Dabbl

              “Sometimes you have to be a lion to be the lamb you really are.” I first heard this quote when I was watching Dave Chappelle accept his Mark Twain Award. I thought it was interesting and it perfectly summarized the attitude that is necessary for the life you want. I felt this quote was tailored directly to me. It was a little strange hearing it from someone in show business, but that made it stand out even more. I would imagine people in show business typically enjoy a certain lifestyle of attention, energy, and fast living. In other words, I wouldn’t necessarily personify their lifestyles as lamb-like.

              When I think about what I truly want to get out of this life, it really boils down to the essentials. This is the lamb in me. I would like a family, safety, freedom, and time to spend with my family. Everything else, like material things, is really a nice to have, but it is not necessary. Now, how do I get to the point in my life where I am able to have all the essentials that I have just listed. It takes a lot of hard work. It may mean that I have to get ugly from time to time to protect what I want. That’s where the lion comes into play. When a lion feels something is threatening his pride, he fights off whatever is trying to intrude his community. He gets ugly. He does whatever it takes to make sure his pride is protected. When the battle is won, he can go back to his pride and live safely. That’s a great way to look at life. Protect what you want. More importantly, protect what you want in the future. Fight off intruders that are threatening to the way you want to live your life. If you’re anything like me, that means you want to live your life as a lamb. However, from time to time you have to turn yourself into a lion to secure that privilege. There are many things that could threaten your pride as a lion. It could be laziness, drugs, weight problems, ego, bad friends, greed, wrong significant other, and so on. Rolling over when these problems come up is not the way to deal with serious threats like these. Becoming a lion, having confidence, and perhaps getting mean and ugly to have the strength to fight off these threats may be the only way to deal with these problems. And that means you do whatever you have to do in order to protect the future you want.

              A lamb life is not for everyone. I’m sure there are plenty of people that cringe at the idea of relaxing, having a nice house, family, and having fun with life. There’s some people who enjoy a high stress lifestyle by constantly stretching themselves too thin. If that’s the way you want to live, then who am I to judge? Nevertheless, protect that lifestyle. Find strength to fight for what you want. In hard times it’s important to think about this quote. Assess the threat at hand and determine how you are going to fight off this infection. What is threatening you today from achieving the lifestyle you want for yourself? Become a lion and fight off that threat, so you can go back to being yourself again.