Journey

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson once considered himself to be a failure. He played football in college, and his dream was to become a professional football player. He entered the draft, but he was never picked. He pursued his dream by joining a Canadian league but was cut. In some of his inspirational speeches he talks about how he had no career and $7 in his pocket. Today, he is estimated to be worth a net of $280 million. "The Rock" was considered to be one of the most successful wrestlers in his era, but he left that career to pursue another passion to become a prosperous actor and producer. While I am not personally interested in professional wrestling or the majority of the movies Dwayne Johnson has been a part of, I admire his drive to change his life.  One of the things Dwayne Johnson talks about is that success and failure are not sudden moments in our lives. He says that we move in the direction of success or failure with each step we take, each second that ...

Almost exactly one month ago I made a plan to kill myself. I had the means necessary and had every intention of carrying that plan out. I knew the details of how effective the method usually is, how long it takes, and what the pain factor would be. I knew about how long it would be before someone would look for me. I was ready. At one o'clock in the morning I received two text messages from someone. I had sent that person a couple texts the day before but wasn't sure if they all went through. So, either one of them went through late, or the person's response came through late. Either way, when I woke up that morning at 5:25 AM, the morning I planned to commit suicide, I had two text messages from someone checking in on me. I read them but did not really process fully what they said. About 5 minutes before carrying out my plan I checked my phone. The text messages happened to still be open on my screen. I read them. "Ride the wave. The intensity will pass. Anything ...