Archives For bikes

HECTOR’S SEARCH FOR HAPPINESS: PART 4

Today is the last day in the series that I’ve been writing called Hector’s Search for Happiness.  I hope you guys have enjoyed it and that somewhere in this stuff you’ve found something to take to heart and chew on.  My ultimate goal in this and in anything that I write is to encourage and build you up.  My life isn’t awesome everyday by any means and I have my share of daily struggles, but just like anyone else I want to be happy and I want my life to matter.  Your life matters and I believe that every person on this earth has a purpose.  Figuring out that purpose should be your daily mission and in doing so I feel that you will learn a lot about yourself, which brings me to my first list for today which is Loving Yourself.

HAPPINESS IS LOVING YOURSELF

I’ve traced my life back as far as I can remember and I don’t think that I ever really struggled with self esteem issues.  I don’t feel like I’m a great looking person and I do have about 10 – 15 lbs to lose around my waist line, but my confidence doesn’t come from how I look, it’s just the way that I’m wired.  For some, self confidence will come naturally while for others it has to be taught and developed.

If there was one ultimate source for happiness I feel that it will come from how you feel about yourself.  This can come from how you view yourself physically to how you feel about your purpose in the world.  This morning the comedian Amy Schumer was on the Today show and she talked about how walking in self confidence has not always been easy but that she has found her stride and she is doing what she can to encourage others.  In Amy’s words she’s not a “skinny” person and in one of her comedy bits she describes what goes on under her clothes as a lava lamp, where everything just moves around all lazy and slow, waiting to be released with the unzipping of the back of her dress.  It’s great that she can make fun of herself through her comedy and she does a great job of using humor to lift people up.

If we can learn anything from Amy it’s that size doesn’t matter and it’s all about what’s in your heart.  Who you are as a person is more about what’s going on in the inside that what the world sees on the outside.  I have encountered some very shallow people in my life who are beautiful people physically, but unfortunately lack substance and heart.  While on the other end I know people who some may say are overweight and not that physically attractive yet they have hearts of gold and are making a difference in the world.  Those are the people that I want to know and those are the kinds of people that we can learn from.

Focus on finding your place in this world and surround yourself with “beautiful” people with “beautiful” hearts.  Build one another up daily and in doing this it will undoubtedly help you with your own self confidence.  Also, don’t fall into the trap of comparing yourself to others on social media, which can be one of the biggest confidence killers.  Know that everything that we see online is not the real world and your friend’s photos of how awesome their life is and how happy they are on vacation or at the beach is not the whole story.  If you’re not careful you’ll find yourself comparing your life to others and beating yourself up because you can’t post amazing before and after fitness photos from your bathroom.

HAPPINESS IS RIDING MY BIKE

When I was 12yrs old and we moved to Spring Branch into some huge new apartment complex called Afton Village.  I give the apartment name because I would love to hear from anyone who lived there as well back in the day.  That place was seriously it’s own little city and I have some great memories from that one year of living there.  One of my fondest memories was seeing BMX freestyle in person for the first time in my life.  I remember walking through the complex and being stopped in my tracks as I saw someone playing around on their bike about 100 yards away.  I was mesmerized by what I was seeing and it changed my life forever.  Not long after seeing this my mom bought me my first BMX bike and I rode the hell out of that thing.  I slowly began trying to do whatever tricks I saw that guy do at Afton and by ninth grade I become one of about 20 other BMX flatland riders in Houston.

I can truly say that my bike changed my life.  I loved riding and it was my passion throughout high school and I feel that it kept me out of a lot of trouble.  Me and my friends spent hours and many late nights on the weekend riding in parking lots and learning new tricks.  I remember coming home from school, not being able to wait to get on my bike and hit the park tennis courts to master that one trick that I had been trying to learn for the past 2 – 3 months.  I had found a passion and something I truly loved and it made me happy.

There were several years in the 90s where I abandoned my BMX bike and got into mountain biking and even had a short stint as an aggressive inline skater.  LOL, yes, I skated and I would have to say that I became very good at it, buut by 1998 I caught the BMX bug again and picked up where I left off in 1990.  Since then I haven’t slowed down and riding my bike and being involved in the cycling community is a passion of mine that makes me happy.  I’m sure I’ll be riding around this weekend so keep an eye out for me and don’t run me over.

Friends, love yourself, love others, find your passion and run with it, do what you love and do whatever it takes to be where you’re supposed to be, don’t settle for anything less than what brings true happiness and change the world around you.  And if you don’t own a dog or a bike, get your ass out there this weekend I find both.  That will be your homework for the weekend.  Trust me, you’ll be a very happy person by Monday.

Happy weekend.

@hectorgarciahtx

 

 

 

 

Posted on October 16, 2015 In Blog, Life, Personal Growth, Religion, Resources , , , , , ,
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IT’S ALL ABOUT WINNING

Saturday mornings at the Garcia house always involve two things, coffee and TV, oh and checking emails, oh and dogs.  As I sit here doing a little work and sipping on a hot cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee, the movie Kicking and Screaming is on, featuring Will Ferrell, the funniest man in the world.  Haha, all Will has to do is stand there and he cracks me up.

The movie is about a kids soccer team, coached by Will Ferrell, who is the worst coach ever and who’s only concern is winning games.  For him it’s not about the kids but is only about destroying the other team.  As the movie progresses, Will’s obsession gets out of hand and the kids and their parents have to witness him literally become a crazy man on a mission to win the championship.

During the last game of the movie he comes to his senses, as he realizes how much damage he’s done, especially to the relationship with his son.  He makes amends and as he addresses the team before their last game he says these words, “It’s not about winning . . . it’s about having fun”.  We’ve heard this line so many times and it usually has to do with sports and team work, but when I heard it this morning I immediately thought about how much this applies to relationships.

Over the past couple of weeks or more, for some reason, I’ve found myself providing counsel to friends in relationships and I’ve amazed myself at what comes out of my mouth.  Recent life circumstances and situations have given me a new appreciation for life & love and I have a sincere desire to see couples succeed and be happy with one another.  I want to see them thrive and build each other up, and even with couples who have been together for a while, I want to see them be strong for one another, continue to grow, and not lose site of who they have by their side.  If there is a lot of love there, then my desire is to always see love win, because a strong deep love is what will always get you through some of the toughest times with one another.  If you give up on that love, then you give up on each other, and well, we know what happens from there.

When i heard the phrase this morning “it’s not about winning, it’s about having fun” I thought about how serious couples can make a relationship and forget about having fun with one another.  I know that sometimes life can take over and consume us, but don’t ever stop having fun with your partner, wife, or husband.  Life is too short to be so serious all of the time and if you can’t have fun with your mate then something is wrong.  Your mate should be your best friend and the person that you enjoy being with more than anyone.  Don’t allow work or even the kids to get in the way of ensuring that your relationship is fun, spontaneous, and alive.  You two will be useless to your kids if their parents are in a cold dead situation.

It’s the weekend, and a long one, get outside.  Go ride bikes.  Find some live music playing somewhere and call the baby sitter.  Go play.  Do something you haven’t done yet and enjoy each other.  Let the weekend include lots of hugs and kisses, and yes, maybe even some Netflix.  Haha.  We all know what happens when Netflix is on.

Have a good weekend everyone.  Let love win, and have fun.

@hectorgarcia

Posted on September 5, 2015 In Blog , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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Quit acting like an adult and grow up.

May 1, 2010 — Leave a comment

hectorbike

It’s not a secret that I love riding bikes.  Anyone that knows me or kinda knows me understands that most of what i do in life revolves around the bike industry.  I’ve been riding bikes all my life, or at least since I was like 7 or 8, and since I was in high school I’ve been attempting to kill myself by doing stunts and tricks on any kind of bike I can get my hands on.  It’s what I do and it’s basically who i am.  🙂

There’s something about riding a bike that I really can’t explain.  And i know lots of other people that feel the same way.  But last night, while hanging out with some friends one of them explained this in the most simple way ever.  I brought up the subject and stated “Man, I don’t know what it is, but i LOVE just getting on my bike and riding”.  I followed that with “there’s just something about riding that I can’t explain.  What is it?”.  Without much hesitation or thought, my friend Miquel stated “it’s because it makes us feel like kids again”.  And there it was.  The easy explanation to it all and the most accurate that I’ve ever heard.

Go through a neighborhood or pass by a park during a nice day and you’ll see kids having fun on their bicycles.  What do kids seem to always want for Christmas?  That’s right, they want a bicycle.  Riding a bicycle allows us to go fast, it gives us a little more power, and the ride, simply put, is just FUN!

No matter how old you are, there’s a desire in all of us to be younger.  Some of us go as far as wishing that we were kids again.  A kid’s #1 goal every day is to have as much fun as possible.  They don’t have to worry about bills, performing well at their job, taking care of a family, or any other type of responsibilities.  They exist simply to have fun, and that’s the life that we would all love to have again.

But why wish to be younger or be a kid again?  We’re adults.  We can come and go as we please.  We can drive a car.  We can stay out as late as we want, and if money permits, we can buy whatever “toys” we want.  We have the time and power to have as much fun as possible.  If i want to get on my bike and go for a ride at midnight, I can do that.  If I want to go to the beach today, i can do that as well.  Basically, being the adults that we are gives us the power to be as much of a kid as we want to.

I guess this is how I live.  I don’t allow my age to dictate what I can and cannot do.  Of course my body will remind me at times that I’m not a teenager any longer, but I’ll at least give it the opportunity to tell me that.  I live day to day like everyone else, but I like to mix my thinking with what a kid would normally wake up thinking.  “How much fun can I have today?”.  Let that be your question today or tomorrow morning.  Allow the “kid” in you to come out regularly and have fun.  Life is too short to be an adult your whole life.  Enjoy your weekend and thanks for reading.

– Hector

In Blog, Life , , , , , , , , ,
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