It all started with a voice.

You could say that the inevitable happened, and it happened at a time when man became too comfortable in its own glory. Confused? Let me tell you a story of man meets destiny.

It is 2189, and we have explored our galaxy in all matters of the word. The first colonies have begun on Mars and 6 space stations are up and running orbiting 3 planets. While Earth is still very much alive and well, man’s ambition has finally reached it’s full potential. The ability to go where no man has gone before, but as always, we as humans need more…

This is not an epic saga. This is exactly what you think it to be.

“Awake”, said a mysterious voice. It was a voice unlike any other, its other worldly presence seemed to resonate within the walls of my room and within me. I suddenly arose, beads of sweat dripping down my face. Hands cold, body cold, yet so hot all around. Again the voice spoke, “The time for a new hero’s story is to begin…with you”. 

For a short moment it was completely silent. The usual hum of the ceiling fan had no sound. The cars zooming by on the highway behind me were no longer existent. I couldn’t even hear myself breathe. This is the part where I, still to this day, question myself “Why me?”.

As if the weight of the world was being forced upon me, I was pushed down into my bed. The noise that had been silenced now had been thrown together in a sharp yet dull echo. The room, no my house, was starting to crack from the pressure emanating from within me. It was happening to me, caused by me. But why? 

The pain of not being able to breathe, combined with the head splitting noise was enough to just lie there and let whatever wanted to kill me, do so. As I lie there, screaming in agony, I feel warmth. Not a fiery, hellbringer warmth, but a bright summer ocean warmth. Then that voice that had awoken me, all to be subjected to pain unlike any other spoke once more for the final time “The life you once knew, the man you used to be…that is no more. Your story begins, now.” 

“My story? My damn story?! Are you kidding me? Here I am on my bed as if a damn planet is slowly crushing my body, and you want my story to BEGIN now!? Who the fuck are you?! And why is this happening to me?!”, I yell in agony and deep confusion. Then it stops. Everything.

The ceiling fan back to its normal hum. The zooming of the cars on the highway. Even my breath. I wish I had someone to run in and check on me, but those days were over. Funny, here, the most frightening, yet calming, and oh so painful moment in my life, all put back to normal as if nothing ever happened…and no one to see if I’m okay. 

I lay there in bed, thinking of them. My wife, my baby girl and how they took them away from me. How I wish they would come and hold me. How I could just see their faces one more time. Or see my wife’s beautiful smile and hear her warm laugh one more time.

But thats not possible any more. I hesitate to even check to see if im still alive. I move my hands, my toes…all there. I can still move. Despite the feeling that a rocket was being forced down on my entire body, I seem to be okay. No cuts, bruises. No blood. One thing is different though. I seem to have been branded on both my forearms with 6 distinct symbols.

I am beyond understanding what they are. They look as if they are alive though. 

Then it starts; the one moment in my destiny that would define who I am. 

Screams come from the neighbors houses around me, glass breaking, car alarms going off. Is it coincidence that the voice, the pain, the symbols, the panic in the streets all came at the same time? I think not. I look outside, and it literally is hell on earth. 

Jets flying, rows of military style marching, fire in all directions. But there are others, not human. Not from any other country, not from this world. They march with what seem to be rifles, but much larger with a orange glow. Their tails, spiked, jagged edges coming to one sharp point, and from the looks of it, about 7 feet fall. 

“Please dont tell me, I’m supposed to fight these guys.”, I tell myself. Just to be clear, I’m a nerd. I have loved comic books since I was a kid. I was a fan of the X-Men, Superman, Batman, all those childhood superheroes that all had a traumatic story to begin with and ended up being the hero. But are you fucking kidding me? This doesnt happen. 

I jump back into bed. I turn on some music and force myself back to sleep. “I’m dreaming. You’re dreaming. Just close your eyes and go back to sleep. This never happened.”, I say to myself. Once my personal pep-talk subsided, I get a clear message from the universe. The raid that I thought was fake, the fire that I thought had to have been some sort of childs prank was slowly surrounding me. More shots are fired, then all of a sudden a loud crash takes place outside of my room. I can hear those things walking towards me, their tails edging my walls as they walk down the hall. 

And just as the door opens, with my heart beating 1000 miles a minute, one of those symbols on me starts glowing bright blue. Before I see the creature enter my room fully I can feel myself being sucked into a different plane. As if my insides are being pulled out of me and the rest of my body dragged along for the ride.

Once the howling and awkward feeling of being torn to shreds, pulled apart, then put back together ends, I wake up on what seems to be nice hard cement. “At least I didnt fall here”, I say to myself. What happened? One moment I’m on my bed about to face the thing that tore through my house, and the next I’m sitting on a cement slab in the middle of an empty, pre-constructed, neighborhood. 

How did I end up here? Why did I magically teleport here? Couldn’t I have teleported to a beach in Hawaii? Or to a cruise ship on the Caribbean? I need a better imagination. Here I am, about to be murdered by a tall, tailed, beast like creature and I move to a cement block in an empty, to-be-developed neighborhood, about 20 minutes from my house. This “story” of mine should be interesting if things keep happening the way they have been.

I wonder if the comic book’s heroes, if they were real of course, felt as awkward as I do now. As I walk down the street, I can smell the burning of houses and the leaking of gas coming from the distance. The smoke is slowly engulfing the air around me. I know now that I am not sleeping. I am different. The life I once knew, the man I used to be, for one thing that is definitely all gone. If I survive this, I’ll make sure to write it down, maybe I can have a movie made after me. What ever I find there, whatever is happening, theres no turning back now.

I still have so many questions. I don’t even know where to begin. Its not like I have anything to lose, right? All I know is, that I am finally “awake.”

The reality is that at some point in the near future, we are going to separate ourselves from the “norm” or the routine that we have placed upon ourselves with those we love most. “We”…all those who have created bonds with select few since that fated first interactions in life, whether since birth or the first day of college

It is those bonds that we have forged through fire that have kept us sane, strong, weak, happy, sad.

But what happens in the real world. This is a term that has haunted many people since we first heard it either from parents or teachers who:

1. Wanted to create a somber existence of what life is like outside of their home 
2. Wanted you to be so afraid of what life would be like outside of high school or college, that you would be forced to take that next level of education just to avoid such a gastly existence.
3. Wanted you out of the house. Period. They love you, just not enough to have you around more than you need to be

“Get a job in the real world”…even saying it sounds like nails on a chalkboard. Think about it. We work every ounce in our existence to get through high school then college then grad school, all still to be thrown into the middle of the real world. With what? A piece of paper that tells other people what kind of classes you’ve been taking and whether or not you went to a school/college of whom they follow their respective favorite sport.

I probably sound like Im downing the whole damn educational system, and for all intents and purposes…I am. Lol. Maybe I’m bitter about the whole thing. Here I am in the middle of the damn United States, in the middle of Indiana, with quite possibly the most uninteresting entertainment with people who are just overly nice. All because I have a paper that says that I’m good at working in a hotel and with people. Yeah so I spent a few years actually working towards this stuff, but I guess I’d be less let down if I actually went and did something that I love. Dont get me wrong, I like my job, but I dont love it. Those of you who know me, I simply see this as a stepping stone as a way to oust that inner need to be something more.

Which brings me to my point:

Do something that you love

We all have heard it before, but look at it. We are getting older. Pretty soon we will all move away from our friends, family, relatives. Not because we want to (there are exceptions…) but because the call to get out of bed every morning, that spark that you need to Pick Yourself Up and Decide to Be Something More than just what your childhood/teenage dreams led you to. They got you thinking about the future. Time to do something about it.

As you look and try to figure out what is best for you, dont hesitate to look at those options that could emotionally hurt the most. At the end of the day you have to answer the call of whether or not you just want to live life with the potential of the same routine that youve been living OR take that chance to be vulnerable, to be out there..alone, in a new reality. You have to ask yourself whether or not you see yourself being something more than going through life or actually living! 

I was asked the other day if it was worth it to move away from home. My response, ultimately was yes. If I had found a better city to move to, then probably I would have answered yes. But I believe I would have moved, just the same. I wanted to put myself out there.

I wanted to create something better within me to just tell myself that I could be better than what I thought of myself.

To those who are at that tipping point, asking yourselves, where do I go from here…whats next…what do I do in the real world? Separate yourselves from the norm and take life by the reins. Do the unexpected. I’ve found that when you do something unplanned, it doesnt always go perfectly (lets face it, it could actually be a bad decision) but what did happen is you took an opportunity ran with it and surprised yourself. When that ultimate goal of doing what you love is well within reach, a path unobstructed by the road blocks of pre-adult life, even though you very well know that it could make you cry. Go for it anyways. Like I said:

There will always be your family, friends, those you love and have loved. There will always be a place called home and people to tell you that they love you. But there wont be another chance to replay life’s opportunities.

Take that risk that puts you on edge and If you fail Pick Yourself Up, know that people are behind you all the way. And then decide to be something more than someone who gave in and went back to the “norm” or to what was safe. Let that goal to finally be doing what you love drive you all the way and dont stop til you get there. Because once you do, those bonds that we have forged through fire that have kept us sane, strong, weak, happy, sad have also led you through the real world, but more victorious than you began.

Just keep saying to yourself, whats done is done, you cant change the past.

You just have to keep moving on and doing what you think is right.

It may not be always the correct way, and thats okay, we are human, we make mistakes.

But, as long as we gave it 100% of ourselves, and it still didnt work out, it just wasnt meant to happen that certain way…It doesnt mean we should give up trying.

It just means we have to keep moving on, going on that journey,

…until one day you just find true happiness…

in the fact that youre a better person for taking the first step forward.

Always give something a chance, no regrets, just opportunities to grow and learn.