The Bravery – Unconditional #manlymusicfriday
Check out this fantastic song by The Bravery on this fine Manly Music Friday!
Check out this fantastic song by The Bravery on this fine Manly Music Friday!
Hey fella’s.
I’m not sure if you have ever done something as a kid that you loved so much – only to grow older and not do it anymore. Now that you don’t do it anymore, you look back and see that you REALLY miss it and want to do it again so bad if you had the resources to.
For me, that was baseball – taking the mound of a competitive baseball game to be exact.
Well, I recently wrote a post on my page that I wanted to share with you folks here.
I was, and still am a baseball nut.
I love this game. I grew up to love the game – I grew up to play the game effectively – and I grew to be pretty darn good at it.
I recently joined the Bradford Badgers. It felt absolutely to amazing to be a part of the game once again.
Hearing the “pop” of the gloves. The “clank” of the bat. It was just baseball again.
Looking back over my life, I just can not BELIEVE that I lost something I love because of no self-esteem. You see when I was in high school, it was a transition phase for me. It was a phase where insecurities are always high, but for me – it was a bit more dramatic (at least in my head).
My freshmen year, I was told that I would be wearing hearing aids the rest of my life. If you thought eye glasses were tough to wear – try wearing hearing aids! Talk about a wake up call. I felt everyone was staring at my ears. I felt there were people trying to talk to me and I couldnt hear them. I felt completely overwhelmed and vulnerable.
I don’t blame my ears for much, but I will blame it for self-esteem issues. THEN I will blame myself for not battling through it. You see, if I had known THEN, what i know NOW – there is no doubt in my mind that I would have been able to play baseball in college – possibly semi-pro. Who knows? I will NEVER know because I let it slip. I stopped pushing. I stopped going 110%. I gave up on myself.
I realize how much i robbed myself – how much I robbed the game I loved so much. I say NEVER again will this happen in my life.
If you have done this – don’t let your self-esteem run you. RUN IT! Say NEVER AGAIN! You may not get the chance to take it back later in life..it might be too late.
At 31, my run to the big leagues is PROBABLY over – like, 1 in 1 Billion (SO YOUR SAYIN THERES A CHANCE!). I could be like THE ROOKIE and get a shot at the bigs…who knows where God is leading (HA! That would be awesome, but probably not again – there could be a ball club out there that would take someone that runs an 8.4 40 yard dash, right?. It could just be the Bradford Badgers and I am completely OK with that as well – I feel extremely blessed to have this opportunity. I get to play the game I love at a high level.
(Me breaking out of “retirement”)
For more on Self Esteem Help – check out this book below. I have included a chapter for you to read to see if it would be something you might be interested in. The link is also available by clicking the book cover.
Chapter 3 from Self Help 15: 15 ways You Can Instantly Improve Your Self Esteem
Being prepared to receive that you have been asking for is necessary for actually receiving it.
How does that work? It is a “faith without works is dead” type of thing.
You want to be more self-confident, you want to be attracting a more positive self so we need to prepare for the end state that you are trying to create.
You see the biggest mistake that is stuck on autopilot when you are in low self-esteem is that it is negative thinking and lack of positive reinforcements for future success. We might do well for a while, but later on we are EASILY sucked back into the negative self-image that we developed with low self-esteem.
The goal here is to start preparing for the better you to come through. This is a demonstration of faith on your part. Here are some ways you can prepare for that new you:
Clean up your act
I notice that when I want to set a new motion in gear, it always makes me feel better when I start by cleaning up my space at work, home and personal space that I have. Being organized and getting my act together always makes me feel instantly accomplished. An hours’ worth of work boosts my spirits, and my house, office, and personal spaces are clean.
The Mirror
Perhaps you haven’t wanted to even look in the mirror lately. It IS one of the most deceptive things in the universe when you are in a state of lacking self-esteem, however, we are setting in a new motion. From this day forward, that mirror will be cleaned and ready to work in your favor. You will be able to look straight into that mirror from this point forward and say – “that guy/gal in there is pretty freakin awesome!” Start your day today – and end it with a declaration right in that mirror.
Clear out your closet/dresser drawers
Make way for the new you. You are going to be working on your image and there might be some things you can get rid of. It’s time to cut ties with your over worn sweat pants, those socks with holes in them, the old track jacket from high school.
Let Go of the Past
Is there something from this period of your life that is just hanging around? Cut ties with it! Break up put you in this mess – BURN THE PICTURES and send the memories packing. Clear out your facebook.
Important message about this part. If you are cleaning out and burning things up – let it go. I say let it go because later on, when you least expect it, those memories or pictures may just magically show up again. You need to just move past it all together. Let this be a ceremony of just moving on. The burning up the past and moving forward. I can’t tell you how many times I did this for jobs, for old girlfriends, old friendships, and lost loved ones. It always worked. One last time to reflect, but it won’t affect my emotions any longer. I am bigger than that and stronger than the past. My future is so much brighter!
RESOURCE
Look into visualization programs like this one. Visualization programs like these have helped me to use my mind to “bring the kid out” again. When we were kids, we were able to visualize and “daydream.” Sometimes that is lost when we become older and the world shows us some different plans. Take some time to check out this incredible program to help you visualize for success and bring out the kid again.
Terry Crews is a lot of fun. As an actor, you have seen him on The Expendables, Brooklyn 99, and Old Spice Commercials. Crews is a former NFL football player and he tells the story of growing up in Flint Michìgan,, and his own crisis of manhood.
Crews book is written as a challenging journey, with encouragement and humor. He reveals dark secrets as well as important foundational truths to which any man can relate.

Early in the book, Mansfield talks about his experience in Syria – and the way his new middle eastern friends celebrate manhood. When a man has a son, he gets a new name…. Mansfield’s friends found out he had a son, and immediately had a party for him on the rooftop, giving him a new name.
Mansfield addresses the role of manhood in our culture, and identifies a great list of manly men throughout history – some manly because of physical strength and great deeds – others for their wisdom and courage.
I loved the quotes, the bios, and the poems that he included in the book.
It’s a good read, and it will inspire you to greatness.
It doesn’t get much more MANLY than Louie’s gravely voice singing about one tough, smooth guy….
I have a new found hobby that started about 3 years ago. I LOVE growing a vegetable garden! It started with a small area of land – and its now grown into 3 areas of my land where I am growing vegetables and now planting fruit trees.
I have also gotten into raising chickens for eggs as well – but this is a different hobby, but trust me it will relate.
You see the process is – you put the seeds in the ground – and they grow into beautiful plants – right?
I got to thinking this morning – why don’t we PLANT our ideas, our dreams, our visions – like we do plants? You see we put a plant in the ground and EXPECT them to turn into beautiful roses, we expect them to turn into a mass amount of Zucchini (YUM) or Pumpkins (YAY!) tomatoes, apples, peaches, oranges – whatever it is your planting.
You are expecting a CROP! You want and expect your plants to respond to the water you feed it. You EXPECT Miracle Gro to work! Why else would you care if it died because you didn’t water it – or why else would you spend the amounts of money you do on fertilizer, potting soil, plant food, etc.
Lesson is this. Whatever you are sowing in life – EXPECT it to grow! Expect it to be bountiful! Expect it to be better than you expected!
As I mentioned in the book, Self Help 15 Ways To Drastically Improve Your Self Esteem (check it out here) you need to start somewhere. Set a small goal today that when you plant/sow something in your life that you are going to live at a level of a HIGHER expectancy.
Andrew Wright
Check out SELF HELP 15 Ways You Can Instantly Improve Your Self Esteem by clicking on the book cover below
In my book, Self Help: 12 Things You Can Do To Drastically Change Your Life (available here) I discussed the topic of changing the world, one act of random kindness at a time.
Now, no matter where you are at in life, you can perform this task because
A. It doesn’t take money (all the time)
B. It doesn’t take much time
C. There is very little effort on your part.
That last one is a head scratcher. But the truth is – No, it doesn’t take a lot of effort to change the world.
A. It doesn’t take money.
An act of kindness doesn’t take money all the time. Its pretty simple really. When was the last time you:
Held the door for an elderly couple walking into the store? And don’t get smart with me and talk about the time you cut in front of the elderly couple to “hold the door open” when the “door” was the automatic sliding door at WalMart. Seriously.
When was the last time you, with a smile on your face, said to the cashier pumping your gas “hey, thank you so much! I greatly appreciate that you pumped my gas this morning.” Let’s be honest, before I took a step back, I wasn’t fully appreciating the fella pumping my gas at the gas station. I would hand him my card, not look him in the eye to tell him what I needed, and would dive into an email or text message that I felt was more important than showing this guy some appreciation. You want to see a drastic change? Wow.
What I did was this – I decided to treat him like a human – which he is and should have been treated correctly the entire time, I know – 
Taking initiative doesnt take money – it takes character.
B. It doesn’t take much time
The example above didn’t take long at all – I sat there getting gas.
Holding the door open for the elderly couple – didn’t take long. Well, longer than it would if I held the door open for a young adult, but you get what I mean.
C. There is very little effort on your part.
Now, I spent money this morning blessing someone, but it took very little effort on my part. I was at a coffee shop and this older lady walked up behind me to get in line. She started to grow frustrated with the new girl behind the counter trying to figure out the gift card system. I only found this funny because, that older lady didnt realize I was turning around to give her the card. The girls at the register didnt know either and were scrambling to please me when their machine was not responding to their requests to get the gift card.
They gave me the card and were really apologetic about the wait. That is when I did something completely unexpected and turned to the lady behind me and said “I hope you enjoy your breakfast this morning – it is on me.”
The shock and awe in the faces of the people behind the counter and the old lady was incredible. She was so appreciative she tracked me down to give me a hug and to just say “thank you.”
I can’t replace those moments. I don’t know all the dynamics of what happened this morning – but I do know that the world changed for the better in that moment and it didnt take much time – and it sure was easy 🙂
For more great insight on how you can change the world, please pick up your copy of Self Help 12 by following the link here –
https://www.amazon.com/SELF-HELP-Things-Drastically-Improve-ebook/dp/B019NR0N5M/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1465911763&sr=8-2&keywords=self+help
Or simply clicking here!
Best regards!
Andrew G. Wright Sr.
andrewwrightguru.wix.com/lifechange
Bear Grylls is a hero. We know him as a television survival expert with a cheerful attitude – but this book really identifies what Grylls really is- a difference maker.
This book and its companion auto-biography really help paint a picture of Grylls that we’ve not seen, but that we suspected was there all along.
Mud Sweat and Tears is filled with simple short chapters that can be read in a few minutes on the john. They are encouraging, challenging, and practical life lessons and proverbs to keep his readers on the right track.
The autobiography tells Bear’s story from his own perspective as a rowdy kid, a mountain climber, a british special forces soldier, and a husband and father. It’s moving, and encouraging. Read both the survival guide and the autobiography for best effect.
Hey guys!
Just wanted to drop a line about something that occurred this weekend.
I had just completed a workout – more on this in the future 🙂 – and I decided to cool off outside. I sat in our swing in the back lawn when the motion light finally went out. I sat in the dark and gazed at the PERFECT night sky – no clouds, just twinkling stars.
I live right off a busy street, so its nice late at night because the cars stop driving by and its just complete – silence.
Now, here was the awesome part. I started thanking God for how amazing his beauty is when I was reminded by the Spirit of the Living God of a message I had heard YEARS ago.
The summary of that message, mainly because my memory can’t do the entire 40 minute message justice, was the God did not come to Moses in the storms to rescue him. God didn’t come during the celebrations, but God came in the SILENCE.
When we are fully silent, and at peace – that is when God comes. Why? Because you FINALLY are giving your undivided attention. It is FINALLY one-on-one!
He longs the relationship with you – he longs the TRUE feelings.
I was able to pour out my heart to him and what I had going on. Fortunately, we are in an excellent place – nothing to really complain about – so it was nice having one on one time with “daddy-o.”
Do you take “timeout” with God?
Are you looking at your surroundings and taking advantage of it? When was the last time you just saw something beautiful and stopped to say “wow, God! You created all this! Thank you for this perfect image?”
Purchase How God Blows Me Away on Amazon today!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01AGRT4OE
Follow the link HERE to purchase today!