Faith.

There's a reason for faith, whether it be faith in God or faith in yourself. Faith is something that is so empowering, it literally sets you free. It's the truth that there is liberation in believing.

So often, humanity falls into this rut of believing that life is so messed up that it can't be fixed. That might be true, but that sort of believing is not the same as faith. Those two words are not synonymous in all occasions.

The truth is... life is going to be the longest thing you'll do here on earth. And if you sit around and watch it pass you by, thinking that there's no point in making the most of because it's "short," when life comes to an end, you'll realize that you spent a whole lot of years doing nothing.

But believing in something greater, some higher purpose and organization... well, that's the kind of faith that can get you out of bed in the morning and let you take chances you never thought you would have ever taken. It's time for a change. It's time for some faith.

Sometimes all it takes is once chance at a blank slate.

Once upon a time, there was this guy named John Locke (you may have heard of him... he did a lot of important stuff and was called the Father of Modern Empiricism, or learning through experience). Locke believed that everyone was born a blank slate, with a mind that was pliable like wax. It could be molded and shaped through observation and experience.

Sometimes I think that humans go through life thinking that they can't start over, that "I am what I am" (Popeye the Sailor would be proud), and that life is progressive but we, as players in this tragedy called "life," are completely static, never changing. We have this mindset that we can't be the best because there's always someone better. It's like we're competitive to a point, but after a while, we just think that breaking is so much easier. What we wouldn't give for that blank slate. We want freedom. We want renewed passion. We want redemption.

I don't think we should give up on our dreams and goals so quickly. Why can't I decide to have a blank slate? No one ever said that both sides of the slate were written on because the future hasn't happened yet. I am constantly passing up opportunities to take the chisel and make my own d*** slate because I tell myself that I'm not good enough, not worthy enough. But that's the kind of mindset that got me messed up in the first place.

No, I can't go back and fix what's already been carved in the stone of my story. But I can surely start from where I am now and not let the choices that I've made in the past hinder where I currently choose to head. It's my time for a blank slate. It's time to let go and move on and accept that my life is going to be my own for once in my life. It's my tabula rasa, and it's sitting right in front of me for the taking.