Who Are You Really?

The definition of a person is a complicated thing to address, for a number of reasons. I will do my best to tackle this issue despite its difficulty.  

We use many different ways to define a person. Any where from name to place of origin to physical description. 

I'll define myself using the aforementioned qualities.

Patrick aka Slim aka Stacks

Nicholtown\Greenville\South Carolina

Tall, Slim, Handsome ( don't agree? Rule #5)

All these things may remind you who I am or even bring a picture of how I look to mind, but it does little to actually tell you WHO I AM?

I am God incarnate.  I am a son, brother, nephew, cousin, and FATHER. I'm a combination of events and experiences that contributed to the molding of my mind. I am the lessons my mother, family, friends and associates, teachers, and even strangers have taught. I am the hardened broken heart. I am the once, but never again, foolish person that has been taken advantage of, hustled, robbed, disrespected, unappreciated, incarcerated (no convictions), embarrassed (by myself), lied to, and disappointed. I am the intelligent, weird, outspoken, young black man that as of December 14 will have a BS in Physics.  

Obviously I'm a lot of things, but this isn't an autobiography. I say all that to confront a very important issue... How can you change me? 

Can you go back and keep my homies from tryna holla at my daughter's mom? Can you go back and stop my mom from crying as I roll my sleeves for those bracelets? Can you stop me from drinking that night and losing the love of my life? Can you bring my grandma back? Can you go back and shield my eyes and ears from the sights and sounds of the hood? 

Ok, then. Don't set your eyes on an unattainable goal. You can change a person no better than you can save a horse that's dying of thirst by leading it to pond. In both cases the need is present, but if the desire isn't there. You're entertaining a living corpse.

That being said, don't attempt to change a person. Attempt to educate a person on the importance of growth, give them something for which to change, give them a choice, and then give em a chance.

P.S.- EaG@L- Eastside Guerrillas @ Large, I put on for my city cause I left and spread the word about Nicholtown/Greenville niggas. You ain't putting on if you ain't going no where.

5 Rules To Life

There is a set of 5 rules by which I govern myself in my day to day. I feel that mastery of these 5 will give you an advantage in most fetes you set out to accomplish. As i continue to blog I will be giving anecdotes and examples of how each can be used in a few examples.

1. NEVER Get Your Emotions Involved- What usually seems like uncontrollable feelings and thoughts many times causes us to make decision that we often regret, say things we don't truly mean, or lose things for which we may or may not have worked so diligently. By allowing yourself time to step back, calm down, and analyze the situation and the consequences of your reactions both short and long term and best and worst case scenarios you become much more effective at decision maKING.
2. Avoid Pettiness- Let me begin this explanation of this rule by simply giving the definitions of petty, the first being, "of little importance; trivial" and the second, "of secondary or lesser importance, rank, or scale; minor." Now that we got the definition out the way the next thing, I wanna address is that IT'S OK TO THINK YOU'RE BETTER THAN OTHER PEOPLE. Let's just be honest we all think it; there's no shame in it. If you find people engaging in activities or conversations of little importance, or with people that are less than you are, turn and run like hell. We have a choice to stay and entertain certain situation that do no benefit to any of us. So much unnecessary drama and aggravation can be avoided by avoiding pettiness.
3. Don't Procrastinate- This personally is one of the toughest rules for me, and they're my rules; but what that being said I would probably rate this as the most important. DO WHAT YOU HAVE TO WHEN YOU CAN, AND THERE WILL BE NO WORRIES WHEN YOU CAN'T. The last statement involves a continuous race against time and the spending of funds. For myself personally, and I'm sure most of us, no matter how hard we try to save it seems our money slowly evaporates from our accounts or pockets. And no matter how you spend your time it will continue to pass you by. Spending your last moments before a deadline reflecting on your completed project or relishing in the moment knowing that bill has been paid is a lot better than pulling all nighters, shuffling funds, etc. This relieves a lot of stress. 
4. Be Consistent- This one will probably be the easiest to elaborate upon. It's simple, once you have failed to procrastinate, keep it up. Nothing can be ever be accomplished when you stop in the middle of a task.  The drive and determination you have at the beginning of the race should be same type of drive you cross the finish line with. This helps combat feelings of defeat and unworthiness.
5. Don't Give A Fuck- There are better, more appropriate ways to state this rule but none of which I feel express the attitude that comes along with it. People will always have negative things to say about you as you try to complete a task, fuck 'em. It's none of their concern, and their life should be none of your concern as well. Unless you're "The Most Interesting Man in the World" you will surely experience some type of failure, but unless you fail so epic-ly that your death results you have another chance. Don't carry disappointment with you for your second, third, etc.  attempts. Hold your head up and take pride as you do things that MAKE YOU HAPPY, after all you're #1 in your own life.

Try to implement these for one day and see how effective they are in your life. If they work for you continue to use them and work towards mastering them.