If anyone attempted to tell my younger self I would someday write a blog titled “Lessons From A Complicated Life”, I would have told them they were absolutely crazy. My life was on the simple path. Not in a million years would my life be full of chaos, grief, or disapointment. Yes, I’d already gone through some life changing events at a young age but I was primarily a rule follower. I was almost never in trouble. I worked hard and did well in school. I gave my best to everything I did and usually was near the top of the pursuit at hand. Life had a simple formula – do well in school, go to college, get married, find a good job, work until around 60, and live the rest of your life in peace and comfort.

What I didn’t take into account was how little control you actually have in your own life. As I came to learn, people and their actions, influenced by the situation of the moment, have the most control in what occurs. This isn’t to say your actions and reactions carry no weight. Every time I see someone who is always in trouble, it is almost always because of their own poor actions and reactions. Often times the initial issue is not their fault. The issue is merely a collision of someone else’s poor actions and the individual which leads to a bad situation. However, the individual in question responds to the interaction outside their control with poor actions and reactions of their own. This snowballs into a scenario where some people can never find their way out.

However, if you maintain your integrity, keep trying to do the right thing, and keep moving in the positive direction of good actions and reactions; you won’t snowball and will get up regardless of what people and life throw at you. This defines my life. Every time I got up, I was stronger. Every time I got up stronger, life hit me harder. It wasn’t in strength that I won. It was only after decades of fighting that I finally surrendered the struggle to God, life changed, and I was victorious. This change was not of the physical but of the mind and it is everything. All the people and circumstances were the same but I was alive again.

There is a lot more to say, this is just the beginning. I’ve gained a lot of knowledge on this journey whether it be of the every day or a rarity; of this earth or above. I look forward to unpacking it with you in detail.

– The Old Man