“I would look for examples of men of my age who were already dead. And I was tormented by the thought that I might not have time to accomplish my task. What task? I had no idea. Frankly, was what I was doing worth continuing?”
“I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil and effort, of labor and strife; to preach that highest form of success which comes, not to the man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does not shrink from danger, from hardship, or from bitter toil, and who out of these wins the splendid ultimate triumph.”
Roosevelt, Theodore. 1900. The Strenuous Life; Essays and Addresses
Get a partner who's matured enough to educate you. Mature enough to handle your shits. Mature enough to accept your flaw. Remember, looks are everywhere but a person with a good mindset is rare.
“Fortunately there is gin, the sole glimmer in this darkness. Do you feel the golden, copper-coloured light it kindles in you? I like walking through the city of an evening in the warmth of gin.”
Listen without interrupting
Share without pretending
Speak without accusing
Enjoy without complaint
Give without sparing
Trust without wavering
Pray without ceasing
Forgive without punishing
Answer without arguing
Promise without forgetting.
'So here is why I write what I do: We all have futures. We all have pasts. We all have stories. And we all, every single one of us, no matter who we are and no matter what's been taken from us or what poison we've internalized or how hard we've had to work to expel it—we all get to dream.'
“…it is worth while from time to time to take a look backward, and to consider what those endured who went before us. To most of us our own life is almost the only struggle worth considering, and wrapped up in our personal affairs, we do not remember the stupendous difficulties faced by our forebears, who conquered this country and made possible its development, and the ease and luxury in which we to-day have a part.”
Excerpt from Beyond the Old Frontier ~ written by George Bird Grinnell [originally published – 1913]