Why is this blog here?

I have a secret to let you in on-for 33 years of my life, I've been average. In all honesty, in some areas of my life, I've been below average. Now, people who know me will say that's not true. They would tell you about my academic, musical and athletic success in high school, they would tell you about me going on the TV gameshow Double Dare as a child and winning, and they would point to me receiving a full athletic scholarship to the University of Richmond as clear signs that my life has been anything but average. They would point to the fact that I have a good job with a much better than average salary, friends all over the world, and a loving family, and refute the fact that anything about my life is average.

And you know what? I wouldn't disagree with them, but I never said that my life was average, I said that I'VE been average. I have been blessed beyond all measure to receive, be part of, and experience the things I have in my life. I've been a part of championships in sports and music, I won a junior high school spelling bee, I've been a part of so many great things that it is almost hard to believe.

But, when I'm really honest with myself, when it's late at night and it's just me and my thoughts, I have to admit-although I have worked hard in most all things, I can honestly say that I have NEVER laid it all on the line in anything. Quite honestly, I never really had to. Not school, not sports, not music, not anything. I've been able to glide through life almost exclusively on talent.

I come from a long line of musically and athletically gifted people-that's not opinion, that's just plain fact. Academically, I remember coasting through elementary and junior high school fairly easily, and not running into too much challenge until my sophomore year in high school. Even then, the only classes I had issue with were the ones that did not interest me (see also My College Years). In my career, I work in an arena where being a people person is at a premium, and I thrive in that type of environment, so that has come naturally to me as well. And while I'm not complaining about the gifts the Lord has seen fit to bless me with, because I've never really had anyone to be truly accountable to, it's caused me to develop some very lazy habits.

Up until this point in my life, I was satisfied to choose the blue pill. It's been much easier to be in the middle or on the fringe of the exceptional group, rather than its leader. And since things always came so easy to me, I always assumed that I'd be able to reach all of my dreams and goals SOLELY based on a talent+a little elbow grease=success formula. And even though most people would look at my life and what I've achieved and call me a success story, it PALES in comparison to the life I truly want, and the lifestyle I want to be able to provide for my family.

I've reached a crossroads in my life-the goals and dreams that I have before me are not attainable with talent and a little elbow grease. I've got ">
This blog is my new accountability partner, along with you, and whoever else decides to read it. I'm going to find out the answer to the question "what can I accomplish if I take away all of the preconceived limits, and give life everything I've got?" I've been a slave to mediocrity for too long, my dreams and goals are too big to turn away from. I have spiritual goals, health goals, family goals and financial goals that I absolutely MUST achieve, and this blog is going to capture the entire journey-the hope, the disappointment, the faith, the fear, the victories and defeats. This blog is a journal of what happens in my life after I choose the red pill.