Four years ago, Kimanzi Constable would have not been able to say he’d lived a life of no regrets. He’s made a point of changing that. By writing.
—
If I had died four years ago, I would have died with one major regret. I had big dreams, but I would wake up everyday and talk myself out of doing anything with them. How could a bread man from Milwaukee change the world with his writing?
I love to write. My earliest memory of writing was in second grade when I wrote my first love letter. I can’t tell you if it was good or not, but the stick figure drawings were killer.
As I grew up I wrote novels, poems, songs, even the inauguration speech I would give one day when I was president. I was fearless in my writing back then and I had no doubt writing was my future.
◊♦◊
I wrote consistently until I was seventeen years old. I grew up in a strict home, and at that age I didn’t feel like following the rules. At seventeen, my parents said if you don’t want to follow the rules, get out, so that’s what I did.
I was homeless for six months, living on my friend’s couch. During this time my dream of writing died.
During this failure I got a simple email from a young man saying my writing was helping his life. That was all I needed.
|
I got “jobs” to pay the bills and settled for a “good enough” life. It wasn’t until the death of my father 15 years later that I found writing again. During one of the lowest points of my life, with nowhere else to turn, I fell back in love with my first love.
I tried to start writing again to make money, but that was a colossal failure. During this failure I got a simple email from a young man saying my writing was helping his life. That was all I needed.
◊♦◊
I don’t write for money. I don’t write to get noticed. I don’t care if no one reads this. (OK, that’s not true, I want a FEW people to read this.)
I write to prove that anyone, anywhere, in any situation, can live the life of their dreams. I hope my little words are the inspiration that motivates them to take action.
I write to share my story. The story of how I went from living on my friends couch to living out my dreams. The story of how an ordinary guy could lose 170 pounds, quit a job he hated, and move to Maui, Hawaii.
I write because every fiber in my being has to get these words out of my head.
|
I write not to highlight what I’ve done, but to show what’s possible if you believe in yourself.
I write to challenge all the things people tell us we have to do. I write to show the world that there isn’t a cookie cutter answer that fits all of us; we all have to find OUR OWN truth.
I write to make my haters mad that I haven’t believed what they try to tell me I should do with my life. I write to get all my doubts and fears out of my head, and out there on paper where I can see that they don’t make sense.
I write to spread hope, and give the everyday, ordinary person hope that there is more to life.
I write for the fathers who are worried about their children’s future. I write for the man who wants to live life by his own design and create true freedom in life.
Even if I didn’t make a single penny I would still write. I write because every fiber in my being has to get these words out of my head.
I write because I want to be one of the “crazy ones.”
“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.” ~Steve Jobs
And because I want to say I lived a life with no regrets.
—
Photo: Flickr/Jason Howie
That’s all the impetus I needed. Starting today, I will write again!
I’m glad it can help Marian 🙂
Another great one.
Life is also too long to die with regrets.
😉
-Derek
Thank you sir 🙂