Live and LOSE SOME

All human beings have a measure of competition in them. When I’m 87, I think I’m still gonna enjoy whipping my great grand children in a game of Crazy 8. No mercy. But what happens when you lose? When you aim for something and miss.... that’s harder to deal with.

You don’t have to pretend that you don’t mind losing, but you do have to accept it when it happens. And it is alright to be unhappy about it, but the most important thing is who you choose to be thereafter. Failure, just like pain or disappointment, can either transform or deform you. I encourage you to be transformed into a better version of yourself when you face defeat. Train harder, get stronger, be better.

I was in a competition recently and after walking off stage empty handed, I had to dig deep to come to a place where I could honestly say, “Congratulations” to those who won. It was not easy, but I got there eventually. We need to realise that our worth is never defined by a single achievement or failure; it is a never changing truth that you were created with great emotion and intellect by God Himself. You are a deliberate design. You are worth more than all of heaven and what lies in you, is immeasurably more than you can think or imagine.

Aim for the moon every time and even if you miss, you will land on the stars.
You win some. You will lose some.

Live INSPIRED

A video to remind you to never give up!

Live and LOVE

“I love you”. Everybody says it. Not everybody means it. Love is easily one of the most abused words in the world, right after “Ayoba” and “Tjatjarag”. I’m sure, once upon a time, everybody understood its significance, but the world has suffered one too many heartbreaks to have an unaffected view on love.

The truth is that loving someone requires so much more than we are prepared to give at times. Passed the infatuation phase and after the cute lyrics and poems, you are bound to have your words tested. Will you really cross the ocean and bring back the moon? I love my wife, very much, but sometimes I do want to be selfish and put myself first. That’s when it hits me... Love is not self-seeking, ever. It is always preoccupied with the other person. It is always an, “I give 100%, 100% of the time” commitment. Sometimes I don’t want to get up from bed and switch off the light... My feet are warm and I’m too comfy. She must do it. She’s closer! But love reminds me, “It’s not about me. It’s all about her. If I love her, I will put her first again and again and even at those moments. ”

People give up on each other because it is not always an easy road to give of yourself, especially when you don’t see any like-response. “Love is not enough” is a statement many people make when relationships fall apart. People say it with all the sincerity in their hearts, but sadly, they are sincerely wrong. Love gets a bad name because of people who don’t know what it means. It is enough... when it operates, interacts and flourishes between two souls. There’s nothing like it in the world.

In the movie, The Last Kiss (one of my favourite flicks); Zach Braff, the male lead, is in a relationship with his sweetheart of a girlfriend. He meets, and is bedazzled by, a hot young thang and his existence is thrown into a spin. He begins questioning his life, his future, his desires and all the while the hot young thang is hot for him. Things happen or they don’t (don’t wanna give the story away), but there is a scene where the he is talking to his girlfriend’s father. The father tells Zach that in 30 years of marriage he has never cheated. Zach is stunned. “Never?”, he asks. “Never”, comes the reply. The dad tells him that he has been tempted. He confesses that women have come onto him, even at his age. And he says he knows that it will continue. His words after that moment are vital... He looks the young man dead in the eye and with all the authority of a man in love, he says, “How you feel matters only to you. It's what you do to the people that you say you love, that's what counts. That's the only thing that matters.”

Love can’t be found in songs, sweet melodies or even words. Love is patient. Love is kind. It is not easily angered and it keeps no record of wrongs. Its existence is suggested in words. But it shows itself only in action.

Love is always enough. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres. Love never fails.

Live and LAUGH

There’s nothing like it in the whole world! Laughter! Better than sleep, better than chocolate, better than sex.... Ok, my bad. Maybe I’m exaggerating a bit. A Kit Kat Chunky is pretty good. I had one last night.

Milton Berle put it like this: “Laughter is an instant vacation.” If that be the case, then stand up comedians are certified pilots that can take you on the craziest getaways. (22-24 July, Monte Casino, Parkers Comedy Club, a certain blogger will be performing: hint, hint). But I digress...

My point is that there is alot of things that we need to remember, one of which is to laugh as much as we can before we expire. Think about the last time you laughed until your tummy hurt. Remember when you couldn’t breathe and your tears were flowing uncontrollably? Yes, that was you. Do it again! And again! Tell your co-worker a joke now. Close the door in your office and do a silly dance. Put a fart cushion under your boss’s chair and then find another job.... My point is, fill your life with joy, laughter and random silliness. Or in the edited version of Katt William’s words, “If somebody falls in front of you. And you are not a doctor on duty across the street from the hospital. It is your obligation to get 7 laughs out of that before he gets off the ground. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.”

Someone once said, “Laughter is an orgasm triggered by the intercourse of sense and nonsense.” And you know what, they were right!
You need to laugh more. Stop taking things too seriously. So what if your ex girlfriend is hotter now than when she was with you? Ok, that’s a bad example, but you get my point. Maybe you don’t.

As a stand up comic, I’ve found the words of Victor Borge to be true. “Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.” I’ve seen this with my own eyes. Carnival City, room full of Afrikaaners, me, on stage and all of us laughing at my rendition of a Black Eyed Peas/Kurt Darren remix of “Boom Boom Pow” (you had to be there).

“I've always thought that a big laugh is a really loud noise from the soul saying, "Ain't that the truth." - Quincy Jones
“The most wasted of all days is one without laughter” - E.E. Cummings
“A man isn't poor if he can still laugh” - Raymond Hitchcock

My point...? Laugh a little more, seriously.
Have a great rest of the week!