RE2PECT

In the world of sports, there are fans of players and teams. These fans bleed their teams colors and don't care for other teams, especially their rivals. 

Derek Jeter, is one of the greatest athletes of all time. No matter what team you love or what players you root for, you must have RE2PECT for greatness. 

Jeter has represented how an athlete should handle himself. He has worked so hard, day in and day out, to be the best he can possibly be. Even though he has many awards and has many World Series Championships, not one of these awards or championships stopped him from continuing on his path to greatness. A big thing that athletes should take away from Jeter's career, is that you should never settle for good, when you can be great. Don't just be average, if you are going to put your heart and passion into a game you love, get something out of it. Don't let anyone bring you down or dot let anything keep you up. Stay humble and stay hungry. No criticism and no compliment should stop you from achieving greatness. 

Loyalty is a big thing that athletes struggle with, as do other people. When something goes wrong in high school, we want to give up the sport we love. In college, we don't like the situation and we want to transfer. In professional sports, it's all about who is going to pay me more instead of what is best for me as an athlete and person. Playing for the New York Yankees is not for everybody. That organization brings you in to perform at your best and win championships. In Derek's 20 year career, he has been the face of the 5 World Series they have won. Why? Because he performed at his best, not only sometimes, but all the time. He elevated his game when his team needed him most. He is first in almost every offensive category when it comes to playoff performance. Since Derek could handle pressure, handle success, and continue to be hungry for success, being a Yankee was the best position for him. And as you can see, the money takes care of itself. So there is no need to go after the biggest paycheck, if you are worth it, you will be on the team you need to be on and you will be rewarded. 

In whatever we do, we must realize that we are not the best, but we must strive to be the best. If you don't want to be the best in what you do for a living, stop doing it, there is no point if you don't give your best or don't want to give your best. If you find something that you want to be great at, the blessings and rewards of life will come more than you could ever imagine. 

Stay loyal to who you are, don't let anyone mess with your passion and goals. Don't let money get in the way of what you love. Do what you love and the money will come. You will be RE2PECTED and you will carry a legacy that will never die. Just like Michael Jordan, another one of the greatest athletes of all time, you will see Derek Jeter's highlights over and over and over again. He is going to leave a legacy that will touch on hearts all around the world. People will become better because of the example Derek has showed us. Thank you Derek Sanderson Jeter, for what you brought to me as a little boy and what you have placed in my heart. Which is a desire to always work and to always strive for greatness. 

"If you are going to play at all, you're out to win. Baseball, board games, playing Jeopardy, I hate to lose."

"You gotta have fun. Regardless of how you look at it, we're playing a game. It's a business, it's our job, but I don't think you can do well unless you're having fun."

"Obviously, you're known for what you do. But you still want to be known as a good person. You're a person a lot longer before and after you're a professional athlete."

"There may be people who have more talent than you, but there's no excuse for anyone to work harder than you do - and I believe that."

Simple vs. Complicated (Featuring Cleveland "Pancake" Thomas & Ebony Romero)

There are so many things in our lives and in our everyday situations that are identified as being simple or being complicated. There are times we catch ourselves trying to make things easier and there are times where we can make things harder on ourselves. Both methods can be good and can be bad in various ways.

In general, we go through stressful moments mainly because we tend to look at major situations in our lives that require a lot of thinking. It involves a lot of thoughts that do not necessarily need to be there. The lives we lead require a lot of decision making, and in those moments we get caught up in thinking what is right and what is wrong.

For simple thinking, this comes when we do not want to worry about something. We want everything to just fall into place and we assume it will. Simple thinking comes to us when we do not think about the consequences or the people we will hurt. It can also be caused based on emotion, from the range of happiness to anger. We can be so happy that we do not think twice on spending money for something we do not necessarily need. We can be so angry that we yell at a friend and you end up losing a friendship you needed. There are so many ways and examples that can be used. That is why I asked two other friends to help me write this post. I wanted to change it up a bit and show you perspectives of people I strongly associate with. Cleveland "Pancake" Thomas will write about, "Right versus Wrong" and Ebony Romero will write about, "How We Handle Relationships".

Cleveland "Pancake" Thomas: Right vs. Wrong

When I think of simplicity I think of doing the right thing and when I think of complexity I think of doing the wrong thing. It's only ONE way to do the right thing and there are so many ways to do the wrong thing. Not to mention, there are a lot of consequences that come with wrong decisions.

When you do the right thing or you make the right decision, you will see that life can be more simple and worry free. Right actions will lead to great benefits, but this does not necessarily mean that these benefits will come right away. Even when we do the right things, struggles and challenges can and will come with it. The benefits come when our right decisions pay off. We all have heard that hard work pays off, and hard work consists of struggling and facing challenges. Through this process, we must not complicate or question what we are doing if it is the right way. The people that become successful or are on the path to success, see struggles and challenges as apart of the process, hence the simple way to view your right decisions.

When you do the wrong thing or you make the wrong decision, things start to get more complicated and you start to question what is happening to you. Instead of benefits, wrong actions lead to consequences. We never know who we reach out to, whether it be in a positive or a negative way. So when do something negative or wrong, it usually means the people around us are going to be impacted in a negative way. From that, you will be negatively effected too in terms of networking and getting along with those people around you. You never know who is watching, people are quick to express their opinion when they see something bad happen. So getting into the wrong situations or making the wrong decisions can leave you with more problems than you already had.

Doing the right thing makes your struggles and challenges more simple and doing the wrong thing makes your struggles and challenges more complicated.

Ebony Romero: How We Handle Relationships

I think it can be a good and bad thing to take simple things and make them complicated and vice versa.

For example, the bad thing could be taking a good relationship we have with someone and complicating our thinking about that situation. This is where we think about that situation so much that we could begin to believe it is "too good to be true", rather than just seeing what you have for what it truly is.

On the opposite side of this concept, you could be in a bad relationship with someone where there is something negative happening that you should not tolerate (cheating, lying, etc.). So rather than seeing that it is NOT a good thing, we complicate the situation by trying to justify it. You think it is something good, when it reality, it is not.

I think this could relate a lot with overseeing our common sense. We do not trust in our initial instincts and most importantly, we do not trust in God 100% for particular things we go through. We tend to praise God for the good things and blame Him for the bad. When in reality, He blesses us with bad times so the good times are better. If you blame God, you complicate things.

We can be selective at times because maybe you have fear of losing something or someone. We try to manipulate or control the situation in order to get or keep something WE want. When in reality, we cannot control other people, we can only control what we do and the people will come and go in your life respectively. The RIGHT people will stay, the WRONG people will go.

Learning to trust God COMPLETELY can be struggling and challenging but you will get benefits and blessings. We want to lean on our own understandings that eventually lead to complicating things unnecessarily. Through right and wrong, simple and complicated, we can use the power of prayer to overcome these decisions we constantly have to make in order to lead to a successful life.

Let God reveal what he already had planned.

***

Great perspectives from both authors. Pancake really emphasizes that it is as simple as, what is right and what is wrong. Do the right thing leads to more simple and greater times, doing the wrong thing leads to more complicated and harder times. Regardless in both ways, you are going to struggle and face challenges.

Ebony is telling you that you do not need to worry about who is in and out of your life. You will be surrounded with support and the right people, if you have good intentions with your relationships. We want to hold on to certain people for certain reasons, but if you feel you are drifting apart and not getting along, then you probably are not meant to be associated with each other for the greater good of both of you.

It is important to have a source of hope, faith, and happiness. It could be any type of source, for me and the other authors, our source is the Bible. We figure out what is right and wrong through the teaches of the Bible. We have faith in God to where even when we go through bad times, we know it is refining us and we will see the greater good. We gain so much happiness with God because He provides the people that come and go in our life. Some leave for good reason, some stay for good reason, and we know that we are never alone because God is with us.

I know there are many sources of hope, faith, and happiness. However, whatever it is, you have to believe in that source 100%, or else you area going to complicate your life when it can be so much more simple.

Thanks for reading! I enjoy everyone's contribution to this cause. I think this is something that can be productive, not only for me, but for others that want to be impacted with a different perspective. Again, these are opinions and perspectives based on our own experiences. Everyone has there own way of doing things. My friends and I are just willing to share our perspective because we never know who it could effect!

Chris Perez
Cleveland "Pancake" Thomas
Ebony Romero
#YouServeHeProtects

What's Love?

Love is something we all struggle to define and we all want it. Nothing satisfies us more than being loved. In anything you do, the worth of doing it is to be loved by someone along your life journey. 

I saw this statement on Twitter a few weeks ago and immediately I wanted to challenge it. It's a statement that should be exercised, but some people don't follow this concept. 

Here's the statement: "As long as you stay the same person I fell for, my feelings won't ever change."

Sometimes we catch ourselves wanting to be in a relationship with someone based on their status and/or popularity. We see someone have a lot of followers on Twitter and on Instagram, we see them getting retweeted, favorites, and likes and from that bases, we think they are WORTHY. And most of the time, that's a good correlation - a person's popularity on social media can lead to them being a good person, well liked, and attractive. 

But what happens when you get into a relationship with this type of person? Now all of a sudden you can feel insecure, you see the many likes, you see the comments and you get angry or jealous that people are still liking their pictures. 

Maybe the person you are with is kind hearted and willing to help others, so he/she goes and helps a friend in need. But you get jealous of that because it may lead to something more. Maybe the  person you are with goes out and has fun but you get angry because they are having fun without you. 

So sometimes if you stay the same person I fell for, then my feelings will change. So if you fall for someone, understand why you fell for them and be aware of the pros and cons. Know what you sign up for when you get into a relationship. If you can handle it, if your LOVE does not turn into JEALOUSY and ANGER, your mutual love will be everlasting. 

Just a reminder, all my blogs are opinionated and not factual based. They are situational based. I have seen this happen to people and I have seen relationships turn out this way. I am not saying this has or will happen to you. 

Having said that, I want to get into the qualities of love. There are many qualities but I tend to focus on 4 when it comes to love with my family and friends: Love is kind, love is patient, love is NOT jealous, love is NOT arrogant. 

Being kind to someone is being happy and making them happy. If you are not happy with the person you "love", you don't have love. If you can't make that person you are with happy, then you don't have "love". I've learned that the biggest goal in a relationship, is to make sure I'm happy and make sure my girlfriend is happy. I was in a long distance relationship for my first 2 years of college. In October of my junior year, my girlfriend at the time called me wanting to break up. She told me she stressed out from worrying about me and wondering if I'm cheating on her and she just wasn't HAPPY. When she told me she wasn't happy, I left it at that, I left it with a clean break. Overall, I want someone to be happy, even if it is not with me. If I'm with someone, and they strongly feel they can be with someone better, who can make them happy, I encourage that. As we realize, sacrifice is involved in a lot things, and sacrifice is involved when pursuing happiness. 

Being patient falls hand in hand with being slow to get angry. One thing I try to work on now is that I don't get mad at my friends. Even if I think they did something wrong, I am not one to judge that. What I do is I let my friends know how highly I think about them and the good qualities they have. From there, my ideal response from them is to live up to those qualities. 

For example, I have been told that I am trustworthy and dependable. I've been told that I am unselfish, a good friend, a good coach. And I'm proud of these comments towards me. But I don't respond to them by thinking I've proven myself worthy. I got to keep proving these qualities everyday. If people think highly of me, I'm going to prove them right, not have them regret what they told me. 

Another thing about patience is knowing that it will get better. Maybe you are in a rough patch but if you mutually love each other, it will get better. Be that person that truly loves someone no matter what and that you will help them through everything; the good, the bad, the ugly. 

For me, I can't stand it when love turns into jealousy because that is not love at all. Jealousy is thee most UNNECESSARY emotion to have, we don't need it! We can remove jealousy out of our lives and live an improved life. Always look to encourage and support your loved ones when you have a desire to feel jealous. Turning your intended jealousy into encouragement and support, will go a long way. 

Love is definitely not arrogant. When you love someone you don't look to please yourself first. You look to please the person you love and in exchange, they will so the same. There is no scoreboard, don't keep score on who does more for the other. The love between two people creates a team, and that team has two MVPs. If you only have one MVP, then the team chemistry will mess up to where it could lead to a break up. 

Now I came up with this upcoming statement a few days ago and I'm sure the women are going to love this: Men can act as the devil of love.

Explanation of this, again it is situational not factual. So what a man can do in order to manipulate a woman, is to give a woman something they WANT or NEED. 

So maybe a man buys you that purse you've always wanted, or those shoes you've been dying to have, or you're at a club and he buys your drinks. So what this guy turns into, is the guy that gets you want you want. 

So you become attached to this man. And in order for the man to get what he wants, is to use the false (i.e. devil's) definition of LOVE. He tells you that he can promise a fulfilling life, he can buy you anything you want, he can tell you that you won't have to work another day in your life. And at first, it does sound promising. But what about that emptiness in your soul, where you had a passion. Maybe it was teaching, maybe it was becoming a lawyer, maybe it was helping others and changing lives. The man you are with took that away from you. 

What if that man cheats on you? And you have no leverage because you gave up everything to be with them. So he feels he has power over you. Overall, men can get you to believe in false love to where your passions and morals and self respect go down the drain. 

To finish, I want to quote a song that I encourage you all to listen to. It's called "Love" by Jaeson Ma featuring Bruno Mars

"Now Hollywood wants to make you think they know what love is. But I'm a tell you what true love is. Love is not what you see in movies. It's not the ecstasy, it's not what you see in that scene. You know what I mean? I'm telling you right now, true love is sacrifice. Love is thinking about others before you think about yourself. Love is selfless not selfish. Love is God and God is love. Love is when you lay down your life for another. Whether for your brother, your mother, your father or your sister. It's even laying down your life for your enemies. That's unthinkable, but think about that."