To me, the most important element of life cannot be found in riches, castles, or titles, it’s found in my family and in my friends. They are my motivation, my loves, my reason to push onward and past my limitations (blindness, 70% hearing loss, and DISH). Every certification, title, every piece of creativity, every degree, every piece of music I write, my poetry, it is all them. 

My friends are my extended family, close as blood, brothers from another mother and sisters from another mister. Family and friends are my riches, they mean more to me than gold and diamonds, they are a constant source of love and support. 

I am highly selective of those I keep in my circle, predominantly because I try to keep people around me who inspire and motivate me. I will not let negative people, perpetual victims, nor the intellectually zombified around me or those I love. My love is saved for those deserving of it, people who have my back and know that I have theirs in like kind. 

Those who say, “You can’t,” “That’s impossible,” or the all-time worse one, “I wouldn’t waste my time,” are amongst the least welcome. If you support me, show me love, or inspire me, you’ll get the same back ten-fold every time. 

Life is a journey, it’s an adventure and you can only go so far in it, as the energy you surround yourself with, so I choose carefully. If someone brings you down, if someone makes you feel less like the one of a kind original you are, no matter who it is, they should be cut out of your life. This is why I have accomplished so many of the things people ask, “how?” 

My friends and family are everything to me, I would die and kill for them without hesitation or second thought. My every heartbeat speaks their names, even when we don’t converse over long periods of time. Always together, always and forever!