Mad Macedonian

Don't Let the Sun Set on Your Dreams...Never Give Up!

It has been a busy week for me, as I explore Houston while on vacation and I will be sharing the rest of my adventures over the next few days.

The series begins here.

This morning, however, I wanted to share a couple of images that might guide anyone interested to look at previous posts of mine.

On my bike ride home from the Willow Waterhole Park I took this spectacular image of the sunset.

3 years ago, last month, as I celebrated a year in Houston and getting a job at last I took a few photos of a Houston sunrise and sunset from a unique location.

I also wrote a couple of poems, one about a sunset, one about a sunrise.

Yesterday, after I left the Houston Center of Photography and walked past the Key Map Store, both on Alabama St., I noticed something painted on a fence who knows when...

I just HAD to respond to the message it was sending to anyone passing by who might notice it.

In November 2015 I wrote a daily series of posts on the subject of never giving up.

In April I shared some images and wrote a pair of updates.

Consider this post and this image one more update. :-D

On Never Giving Up - The Series

 

 Next up: Vacation Day 3: One Park and it's 2 Gardens

Ever Seen the Smile of God?

 

The city of Houston, Harris County and other parts of Texas have had a rough week.

I count myself among the lucky.

The Houston Storm and Flood of April 2016

After a few days to begin drying out the rain returned for a while this afternoon.

The day began partly cloudy and so I hopped on my bike, even though its brakes appear to be loose or shot and pedaled, carefully, 10 miles or so to church at The Story of Houston for the first time since Easter.

Storyteller Visits The Story, to Hear a Story About THE Story of Easter

Life Draggin' You Down? Never Give Up!

 

I get inspiration in the most unexpected ways; Things I hear, things I read...and things I see and encounter can give me ideas for poems, songs, stories, writing prompts, essays, photos, and videos.

Two days ago I was walking across the parking lot next to my apartment building and happened to look at the ground and saw something that made me run to my apartment and grab my cell phone camera before the sun dried this vision up forever.

After attending church today I came home, after a rain delay caused me to stop my bike ride and find a dry spot for a bit, and contemplated the meaning of what my photo revealed to me.

Do you see what I see?

The message that popped into my head reminded me of the series of 30 blog posts I wrote last November.

The series was on the topic of "never giving up" and the message of this image can serve as a nice follow-up for those who finish the series and an encouragement to maybe check out the series for those who see this first.

Feel like life is draggin' you down?

That's the best time to roar defiantly and let your hopes and dreams take wing and fly free as a bird.

Follow-up: Speaking of images and messages about never giving up...

Ever Seen the Smile of God?

 

On Never Giving Up: Go For It!

 

Never give up. You only get one life. Go for it! -- Richard E. Grant

When I began this series, on the 1st of November, it was a spur of the moment thing and I had no idea where it would lead me or if anyone would read a word of it, much less share it around.

I wasn't even sure I'd manage 30 posts!

But, there being only one November 2013 in my life, with no do overs, I decided to go for it and not give up, despite my work schedule, doctor and vet appointments and concerns about paying bills and putting food on my table, week to week (Just over a month ago my sister took it upon herself to set up a Go Fund Me page on my behalf, God bless her).

I have no idea how many people have read any part of the series, though I know a few people have tweeted posts and shared on their Facebook, as well as liked and commented on my Facebook statuses, and 3 comments have been left on 3 entries.

I thank all who have done these things.

I wrote these posts to remind myself to never give up and to encourage those readers who might need such encouragement to not give up either.

You have your whole life ahead of you....GO FOR IT!

 

( Missed the first post? The World Is Yours...Never Give Up )

 **** UPDATE - 1/19/16 ****

So, dear reader, especially fellow writers/bloggers, my month long pep talk still not enough to convince you?

May I toss in a great essay, written this past weekend, by Jennifer Garam?

"So how do you not give up, when you’re working so hard doing something you care so deeply about, and it feels like no one else cares at all?

Have a greater purpose.

Have a life.

Don't give up!

Remember that somewhere, someone cares."

How to Keep Writing When No One Gives a Shit

**** END UPDATE ****

 Follow-up...April 2016:

Life Draggin' You Down? Never Give Up!

On Never Giving Up: The Thoughts Of Ronald Reagan and Newt Gingrich

 

On Never Giving Up: Woodens and Tygers, Oh My!

"Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do." - John Wooden

"Your future depends on many things, but mostly on you." - Frank Tyger

(From Belief Net)

( Missed the first post? The World Is Yours...Never Give Up )

I've received a lot of support and encouragement over the years, but none of that would have happened if I had not continued to write and create, giving people something to support and encourage.

I have never let what I did not know how to do, or who I didn't know, keep me from doing what I love...write and create.

I started out not knowing a damn thing about blogging, and so many other things, but taught myself how to do so much in order to produce the best blogs I knew how.

I have little in the way of audiences, on either of my current blogs, and still have a lot to learn in order to take me where I hope to go, but that is no reason to give up.

Don't let your lack of certain skills, or anything else, hold you back...never give up!

NEXT UP: On Never Giving Up: The Thoughts Of Ronald Reagan and Newt Gingrich

 

On Never Giving Up: 10 More Sites Full of Quotes to Inspire You

 Here are more links to a collection of sites devoted to quotes related to not giving up.

1. Inspirational Spark

2. The Bridgemaker

3. Not Salmon

4. Efficient Life Skills

5. Move Me

6. Wise Old Sayings

7. The Muse

 8. Belief Net

9. Connect and Spread Love

10. Saying Images

 

( Missed the first post? The World Is Yours...Never Give Up )

 

NEXT UP: On Never Giving Up: Woodens and Tygers, Oh My!

On Never Giving Up: 10 Sites Full of Quotes to Inspire You

 

Here are links to a collection of sites devoted to quotes related to not giving up.

 

1. Brainy Quote

2. Goodreads

3. Keep Inspiring Me

4. Inc Magazine

5. Addicted 2 Success

6. Cool N Smart

7. Academic Tips

8. Spiritual Bee

9. Katinka Hesselink

10. Post Planner - 19 Dale Carnegie Quotes to Inspire You Next Time You Want to Give Up

( Missed the first post? The World Is Yours...Never Give Up )

 NEXT UP: On Never Giving Up: 10 More Sites Full of Quotes to Inspire You

 

Thinking of Giving Up? Don't Do It!

 

The summer before I left Ca., in 2012, a friend shared a quote with me:

"Sometimes you may feel inclined to give up... DON'T DO IT.

There is so much potential for greatness within you. Keep believing in your dreams."

As I wrote in my journal at the time...I've felt like giving up more than a few times in my life, but each time something, I don't exactly know what, always compels me to keep pressing onward and and ever upward, whether personally or creatively.

Having supporters and encouragers along the way, including the years since I arrived here in Texas, has certainly been a help and a blessing.

Change is coming to my life, in the years ahead, personally and creatively. I don't know how, I just feel that it is and that it is right and good.

Keep believing in yourself and your potential...DON'T GIVE UP.

 

( Missed the first post? The World Is Yours...Never Give Up )

 

NEXT UP: On Never Giving Up: 10 Sites Full of Quotes to Inspire You

 

 

On Never Giving Up: You Are More Than You Seem!

Are you more than you seem?

Is there a divine spark animating you, animating me, me writing?

This post is the 1100th post to this blog since I began it in October 2007.

I could have given up doing a personal blog with my first one, Sneakeasy's Joint, but I chose instead to take my writing in new directions and am glad that I did.

Julia Cameron believes " there is a breath of the divine that blows through us as writers, and blows through our writing as well."

Is there such a spark blowing through whatever you do?

She believes that "we are all in service to a writer greater than us. Life itself works through us."

( Missed the first post? The World Is Yours...Never Give Up )

What profession are you? Doctor, lawyer, chef, veterinarian? Something else? Feeling like giving up? Rediscover the spark that led you down your path or discover a new spark entirely.

Does this spark, my talent for creative writing run in the family? Were there writers in my ancestry somewhere? I have no clue, though I do have an ancestral tree of names on my Mother's side going back to Pa. in the 1700's.

Glenn Beck once talked about how everything begins with an idea, and we, as Americans, have the power to create, and be creative. He talked about how America has always been about creating and doing and not giving up.

I've got creative ideas, a plenty, just need to figure out how best to make them become reality.

 

NEXT UP: Thinking of Giving Up? Don't Do It!