For my favorite penguin-shark.

Never let the things you cannot control sour you; do not allow yourself to be affected by situations and circumstances that you have no power to fix, control or change. Those problems can and will consume you until you are no longer only powerless, but hopeless as well. Obviously, that is easier said than done - we can't help but be affected by things we can't control, but it is our reaction to those instances that have the lasting effect. Are we angry, bitter, elated, upset, confused, etc? The situation may make us feel a certain way, but for how long?

People say time changes things but that's not true. Doing things changes things. Not doing them leaves things exactly as they are. Be proactive, but be smart about it. Do your best to figure out WHY a certain situation is affecting you in a certain way. Do not be satisfied with, or put up with, people who are reckless with your emotions. Never settle for anything less than what you deserve. Don't cling to the past. Ever. Don't cling to the comfort it might ensure or the security it seems to promise for there is ALWAYS a reason why your past never made it to your future. You and I are both firm in our belief that everything happens for a reason. If things happen that change your mindset or your life, let it happen. Dream what you want to dream, go where you want to go, be what you want to be. You only have one life (solo se vive una vez!!!! thank you Google Translate) and one chance to do all the things you want to do. "Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." - Dr. Seuss.


A good friend of mine sent me this quote back in college when I was having a rough time. I think it's from Grey's Anatomy...

"A couple of hundred years ago, Benjamin Franklin shared with the world the secret of his success. Never leave that till tomorrow, he said, which you can do today. This is the man who discovered electricity. You think more people would listen to what he had to say. I don't know why we put things off, but if I had to guess, I'd have to say it has a lot to do with fear. Fear of failure, fear of rejection, sometimes the fear is just of making a decision, because what if you're wrong? What if you're making a mistake you can't undo? The early bird catches the worm. A stitch in time saves nine. He who hesitates is lost. We can't pretend we hadn't been told. We've all heard the proverbs, heard the philosophers, heard our grandparents warning us about wasted time, heard the damn poets urging us to seize the day. Still sometimes we have to see for ourselves. We have to make our own mistakes. We have to learn our own lessons. We have to sweep today's possibility under tomorrow's rug until we can't anymore. Until we finally understand for ourselves what Benjamin Franklin really meant. That knowing is better than wondering, that waking is better than sleeping, and even the biggest failure, even the worst, beat the hell out of never trying."


After you are hurt so many times, you become so numb to the world around you and the feelings others try to convey towards you. You don't mean to but you've been so exposed to the poison and deceit that people seem to be blessed with that you just block out all human emotion...including your own. Please don't let it get to that point! :-) You've dealt with so much adversity and so much change; you are better equipped than anyone else I know to deal with it! Nobody said that life would be easy, they just promised that it would be worth it. All your life you are told about the things you cannot do or cannot have or cannot be. All your life they will say you're not good enough or strong enough or talented enough; they will say you're the wrong height or the wrong weight or the wrong type to play this or be this or achieve this. They will tell you no, a thousand times no, until all the no's become meaningless . All your life they will tell you no, quite firmly and very quickly.
But today, right now, you will tell them yes.

I love you.