I found one of the responses of my column last week was, “Why don’t you conform to what is given to you?”
I was thinking back to my coaches from Newton telling me to strive for more. If something was standing in your way, smack it in the mouth and let them know you will be here all night long.
It’s beginning the journey of finding your niche in life. I have been told, “You haven’t found your niche,” but simply put, it’s being that guy.
It’s about being hungry for more and the greatest thing is that although he is older, a bit on the chubby side and has a bit more pain moving around, something has never left — it’s the idea of Newton Magic. I remember having a chance to meet Jason Momoa, the Waukee native who played the title character in “Conan the Barbarian.” It was great to have a chance to see a movie with the actual star. I found out he was truly an amazing guy. I got to ask him what part of the Conan character most resembled you.
He said with a smile, “I live, I love, I slay, and I’m content.”
I asked him about what he felt that meant.
I remember him saying, “It’s about life. I found no matter if I look back to when I was in high school, or now making films, it has always been about living life and making the most of everything of I do and every opportunity. It has been about loving like crazy, knowing you may only have one chance to truly fall in love with something or someone, so make the most of it.”
I slay is about taking everything that stands in your way, smacking it in the mouth just to say I will be here all night. I’m content is, simply, at the end of the day being able to have a smile on your face while doing it all.
I have found a lack of that in my life, but most of all in people around me. I found myself playing games with my nephew during the day, but knowing after he finishes his Mighty Kids Meal — and asks for more nuggets — I will have to go back to work.
I had the chance to work with the youth group in my church. We ended up playing Bible tag, in which your only safety was saying a book of the Bible.
At the end of the session, I was talking with pastor Jessica Petersen about how well it was going. I found myself truly living life for my passion of working with kids.
I was thinking about the poetry of an amazing country song. I have found many of my friends saying one of two statements “Country music is all the same” or “Traditional country music has died.”
Country music has changed because society has changed, but one thing has never changed — it has been about passion for life. It’s about falling in love again with something that may be a hopeless romance, but for one song, it comes alive.
I find myself laughing at slay, but Jason was right. In life, people, or things, stand in your way to try to stop you from being the best. I find myself remembering the words of my offensive and defensive line football coaches right from the first play, smack them in the mouth and let them know you will be hitting them that hard all night long.
I am content because at the end of the day, I do all of this to have the chance to hang out with the boys. It’s about picking up the microphone on karaoke night and being able to put on an amazing performance.
It’s about falling in love and knowing when you see this one person your right where you need to be. It’s about conquering anything standing in your way from being the best.
I know I may talk about myself a lot, which may be a downfall to most, but in the end my niche is that in my columns I will only take you where I have been because who am I to tell you about something I don’t even know about.
If you can’t understand that, I can only tell you this: it’s a “Red Pride thing” and it’s truly the only thing you need to get to know, because it runs rampant in this town. It’s why I am your Hometown Kid.
In the end, you can hashtag it, or make it trend on Twitter because it doesn’t matter because it’s about tradition. It’s about being about that life, which a great man put it into a simple phrase “Character First, Last and Always.”