thinking about all that’s happened. I smile looking back on it all, how my mind initially magnified those “problems”, how I was aware my mind was magnifying them, and how I focused on solutions nonetheless. I look back and laugh. 🤭

🏁 𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐲. 🏁

Soon after, you’ll be asking yourself: “So…what’s next?!” 💪

How We Can POSSESS Our Beliefs!

October 24, 2019 ~ Donald "Nugget" Arteaga ~ Leave a comment

📌 The Optimist believes in the best for the future. Therefore their mind tends to focus on hope and faith.

📌 The Pessimist believes in the worst for the future. Therefore their mind tends to focus on what’s wrong with the world.

📌 The Realist believes in seeing things as they are, not better or worse. Therefore their mind tends to focus on the facts, not the stories about the facts.

📌 The Cynic believes in the selfishness of others. Therefore their mind tends to focus on distrusting other people’s “good” intentions, regardless of the truth.

What do all these categories have in common? They are all ways of looking at life. I’m not saying which is more “right” or “wrong”; they just are ways of seeing the world. And each outlook will produce a different experience of living. 🙌

🌟 Our outlook constantly colors and shapes how we perceive life. 🌟

Take an example of people who get in a car accident.

📌 The Optimist hopes the people in the accident are all okay.

📌 The Pessimist expects most, if not every person in the accident has died.

📌 The Realist measures the probability that each people in the accident will live or die.

📌 The Cynic assumes the people in the accident were intentionally careless or, perhaps, intentionally caused it to collect insurance money.

🌟 We don’t see life as it is. We see life as a reflection of our worldviews. 🌟

Carl Jung talked about how ideas can possess people, rather than people possessing ideas. And when a worldview possesses a person, the person is no longer in control. The worldview itself speaks through the person. 🗣️

Having beliefs and worldviews aren’t intrinsically bad. We all have them and need them to function. It’s when we lose our self-control at the expense of our beliefs and worldviews when they become a problem. 👍

So how can we check if our beliefs and worldviews possess us?

📍 Acknowledge most of our beliefs are not even our own. We’ve picked them up over time, had them conditioned into us by our environments, and embraced these subjective truths as our own.

📍 Challenge our beliefs. Question how they could in fact be wrong. Dare our egos to poke holes in them, as much as our egos don’t want to. Question our ego’s need to hold onto them.

📍 Seek other points of view that challenge our beliefs. It doesn’t mean you have to agree or support them. You can empathize with opposing beliefs and viewpoints and still disagree with them.

The Most VALUABLE Skill to Build! (PERSONAL)

September 24, 2019September 24, 2019 ~ Donald "Nugget" Arteaga ~ Leave a comment

🥇 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗠𝗢𝗦𝗧 𝗩𝗔𝗟𝗨𝗔𝗕𝗟𝗘 𝗦𝗞𝗜𝗟𝗟 𝗧𝗢 𝗕𝗨𝗜𝗟𝗗!!! 🥇

It was April. I had all my flights booked for my trip to Scotland. I was all set! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

I got to the Chicago O’Hare airport. Check! I checked in and boarded my flight. Check! I landed in London. Check! No sweat! 😅

Next it was time for for my flight to Scotland! I went to the airport check-in kiosk and typed in my ticket confirmation number. ⌨️

“ERROR”. 🚫

Weird! I tried again. “ERROR”. 🚫 It told me to go to the Customer Service desk for further assistance.

I was baffled! I looked at my plane ticket and then at my phone. I was definitely on time to catch the flight. What was going on?! ⁉️

I then checked the date on the ticket and at my phone…OH NO! 😱

MY FLIGHT LEFT 24 HOURS AGO!!! I HAD BOOKED A FLIGHT FOR THE WRONG DAY!!! ⌛

“𝑴𝒚 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒊𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒇𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒎𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒖𝒑! 𝑴𝒚 𝒘𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒆 𝒔𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒅𝒖𝒍𝒆!” 🤬

My body tensed. My breathing went shallow. My face squinted. What now…?! 😓

🥇 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗠𝗢𝗦𝗧 𝗩𝗔𝗟𝗨𝗔𝗕𝗟𝗘 𝗦𝗞𝗜𝗟𝗟 𝗧𝗢 𝗕𝗨𝗜𝗟𝗗!!! 🥇

If I had to tell you the #1 skill that has made the greatest impact on my life, it would be the one I’m about to share with you all. 🙌

This skill has everything to do with what’s shaped me into the person I am today. It has everything to do with how I gained control over my life. This skill I’d even argue is the most humanistic skill I can share to anyone! ❤️

What am I talking about? Do you really want to know? I ask because honestly quite a few people won’t want to know. Why? Because they’ve heard about this skill before and dismissed it in the past. 🧹

Because I’m talking about: Personal Responsibility. That’s right! If I had to tell you the #1 skill you should develop for your life, it is THIS! 🎯

That being said, what is Personal Responsibility? 📖

📌 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗼𝗻.

📌 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘆𝗼𝘂.

📌 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗳𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝘀𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝗻𝗲.

📌 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱.

📌 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲, 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗲.

And I can already hear the critics of personal responsibility shouting from the rooftops! ✊

“𝐖𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧: 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬, 𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬! 😡

“𝐁𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞! 𝐘𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐦-𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠!” 😡

“𝐈’𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐚𝐥𝐬!” 😡

To clarify, personal responsibility is NOT about carrying the weight of the entire world on your shoulders. I don’t expect anyone to do that, not even myself! 😊

Bad things happen to good people, no doubt. There is injustice and corruption in the world, yes I’m with you on that too! 👍

But that’s not what this skill is about.

Personal responsibility is about taking the reins on our lives, being the Driver and not the Passenger of our circumstances.

📍 Yes, we are not responsible for things like where we are born. And personal responsibility says regardless of where we started in life that we work with the limited resources we’ve been given.

📍 Yes, bad things happen to good people. And personal responsibility says in spite of the bad things we choose how we respond to them and still find ways to move forward.

📍 Yes, people and events outside our control may stop us from achievements in your life. And personal responsibility says: “They will TRY, but they won’t stop me from reaching my destination!”

It’s NOT about being 100% responsible for everything and everyone. It’s about being 100% responsible for how you experience your life, that it’s never to be by accident, that you always take a conscious role in creating it.

In developing personal responsibility, you give yourself the gift of self-love. “𝙉𝙤 𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩’𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙊𝙪𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙒𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙, 𝙄’𝙢 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙝 𝙚𝙣𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙩𝙤 𝙖𝙡𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙡 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙮 𝙄𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙧 𝙒𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙!”

🥇 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗠𝗢𝗦𝗧 𝗩𝗔𝗟𝗨𝗔𝗕𝗟𝗘 𝗦𝗞𝗜𝗟𝗟 𝗧𝗢 𝗕𝗨𝗜𝗟𝗗!!! 🥇

…What now?! I was standing at the the airport kiosk with my luggage in one hand, my phone in the other, and trying to think of what to do. 😓

My mind filled up with questions. 𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒔𝒐 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒑𝒊𝒅? 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒇 𝑰’𝒎 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒄𝒌 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆? 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒇 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒚 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝑺𝒄𝒐𝒕𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅? 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝑰 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒂 𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒎? 𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒅?

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath…and Personal Responsibility crept back into my mind! 🔉

“𝘿𝙚𝙨𝙥𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙞𝙧𝙘𝙪𝙢𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙨, 𝙄 𝙖𝙢 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙣𝙤𝙬. 𝙁𝙤𝙘𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙢𝙨 𝙬𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙨𝙤𝙡𝙫𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜. 𝙄𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙢𝙮 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙥𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙡 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙪𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙘𝙪𝙨 𝙤𝙣 𝙨𝙤𝙡𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨. 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙥𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚, 𝙨𝙤 𝙄 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙥𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙡𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣.” 💪

The kiosk had mentioned the Customer Service desk, so I went there. I spoke to the lady at the desk, I told her what happened, and I asked her what the most upcoming flights were to Scotland. ✈️

Sure enough, there was an available flight only a few hours later! The lady said there would be an additional fee to transfer the ticket. At first my body tensed up again, but Personal Responsibility once again took over! “𝙄𝙩’𝙨 𝙖 𝙗𝙞𝙩 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙥𝙖𝙮, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙥𝙖𝙮𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙢𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙤𝙣 𝙨𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙙𝙪𝙡𝙚.”

So in the end I got to Scotland only a couple hours later than my original schedule, and I got to meet my long-time MySpace friend Kris Nimbley for the first time! 😃

🥇 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗠𝗢𝗦𝗧 𝗩𝗔𝗟𝗨𝗔𝗕𝗟𝗘 𝗦𝗞𝗜𝗟𝗟 𝗧𝗢 𝗕𝗨𝗜𝗟𝗗!!! 🥇

Take time to invite Personal Responsibility into your life. The more you keep inviting him, the quicker he comes back to help you take the reins!

Unfortunately I know this post may fall on deaf ears for some people. Some people in fact don’t want to take responsibility. Why? Because it takes work to practice. It takes time to develop. It’s an ongoing muscle that needs to continue being conditioned. 🏋️‍♂️

Even more, personal responsibility requires a person to give up a habit they simply may not want to give up: blaming. We live in a culture that’s filled with blaming and pointing the finger. This behavior is reinforced by other fellow Blamers, and rather than any side take some sort of responsibility it becomes a Blaming Party. “𝑰𝒕’𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒖𝒍𝒕, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒚𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒚 𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔!” ☝️

I confess, I’ve not been entirely blameless myself. There are times I’ve slipped up and blamed where I shouldn’t have. I don’t expect you to be perfect either starting out. But with time and practice, it will improve! Compared to where I was a while ago, I’ve come a very long way!

👍 I didn’t lose 80 pounds because I kept blaming fast food for my obesity. It’s because I took responsibility over my food habits.

👍 I didn’t make peace with my sexuality because I kept blaming others for not accepting me. It’s because I took responsibility to develop self-love and acceptance within myself.

👍 I didn’t make the progress I have the past few years because I kept blaming others for where I was in life. It’s because I took responsibility for wherever I was and to always find solutions to keep moving forward.

🌟 Blame is the excuse for inaction. Personal responsibility is the excuse for action. 🌟

I hope you found this post helpful! Personal responsibility has been a gift to my life, and I hope it is for yours too! 🎁

I am taking responsibility once again to run the NYC Marathon in November! It’s my FIRST marathon, and I’ve been training for over 10 weeks! I am dedicated to crossing that finish line! 🏁

I’m running with Team for Kids to raise funds for youth fitness programs nationwide! My goal is to raise $2,500, and I know we all can make this happen! Please share this post so others can be a part of impacting tomorrow’s adults! 😊

DONATE HERE!!! ❤️

Why Separation is EMPOWERING!

September 20, 2019 ~ Donald "Nugget" Arteaga ~ Leave a comment

Take the example of a bow, an arrow, and a target. 🏹

You’ve practiced for months. You’ve spent countless hours shooting arrows. And today is The Day, the day you decide you’ve practiced long enough to hit the bullseye multiple consecutive times! 🎯

But somehow, you’re not at all nervous. You’re not even worried! You’ve practiced a lot, that’s for sure. But there’s one valuable lesson you’ve also learned in your life which rids you of needless worry…

🌟 Separate the things which are in your control from the things not in your control. 🌟

To be kind to another person is within your control. To know if the person will be kind in return is not in your control. ❤️

To tell the truth is in your control. To know if telling the truth will benefit you in your current situation is out of your control. 🗣️

To keep a promise is in your control. To know if someone else will keep their promise is out of your control. 🤝

To practice, to prepare, to aim, and shoot an arrow at a target is in your control. But to know if the arrow will hit the bullseye once it’s left your bow is not in your control. 🏹

The problem is we so often put focus on what’s not in our control. So much of the news we read, hear, and absorb today are about other people, other events, and things which are not at all in our control. 📺

So then we focus on the arrow even though it’s already left our bows. We focus on all the arrows of others even though they have nothing to do with our everyday lives. In doing so, we’re causing ourselves needless worry and anxiety! 😫

So what then? We must flip our focuses back to what we can control, not just for our own mental health but for the impact we make by doing so. We focus on being a good person. We focus on setting the example. We focus on taking action on things within our control. 💪

Because once you make a habit to start separating these two, placing all your energy into what’s in your control, you will save yourself a ton of time and stress! ❤️