As hard as it is to admit, I have not always done the greatest job in life. Whether it was with my sports career, or more importantly my family. It makes me upset to think about the time that has flown by and has been wasted due to complacency.

I listen to a fair amount of motivational stuff to get me through gym sessions (or to the gym in some cases) and I heard one the other day that made me all but tear up because of how hard it hit home.

I wish didn’t take life so seriously. I wish I lived more. I wish I gave more happiness to my family. I was not always there mentally as a parent when my two oldest were younger. I worked, came home and simply existed. I am not proud of that and I wish I had it to do over. After my divorce in 2011. I feel I completely changed that around and after the last many years they have lived with me, I know that I have lived to make sure they grew up knowing their worth and preparing them for this shit-show we call the real world.

I wish I knew, back then, how precious life was, how fleeting, how special and at the same time fragile and insignificant. My oldest two are now 18 and 14. Thank God for the fact that I still have the rest of my life to enjoy and be there for them. They will do great things but I wish I could turn back time to be a more intricate part of their younger years.

One day life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it is worth watching.

When I look back on my lives, with my last breath, we I wonder, “Did my life mean anything? Anything to this world? Was I loved? Did I have an impact on anyone else’s life? Did I matter?”

Some things mean more to me than others. I feel that I do not live based off of other people’s opinion of me. If I cared what everyone has thought about me, I would not be where I am today. I am happy right now with most of my life. While depression does creep in because of debt and other things that I keep from my family, I love my wife and my children and they are my reason, my Why. They are why I keep pushing and trying to be the best version of myself. I want my life to have meaning and I feel like it has some meaning now, but there’s so much more to add to that.

I hope I impact my family in a way that they will be able to be proud of me in their thoughts and their words even after I am gone.

I hope I show my wife the love she deserves and I hope I show my children (all 4 boys) how to grow and make something of themselves.

I hope I helped anyone I have coached to understand who they are as a person and how their attributes on the wrestling mat will carry over to the real world….. how they conduct and carry themselves through the rest of their life matters more than any amount of medals or championships they may win.

Before you reach that last breath, today might be the time to make a change. Make your life matter. One day it will be over. There will be two dates on each side of a dash. Make sure the dash is not empty.

Oscar Wilde once said, “To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.”

Don’t just simply exist, be extraordinary. Don’t take anything or anyone for granted.

Ask yourself what is important to you, what dreams do you have? Go get them. You only have one shot. If you miss the target, at least live knowing that you have no regrets.

Don’t take this magical thing called life for granted. Master your dreams, no matter how small, when everyone else is giving up on theirs.

Leave your legacy.