Category Archives: News
For Love
Earlier this month, Nik Wallenda walked across Niagara Falls on a tightrope. He was the first person to cross the gorge in over a hundred years, and the first person ever to do it over the brink of the falls. Walking across Niagara Falls had been his dream since he was six years old. And now he’s done it! Congratulations to Nik for making his childhood dream a reality!
His next walk will be across the Grand Canyon…
While I know Nik loves what he’s doing and I hate to question his motives, I do have to wonder why he keeps choosing such iconic locations to set up his tightrope. Doing so makes these events seem like little more than publicity stunts done for fame, recognition, and notoriety. If he were to set up his tightrope in some nondescript location, no one would care. If not for Niagara Falls being the backdrop of his latest performance, ABC wouldn’t have broadcast the event live, and there wouldn’t have been hundreds of newspaper and blog articles written about him.
Although Nik holds six Guinness records and comes from a family with a long history of daredevils, his name isn’t one most people would recognize. These events, along with a reality show and an autobiography, will surely help elevate his celebrity status…
You might not know that there are people out there everyday walking across canyons hundreds of feet deep with little fanfare, no media hype, and without a $1.3 million dollar budget. The networks aren’t broadcasting these “events” live on primetime TV to 13.1 million viewers. There aren’t crowds of 120,000 spectators cheering them on. These guys and girls are out there for love and passion.
It’s human nature to want to be recognized for our actions. But when our actions are motivated more by the recognition than by desire, passion, and love, we’re placing more value on the opinions of other people than we are on our own sense of accomplishment. If we’re doing what we love, just being able to do it is reward enough. There’s no need for fame, fortune or notoriety.
Never chase love, affection, or attention. If it isn’t given freely by another person, it isn’t worth having.
If you’re doing something that matters, the recognition will follow. If you’re living passionately, people will pay attention. Let the attention you receive from others be the by-product of your actions, not the driving force. Our actions shouldn’t be motivated by the attention we’ll receive. We shouldn’t spend our lives trying to impress other people. We should live our lives following our hearts and doing what we love. It should be love that is the source of our inspiration.
Love is all you need.
Update: Goal #97) Eliminate my Student Loans
I hate debt.
And if there’s one goal on my list that I feel is the most important to accomplish, it’s eliminatng my student loan debt. Over the last few years, I’ve climbed out of credit card debt, paid off my car, and wiped out a small pile of personal loans. But I’ve yet to unbury myself from the mountain of student loan debt I’ve built for myself.
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When I began my college career, I was in a dire financial situation. Then I discovered an easy way to pull myself out of that situation: student loans. Having that money available without any real effort to acquire it meant taking out as much as possible every semester. I went a little crazy.
When I took out the loans, I was convinced that life after graduation would be different…BETTER! I thought paying back thousands of dollars would be just as easy as it was to get the loans in the first place. I’d have an amazing career and earn lots of money!
With graduation on the horizon, I’ve been trying to pay off as much as possible before joining the “Real World.” And today, I finally paid off all the accrued interest. It’s a small step in the right direction…and I have many more steps before I reach zero.
But I will reach zero.
