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Forging is a process used to shape iron by hammering while hot. Iron must be worked with at high temperatures in which the hammer is used to shape the iron. A hammer is then used to mantle the iron while hot. This is the only way to shape iron. After your work with the iron is done it must be quenched with cool water. This is the life of a blacksmith. This is my life. After each and every battle (struggle) that I have faced I sharpen the edges that have become dull. With time I have refined much like a sword.

After every battle I go back in the shop and I go to work. I think about what I did wrong and what I could have done better. I know that with every battle I will not come out the victor and that is ok. I don't need to win every battle to win the war but just the right ones. Right now I am gonna say life is a war that I will win. I am sharpening my sword for the next battle. I am the soldier. I am the blacksmith.

It's all about how you see life. The glasses I have seen through 10 years ago or even 5 years ago are not the same I wear today. I think different. I look different. I see different. I even love different. My DNA is different. I have evolved and that is the point of life; to evolve higher. Many of us get caught up in the struggle. Some of us struggle because we are trying to be something we are not. We look at an image and think I want that or I gotta have that. The struggle starts as soon as we have those thoughts.

Some time last week me and a coworker were having a discussion about the way she was dressed. She was wearing clothes that maybe a 14 yr old would wear but she is in her late 40s. She stated that people talk about how she is dressed and they wish they could be like her. Then she said that she was in a competition with the younger women. "Competition is good for people. We need It." she said. She then went on to state that "competition is good for people because it helps you be better. Without competition we would not know who is better like The Olympics." Countries all over the planet get together at one location and compete to see who is the best in each and every sport. It gives a country bragging rights. Women also compete with each other as to who looks the best. Look at the beauty pageant for a minute. Here we have women from every state in North America competing to see who is Miss America. Women that fit what look? What standard? You win and it does what? Boost your ego. A short boost to your ego. You then feel what? The best but that doesn't last long because soon after you are searching for something else to boost your ego, your esteem. Someone else to be better than.

Competition is programmed in the minds of the people. They believe that everything is a competition. This society is built on who has it and who has it better. Who does it better. Being the best is something that everyone wants to be but by whose standards? Who cares who is better?
This country programs competition in the minds of children which then grow up to be competing adults. You have people that watch celebrities for the latest in fashion. People have grown so accustomed to looking at everyone else that they forget to stir their own damn pot. Competition is just the start of unhappiness that leads to jealousy and envy. Or is it? You will never be like that person but you can one up them but at what cost?

I disagreed with her idea of competition. Competition is such a negative thing to be in. What I do is allow other people to INSPIRE me. There is a difference between COMPETITION and INSPIRATION. When I am inspired it moves me to be a better, higher me and not to be better than someone else. I no longer desire to be better than anyone else. Competition was the idea of the old me. I wanted to be better than someone else because I knew I would receive acknowledgment for it and it would inflate my ego. Now I long to be the best me and Inspiration is the new way I think. I look for ways I can be a better Mother, Daughter, Auntie, Sister and Lover. I have learned to stay in my lane. I'm fine with my lane. I no longer feel like some one is better than me because I understand we are all trying to reach the same destination. Some of us are just taking different routes and different cars and I'm ok with that. I love what I drive and the path I am taking. If I choose to change my vehicle or route it will be because I choose to and not because I want to better than any other driver.

The problem here is that individuals do not accept who they are. We look to the media to dictate what is the ideal. We are not perfect like the images and ideas are on TV. Even the images and ideas don't work because they are not perfect. Accepting who you are will help lead you to a more fulfilling life. Stay in your lane. Don't look to the left or to the right to compare yourself. That will only lead to frustration because you will never be anyone else but yourself.

Around seven years ago I would have agreed with her idea about Society needing competition. It allowed me to compare myself to someone else. It allowed me to know where I stood compared to those individuals. I never was the jealous or envious type but in my head these individuals were my competitors and they didn't even know it. But one day I woke up and realized that I did not want to be Melissa or Roxanne. I was me and no one else could be ME. There was only one Me. I set my own standard. I walk my own path. I love the way I want. I sing the way I feel and all is well with me. If I fall I know it's ok. I pick myself up and I keep going. I allow myself to feel whatever it is I'm feeling. I feel myself out of a situation. Advice is good from a select few but your heart knows what is best. Are you listening to your heart? Are you paying attention to how u feel? Are you staying in your lane?