My Pet Alibi

"My Pet Alibi". Sort of sounds like those old stuffed mongrels from the 80's, "My Pet Monsters". My Pet Monster's name was Louise and he wore a jock-strap from a factory I once worked in for a whole week. Inspecting the inseams of jock-straps wasn't my forte, I guess. I was 20 years old and had just moved into my first apartment with very little clue on how I was going to make rent once my promising new career of fondling men's "junk girdles" was no longer an option. I had an apartment, a roommate who was also jobless and a smushed peanut butter and jelly sandwich I played catch with while walking my broke ass to my landlord's rental office to explain why rent would be late. I had very little to my name, no dignity, no sense of self-worth and I was living off my $500-limit credit card to buy toilet paper, with no money to pay back the card for said Scott Tissue Paper. I could go on, but you get the picture. Even back then, I could have had every excuse in the world as to why my life was so undesirable. I had every reason for my alibis of failure to work for me, because every alibi I had was nothing but the truth. "I don't have a car", "I don't have a job", "I'm sick", "I'm broke", "I have no one", "I wasn't taught I could go to college", "I just came out of an abusive relationship, I'm broken", "Armageddon is coming", "My family doesn't speak to me, I'm worthless," "No one will hire me"...the list goes on. I can remember thinking to myself: "I have to do whatever I have to do to make this work." I left every single thing behind that would hold me back from going up. Going up didn't and still doesn't come easy. Some of those "pet alibis" served me for a very short time and some for a very long time. With some, I knew if I didn't get myself out of the trap, I'd stay there. Other "pet alibis" I couldn't shake for years and they gave me all kinds of excuses to keep doing what I was doing. They became comfortable. Why do I keep calling them "pet alibis"? I read something this morning that made me think of this particular time in my life and how these alibis keep showing up. What I read was this: "Building alibis with which to explain away failure is a national pastime. The habit is as old as the human race and is fatal to success. Why do people cling to their pet alibis? The answer is obvious. They defend their alibis because they create them! A man's alibi is the child of his own imagination. It is human nature to defend one's own brain-child." ~Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill

Boom. Even now, I can come up with a few "pet alibis" or "brain-childs" of my own as to why I may not be exactly where I want to be or have what I think I should by now...etc. When in all honesty, the only thing that's been keeping me at bay from any personal success is...well...me and all the stories I keep telling myself. "I don't have time today", "I'm tired", "I just got home from work", "I wish my dad would talk to me", "I need to run errands", "Boy, the day just got away from me", or my personal favorite, "I'll do it tomorrow."

Any of these sound familiar? Or maybe this one rings true: "Next year is my year. 2016 was a bust. 2017 will be better." Will it? Why on earth will the last three days of the year continue to suck and once January 1st rolls around, suddenly the slate is wiped clean? If it only takes the flip of a calendar on the kitchen wall, then why not choke out those alibis once and for all every month? Every week? Why not every day? People used to put an 'X' for every completed day on a calendar, what happened to that? I still do it. Forgive the tangent, but it all sort of ties in together. What are your pet alibis? Ready to crush them?

#alibis #excuses #petmonsters #jockstraps #napoleonhill