The Back Roads

What a busy, fulfilling weekend it was!  What could be better then checking trail cams, hanging stands, putting corn out and brushing in blinds?  Actually not a whole lot, but what makes it all worth while is having your wife right beside you!  Recently Nicole (my wife) and I decided to start our own outdoor production company, we have started by recording our little outings into the woods, while we check our cameras and do various task that relate to what we are trying to accomplish.

We both have little knowledge about what it takes to run a production company, but what better way to learn then to just jump right in and learn as we go.  So far we have a name, The Back Roads with Brett and Nicole, sounds pretty easy....we have a name what else could we possibly need?  The personality portion of all this really isn't necessary, right (just kidding)!  Well we have the name so we can work on the personality for the rest of the season.

Our plan is to film whitetail and also turkey hunts, hopefully landing us a gig with a major production company!  We know this seems far fetched, but we truly believe we have what it takes to become the next faces in the outdoor industry.  So hopefully you will join us on our adventure of becoming the new faces in the outdoor production industry.

Too old?

Do you know what you want to be when you grow up? To truly live is to follow your heart and realize that you can achieve your dreams and be who you were meant to be. Whether you are just starting this journey of life as an adult, or a middle age individual, it is time to live your life.  At no point is it too late; at no point are the costs to high to be truly happy with your life. Whether you want to touch the stars or just finish your college degree your possibilities are limitless.

When you were growing up none of you thought about working the night shift at a pointless job that would not allow you to progress in life, I am willing to bet that each and every one of you has had a passion, a passion to do and be something great, a professional basketball player perhaps, an actress maybe or anything your hearts desired. At a young age it is instilled in us that we can do or be anything that we want, but at what point are we to old to follow our hearts?  At what age do we give up on those dreams?  And at what age do we stop dreaming completely?

It is my privilege to persuade you to follow your dreams, so cast aside your negative thoughts and that pesky little fellow that sits on your shoulder and tells you that your dreams are not possible and allow me to open your childish hearts back up and light that flame of passion that once burned deep inside your soul.

So what will you do with your dreams?  Patch Adams once said "When a dream takes hold of you, what can you do? You can run with it, you can let it run your life, or let it go and imagine for the rest of your life about what might have been."  I am sure all of us here tonight can relate to this, I myself have had several dreams throughout my young life just like many of you.  Yet I have only been able to accomplish few, you may ask the questions, well is he trying hard enough?  Is he taking the necessary steps of setting small goals to reach his dreams?  Does he have that burning aspiration required to fulfill his dreams?  As I write this to you now my answer is yes, I do have that burning desire, I do have the commitment and I do have the support needed to be what I am meant to be in life. 

I also know that life cannot be tamed, it cannot be planned and it certainly will not always go as intended.   There will be mistakes made throughout life, I know this firsthand, but it is what you make of those mistakes that can either lead you in the right direction or turn your dreams into scrambled eggs.  So when these minor problems emerge how you will combat them, will you give in or will you push through them and make the best out of whatever situation stands before you.  Frank Clark said it best when he stated “If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn't lead anywhere”, the reason for this to be true is because anything easy in life will not hold as much value opposed to something you must pour time, sweat and maybe a little blood into.  Although these may not be the only things holding you back from reaching your dreams.

Nazy Massoud wrote an article “The 5 Major Reasons People Do Not Reach Their Dreams”, in this article she states that most people dwell in their comfort zones, they are often too afraid to take the necessary risk needed to obtain the dreams, but many people fail to realize when we look at the grander scheme of life that it is far too short, and by short I mean you will never get out alive, so today is the day, do not procrastinate any longer as the Roman poet Horace would say “seize the day”.  Tomorrow is too far away and today is growing older, so what will you do today that could change your life tomorrow. 

Yes the risk can sometimes be overwhelming, but would you rather have failed and said you tried then spend the rest of your life wondering what if, what would my life be like now if I had chosen to follow my dream?  The word failure is a word that we consider to be negative, but failure is a tool to learn from, so do not think of it as a pessimistic word but as tool used to gain knowledge.  Thomas Edison, a genius of his time once said “I have not failed; I have just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”  This is the same attitude each and every one of us needs while we chase our dreams.

Another reason why people fail to reach their goals is because they quite when they are almost finished.  They get to the 90 yard line almost ready to score a touchdown and turn around.  Something may have come up or it might have been getting a little tougher than anticipated so instead of moving forward they give in and make themselves believe that it was not possible in the first place.  Anything is possible though, like I said before if dreams were easy to achieve they would not hold value, this is why they are called dreams.

You have heard the famous Martin Luther King speech a dozen times for he once had a dream; his dream was for segregation to end.  A dream that was almost unthinkable during his time, but with perseverance and a will to succeed he had accomplished his dream.  He faced much hardship along the way, but it in his eyes it was all worth it, to know that all Americans regardless of color can finally become united.

So I charge each and every one of you to follow your dreams, not just now in the moment but for the rest of your lives.  When you get to the point in your lives to reflect on all the good, bad and ugly things that you have achieved, what will you remember most?  Will you be stuck in your high school years, thinking about how it was the best years of your life or will you focus on the goals and dreams that you have accomplished since those days?  My passion is to play a significant role in the outdoor industry, I know it will not be easy, but what I do know is that in my heart I feel like a kid again because I know that it is not too late and it never will be too late to keep that inferno burning inside. 

I know many of you have had dreams and they have faded along in the distance and out of nowhere new dreams arise, you may have changed your mind and that is fine.  So what are you going to do today to make sure this dream here and now will not wither away with the rest?  Get out there and make it happen, be logical about the situation and assess it, but make sure you keep that fire burning somehow and someway.

Many years down the road I want each and every one of you to be able to look back at your lives and have no regrets, I want you to be able to cherish each and every moment as the people you were meant to be, the few that followed their dreams, the few that reached their dreams and the few that gave their dreams a living chance.