At a youthful age, embarking on my journey as an entrepreneur at the age of 16, I became fixated on success over money. My mental state was in the firelight of exploring the hills and valleys in this much complicated lifestyle to not simply redefine the world with companies that made an impact around the mud that I stepped in but to redefine the meaning of love, not to live simply for others - but rather my own self. To find a homeostasis work ethic that would provide the best quality of living.
At 17, I established my very first photography company in hopes to reshape the way that people save memories and view their own life from images. At 18, I went to college for what came to be only a semester, and I lost every mental independency I had to fight for what projected happiness for me. I did not comprehend who I was, what unknown path I would want to even take or even how I would survive day to day. I am blessed to have my parents who have guided me through this terrain. I had a roof, bills were paid off in advance, I shared a car, I even had a job. But the catch was - this job was undesirable in the sense that I worked third shift, had no social life, no sense of life at all besides work and sleep and only $300 to pocket monthly. I should be doing just fine, right? I mean, I had no bills, tuition was paid for, no loans, and nothing to retain but a monthly sum of money and a small expense of gas. But it turns out I wasn't.
Just a few short days after Christmas, going on my 19th year against life, I felt an elephant lift off my chest and finally move on with his life - I felt renewed, genuinely happy and more motivated than I have ever previously ever have. So, I applied for the Air Force. A small gear turning my thoughts in the back of my mind since the age of 12, but never once truly thought of - I felt wholesome and vibrant as I sat down with the recruiter and filled out the application and planned out my enlistment process. My vocal chords become numb to the fact that I am living reality - or at least I am about to. So a few weeks pass, I take my aptitude test (ASVAB) and score very high on electronics and I am on cloud nine. I could not be happier. Unbeknown to me, my medical profile would begin to fight me like a raging bull and there was no escape to this ring. So I fought hard, played chess against the essence of time, and just waited for the results to come in. The phone rings and it's the recruiter. As he voices out the results, the very first words I begin to hear are "You have to see the Surgeon General and this will take an additional 30 to 90 days to hear back on your qualification." In between that time, I have considered countless options, such as becoming a social media influencer, motivational speaker, launch an e-commerce store that sells influential products or even work for my father. So another month has passed and I still have not heard back and began to worry. I decided to book the earliest direct flight to Florida from Wisconsin so I can get my mind occupied on a much more intriguing mindset.
So I flew out to Florida, and the weather was three times warmer than Wisconsin, so around the mid 80's. Now life seems ok and less of a drag. I still waited. But then I woke up one morning by the pool side, emailing a few clients and having a few cups of regular coffee (my second cup that morning) and my phone began buzzing - this time it was not my family calling from running errands early that morning but the recruiter. After a tough battle listening to the recruiter rant for approximately 20 minutes, he ended the call with "the Air Force has decided to disqualify you," so now I am thinking that my beautiful painted masterpiece of life just got taken off the museum wall, stomped on, ripped apart by kids, and lit on fire. I was not a happy vacationer that day or even that week. My stomach was inverted for the next few days from the idea that my heart was ripped apart and my dreams seemed no longer possible at all - like someone blocking you on social media and never allowing you to walk in their life again. One day it struck me, like the baseball hitting my head that my younger brother threw at me when I was little, life is just a garden of flowers and our choices add up to be the flowers we pick and add to our bouquet, or the overall appeal of our life - the people, bills we decide to pay, customers we talk to, numbers we crunch, people we love, and the places we go. I knew that I have to water my plants and continue to focus on who I was and just let this go and stare at other beautiful flowers for the rest of my life and this was just a life lesson, a wrong way to grow a flower. So I began to apply for over 10 jobs, full-time and part-time in industries I have never walked before simply to maybe find a new niche or feeling I could call home.
As a week has passed, only two establishments have replied. One being full-time and a strong opportunity for myself to continue out of debt, and become accustom to a new lifestyle and just explore. I have yet to process through this amazing opportunity but without the consideration or thought of "the opportunities are limitless," and the only thing holding me back is my drive to just give it a try, I would not be as motivated to see what God has in store. Now, abruptly a phone call came in from my mother screamed the words "Another Airman who's served for over two decades has just called in to our office and donate to our Foundation to support our charity event with a large sum of monetary value, and I told him your story - and your recruiter seems to be mishearing the translation of your enlistment. He said email our government now and advocate for a change against the medical standards and relook at them to see if their is any sub point that excludes you and allows you to continue." So, I remarked "I'll send over a letter today and make a few phone calls." I did just that, spending long hours on finding the right combination of words to emphasize how disturbing this news was and the meaning it had on my life - and just with a small glimmer of hope that they would alter their standards and allow me to filter through and follow my true dreams. I continue to wait to hear from my written responses to several highly sought after political leaders in Wisconsin.
Yes, I do not have a college degree but this possibly could be the chance of a lifetime to show the world that a degree from a university has no attachment to your willingness to be successful in general and climb up the leadership ladder. Your future is out there, all that is holding back is your grudge to not be active about time and use it for you instead of against you and simply give it a try. Over the past few months above all this chaotic mess, I have began to oversee the power of the mind vs time and how change will only happen slowly if you plan, organize, research, plan again and believe in yourself first and then implement and take action. Without moving on, I would have not been able to achieve the high leadership-leveled full-time career or been able to be an game changer in the pool of disqualified applicants for the military and allow thousands of others to recontinue their journey.
Reflecting on the mistakes I have made, I began to see a need for tuning out the opinion of others and gaining their satisfaction to continue with my actions. I am loved, humble, positive and challenged. There is always time for change. The time is now. Your age will not define your potential. I am young, and there is over two thirds of my life left to make that change and bring it to it's highest impact. Below I have attached a short 50 minute video for you to take a quick listen of inserted clips from phenomenal motivational talks.
