The epicenter of my happiness is not producing video content for my brand Mile Marker 44. It's not my job. It's not getting an education. It's not my friends. These are just tools to get me closer to the start of my stories quake.
When I was younger, the only thing I could fall asleep to at night was the sound of my dreams. Though some nights, that very thing kept me up for hours. Some hours were spent being so frustrated that I just wasn't in a place to drive myself across the country to chase the story. Other hours were spent thanking God as much as I could for the simple and life-shaping fact that I had a story to tell at all.
While the normal kids were sleeping and dreaming about their One Direction concert the next weekend, I was writing down all the cities I wanted to visit, and all the questions I wanted to ask the locals when I got there.
For a long time, it felt like a mystical thought so far away from my reality, but yet too clear to just be a coincidence. I allowed myself to hear God's words telling me from day one something that I still hold so accountable for my relentless dream chasing today.
Those visions in your head, the ones that are clear as day, even if they seem impossible in this moment, the moment will come when they will be the reality for the rest of your life. So don't give up on them. And for the love of God, keep chasing them.
Throughout the years, I did all I could to dream. On the hard days, I went home, shut my eyes, and starred into the darkness until it lit up with the image of me sitting on rocks looking out into the great abyss, finally at home. Sometimes all I had were those rocks and my strong foundation telling me that the abyss goes on and on for miles with nothing but sky to fill with every dream I wish to build. Then, on September 10th, 2016, I finally found the rocks God had been telling me about. That was the first moment I realized just how true my realization about the vision could be.
Sitting on those rocks I had always dreamed of, I realized that it was now time to open my eyes, because those dreams that filled my head were beginning to fill up the world the world around me.
Today, I work harder than my sophomore self would ever allow. Sometimes I don't give myself the credit for all the work I have done and will continue to do. And I'm not okay with that. So these days when I close my eyes, I still see those small towns. I still see those rocks. And I still hear the voices of a million strangers I'm bound to meet, but it doesn't end there. There is one dream I have come to realize needs my attention too.
The dream of being at peace in the epicenter of my life's quake. The dream where the tools I've been given, take me to a long night of conversations about the stories no camera could ever tell. About the country roads no lens could ever do justice. And about the days where I can sit and be still, because he is God, and taking a moment to rejoice in this life does not mean that it will all fall apart.
The vision never seizes, it is only that some look away.
The epicenter of my happiness exists in moments were not an ounce of work has to be done. Where the world doesn't need me to hold it on its shoulders. Where my heart feels no bounds. Where my frantic dream chasing mind is a peace.
My life stems from the moments that remind me what it's all for. The moments I can enjoy because when the world gave up on its dreams, I never lessened the grip I had on mine.
Please, never turn your back on the vision you have of the life of your dreams. It's a preview to a reality you are so close to meeting.
It's who you are, and always remember...
What you see is what you get.