Yes..no...maybe so?

After many, innocent years of idolizing a utopia of a future that was free of temptation, hesitation & presentation, I have come to the conclusion that during the transition of childhood & young adulthood we have a 360-degree turn on our perception of life that will impact our adulthood.

During this period, we turn our biggest risks into ribbons & doubt into damage.

Think back.

When you were eight years old, your largest worry when walking into any facility was if there were going to be any toys. Nowadays, before we even step out the door, we re-evaluate how we look, how we feel and how we will be perceived.

Under no circumstances are any of the following a flaw but it is an interesting observance of where our minds have drifted off during our awkward four years of high school, and our temporary delinquency that occurs during college.

Throughout many great nights and terrible mornings, it was almost impossible for us to even reflect on what our priorities were during our childhood because that's apparently "living in the past."

As a fallen victim to my own theory, I have released many of the fallacious aspirations I possessed as an innocent child and decided it was the best decision to make myself an aspiration.

Not to the world, not to my Twitter followers but an aspiration for me, myself and I.

No longer will I idolize the lifestyle of many of my favorites athletes & celebrities, but I've taken the reigns and turned my life into a movie that's only being directed by me.

Our generation has made it clear that within a click of your keyboard, you can be someone's role model and that's terribly wrong to the naive minds of children.

I want to be able to one day show the generation behind us that your perception of the world begins with the person in the mirror, not the YouTuber that posts 3-times a week about his radicalized hate for a political party.

I am completely the opposite person I thought I would become 11 years ago and I'm okay with that.

"Why Charles?" -Someone who obviously doesn't know me

Listen, the person I wanted to become was too cool for school and too smart to be told "you're wrong."

I left that person in 2014.

For the last 4 years I've grown into a sponge of limitless information that does not see flaw in incorrectness, but values the ecstasy of accomplishment when you have fought hard to find the correct answer.

There's a reason I'll never forget who my role models used to be & what their values were.

Because during the rocky climb to the peak of my potential I've discovered that my values were not finalized or aligned with my role models after 5th grade graduation, they were just beginning to evolve into my own reality that included misinterpretation and mistakes, not millions of dollars bills.