The finish line is that goal, the light at the end of the tunnel. It is all consuming. The only thing that matters.

But don't forget the steps, the people, and the time that are needed to arrive at the start alive and in once piece.

You're long past the point of feeling warm. It's time to get out of the water and head home to a warm dinner and sleep like everyone else. The only other person left is the lifeguard, and even she is ready to go.

You turn around and look at the clock; it is time to go. You put your head down and push off for another set.

At 5:00am, when it's dark and cold and the rest of the world is still asleep, you start to question what the hell you are doing. There is no clear cut path to an end, no right and wrong steps to get there. Only a blind faith that if you do everything right, and get very lucky, it somehow, might turn out right in the end.

The thing is, and I don't think you know this yet, but you've already made it. You're living the dream, doing something you love. How far you go from here doesn't matter, as long as you are moving forward. You could fail now, or keep pushing on, but in the end you'll realize, in a day, a month, a year down the road, that you did all you could. You gave it a shot, and left nothing up to chance.

Regardless of where it ends, you'll know that was all you could do. And in the end that's all you can ask for, the chance to chase a dream, and to learn just a little bit more about yourself.

Today was a good day.

I've felt alone a great deal recently. Trying to drown this out I spent the better half of last week searching for the answer in all the wrong places, only to realize I was in fact looking in all of the wrong places.

There are times when we feel small and alone. It is now, more than ever, that you need something to believe in, to look towards in the dark moments, to grab onto.

"The fun is in discovering something truely elemental about yourself.

The fun is in discovering that the limits you thought existed were merely made up, and that you are better, stronger, smarter, faster than you ever thought you were.

The fun is riding that redline, that razor's edge between holding it together just long enough to reach the goal, and falling apart in a spectacular ending.

The fun is being able to look back on those races and realizing that you did indeed find out what you were made of, and you have no regrets about."

You don't need to have someone pat you on the back and tell you that you can do it, that everything you are working towards will turn out right at the end of the road. You need someone that believes in you. Frankly, the rest of it doesn't even matter. All of the ability, talent, money; none of that will make a damn bit of difference without a dream, a goal, and the trust that with the proper steps almost anything is possible. Stop digging for the answer, you wont find it because it does not exist. No one can tell you what will happen, and everything in front of you is a blank page waiting to be filled. If you spend your time searching for that answer, your going to wake up thirty years from now and wonder what happened to all of those dreams. Don't let that happen. When you have a good thing in front of you, take it, and don't let it go, you only get so many chances.

Are you going to sit back and watch the lights, or step on to the stage?

To the nights we hardly remember

When everything else is gone, you are left with nothing but the truth

It feels so empty without you around

You want someone to tell you that it's not that bad. Well let me tell you, it is that bad, and you know it

Will you be the one to take that next step?

The uncertainty is what scares us, but also what keeps you coming back, the fear of not knowing, of wondering how it will end, this is what you live for.

To the childhoods we left behind.

I wrote this for you

"I need you to understand something. I wrote this for you. I wrote this for you and only you. Everyone else who reads it, doesn’t get it. They may think they get it, but they don’t. This is the sign you’ve been looking for. You were meant to read these words."

Tomorrow

I raced the sunset tonight and lost.

"Every second of every day, it’s entirely up to you how you live it. It all ends the same way. How you feel when you get there is the only thing you have control over."

It starts here, now. Not yesterday, not tomorrow. The page is blank; how will you fill it?

How would you?

Windows keep the outside out, and the inside in. They are our eyes on the world. They separate the personal from the public. It's like seeing the world from inside someone else's head. Every moment in time this view is subject to change.

Uncertainty

Journeys start, and then come to an end. We don't always know where they will end up, but the thing is, you can always start again, and end up somewhere new.

Just the two of us

Ten seconds until midnight
Nine chances to drown ourselves in black ink
eight faces turned away from the shock
seven windows and six of them were locked
five stories falling
forever and ever
three cheers to the mirror
now there are two of us
can we have one last dance?
-Thursday.

Missing You

"I got cold last night whenever you were not right next to me"