Day 60

Day 60. December 30, 2012

I spent some time today looking back at all the posts I have put on this blog. I’m incredibly pleased with the growth of no only my beard, but of my writing style. I went from a couple lines a day that just said, “hey my beard got longer. Good day,” to outrageously long posts like the one I had last night. This one will be another like the latter. I started getting into philosophical points on Day 7. I’m going to make a list here of all the things I learned throughout this experience, and, through me, I hope you learned as well.

 1.       Find something that means a lot to you and stick to it.

 2.       Figure out your weaknesses, and work to strengthen them.

 3.       Never compromise who you are, no matter what anyone says or thinks.

 4.       “The sooner you embrace change as an inevitability, the better time you'll have.”

 5.       Find any and every excuse you can to come together with your family.

 6.       History is being written right now, and you are closer than you think to having a full page in the history books.

 7.       Take every chance you can to do the right thing. Your original plan isn’t always the best one.

 8.       Live every day like it’s Thursday. (Day 29)

 9.       Love as much as you can. Read 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 and live by it.

 10.   Embrace the bad times, because, without them, the good ones don’t seem as good.

 11.   “When things seem the most difficult, that's the point in time where you need to stop worrying and start believing.”

12.   Even the saddest person in the world could take a step back and find something to be thankful for. 13.   “We're all put on this earth with a message to share, and it's somewhere deep inside us. It's up to us to find that message and share it with the world, because it's pretty special.”

 14.   No matter how busy you are, time stays consistent.

 15.   Surround yourself with positive people. It will rub off.

 16.   Take time to help someone in need, given the chance, no matter how busy you are. It will be worth it in the end.

 17.   The world needs more love stories, and it’s up to us to write them and live them.

 18.   Time is precious. We don’t know how much time we have left. Make every moment special.

 19.   The news is just a story without a conclusion. We need to be the ones to write it.

 20.   Surround yourself with people who you can have the best time with, no matter what you’re doing.

 21.   Miracles happen every day. Maybe not in the form you’re expecting, but they do.

 22.   Everything happens for a reason. Never lose hope. God is always with you.

With all those things in mind, I sadly, but lovingly bid you all adieu. This is my last beard post, and even though it's all coming to an end, I'm just happy that I could reach all of you through this medium. My beard was the main reason for starting this, but what kept me going was all of you. Keep being yourself, and never let anyone stop you from being the best you that you can possibly be.

Day 58-59

Day 58-59. December 28-29, 2012

So yeah I missed posting last night. To an extent, I'm a firm believer that the later you wake up in the morning (or afternoon), the better night you had, and this is true for me other than those times where you're having deep conversations with someone who is incredibly unhappy with you, which I'm sure we've all been through, but let's just call that the exception that proves the rule. This is coming from me, a guy who never parties or does anything illegal, outside of the harmless forkings. Friday night was an adventure, with a bunch of the guys finding a new place to hang out in a town we really weren't familiar with. When we meet new people, they immediately know we're fun-loving dudes. We were invited to go out and get plastered, but we decided against it, since we get silly enough just from being tired at 3am, and alcohol would just, quite frankly, make things dangerous, I imagine it like when Ricky Bobby thinks he's on fire, only we're all doing it in a very small area with a lot of breakable objects. It's funny how things happen for a reason, because me being up late turned out to set me up with a great conversation with someone I don't talk to enough, and this wasn't one of those aforementioned unhappy ones, it was quite the opposite. Like I was saying, I woke up at 1 or 2 pm after the craziness, which isn't too bad, all things considered. Today wasn't as exciting, going into the blustery snow to get wine coolers for new year's for my mom and her friends was the most exciting thing that happened (and just so we're clear, my mom never drinks either, and this is just for new year's). The lull from all the insanity gave me a chance to think about the upcoming changes, the main one being the year, but for most people, it's a new beginning. Every year, I make resolutions, and, over time, I lose all of the zeal that I had when I first made them. Sticking to things like that has been a big issue for me over the years, but I'm hoping that the experiences I've had keeping this blog for this long has been some foreshadowing of what is to come. Maybe one of my resolutions will be to keep my resolutions going. Hopefully that makes things harder to go back on. It seems like in years past, I have hit the new year ground running, with a good setup around me and a firm head on my shoulders, but this year... I'm not sure. I'm not saying that I don't have those things this year as well, but maybe it's just me wanting more out of life as time goes by, which I think we all should. I've told many people throughout the past week that I'm going to make sure 2013 is the best year I've ever had. It will be. I'm going to make sure of it. Resolution Revolution 2013. Make it, don't break it.

Day 57

Day 57. December 27, 2012

Lo and behold. I have clearly taken another step (or two) toward becoming an outward hipster nerd, and not just an inward one. You will note my battle-bear hoodie, which I enjoy thoroughly, since it's ironic and crazy. It seems to me that, looking back at the past few posts, I haven't talked about the actual beard in a long time. For those of you who don't have beards, which I assume is a few of you, I can tell you a couple things that you would think aren't necessarily true about having this thing on my face. One thing is that a lot of people have asked me if it's itchy. While I have had some problems with skin irritation in the past, this version of my beard has been nothing but glorious for me. It does keep me very warm, and I am extremely happy to have it in this crazy, blustery winter time. People have asked me if it's hard to keep in the definite shape it seems to be in. Actually I don't trim a whole lot, and I think that would be a lot more obvious if you were to see me in person. I have been asked if a lot more people find me intimidating with the beard, and my answer to that is that a smile seems to get rid of about ninety percent of the intimidation factor. I have had to deal with the fact that, relaxed, my face looks sad, for my entire life. I've been able to fix that by just smiling all the time. Then again, smiling all the time seems to fix a lot of other problems as well. That's all I have tonight. Sorry for those who were looking for something more philosophical tonight, but I figured a break from that would do us all a little good.

Day 56

Day 56. December 26, 2012

So 2012, yeah it's almost over. Is it just me or did the year just kind of... yeah. Part of me thinks that way, but part of me thinks that so much happened this year that I am an entirely different person than I was before. I shouldn't say that I am different because of the experiences, but I should say that I learned more about myself, and I'm happy that I am where I am. I do believe I once heard someone say that experiences don't change people, they reveal them. I could see where someone could argue both sides to that. Maybe I'm misquoting it. Either way, I think the year was the most life-changing for me, then again, each year seems to outdo the last for the most influential for me, which is a good sign I think. The people who sit idle and let life pass them by can argue that they didn't let anything bad happen, but those of us who go out and let the world shape us as people, we're growing and changing. Yes, a lot of experiences are ones that hurt us and test our faith, but can anyone really say that those negative experiences didn't make them better people in the end? Life is funny sometimes, and awesome sometimes. That being said, I wish to inform you guys, the readers, that I am so blessed to have you, and, with yesterday's post being the most popular I've had, I find it a little hard to say that Day 60 will be my last post on here. On that day, I will be looking back and going over the main points from the posts I've put on here. My goal was to help people through this, and if not that, just to give someone something to do. I am so happy that I have you guys, or else this whole thing would seem ridiculous and pointless. Rest assured, though, that even though the blog is ending, I will continue growing the beard. Someone mentioned a 1 year beard, and I couldn't say no to that, so believe you me, I'm moving forward. :)

Day 55

Day 55. December 25, 2012

Ah yes, Christmas Day. The only day in the year where I will voluntarily wake up at the crack of dawn without absolutely needing to. I reading through my Facebook news feed over the course of the day, from the midnight hour, where everyone posts their special personalized "Merry Christmas" status, expecting to get tons of likes for their attempt to spread the cheer, to the statuses and photos people post when they find out Santa brought them their special gift they always wanted, to the ones at night where people let the world know that the movie they just watched, in theaters or at home, is the greatest movie of all time. That being said, Les Miserables was one of the finest works in cinema history. I went in with the highest of hopes, and I was still blown completely away. My friends made fun of me, because, at several points throughout the movie, my sensitive side took over, and I was brought to tears. I keep telling myself that that rarely happens, but more and more works of media are doing that to me lately (Doctor Who also caused that to happen awhile back). If you haven't seen it, please do it. You'll love it. And now I'm looking to find a date and go see Django Unchained. Maybe that will make me feel more like a man. As the Christmas season came and is now beginning its descent in our hearts, something comes to mind. People often look for and hope for Christmas miracles, and are disappointed when one doesn't show itself to them. I like to think that Christmas miracles are alive and well. The fact that we still keep Christ involved, the fact that family is still a primary focus, the fact that people are still out there giving instead of receiving, those are all Christmas miracles. I think every day we continue to live and love is a miracle. Cherish the life you have, the feelings you feel, and the people around you. Now, that's something miraculous.

Day 54

Day 54. December 24, 2012

I woke up this morning with the hugest pain in my neck, and, more than 12 hours later, as I type this, the pain remains and has found a comfy home, it seems. You can tell from this picture that I walked around all day with my head tilted, like I'm trying to model for some beard-based monthly magazine (get me a subscription for that gold). That aside, Christmas Eve is always a day where my whole family comes together at my house and acts like a bunch of nutcases, since, well, that's what we are. I was able to step back at one point in the day and really think about how lucky I am. There are very few people in my family that live farther than a short drive away, and that has resulted in a great closeness. I can confidently say that I blame my family for me being the insane person I am today. The best point in the day, in my opinion, was when I heard my cousin's friend, who joined our family today in the festivities, say that we have a wonderful family, and we helped her make Christmas special. It's the kind of thing you can't entirely appreciate until an outsider (for lack of a better term) comes along and sees it from a new perspective. Merry Christmas everyone. :)

Day 53

Day 53. December 23, 2012

Christmas is so close, I can almost taste it. You would think that Christmas tastes pretty good, but it's actually very bitter. That's probably why we cover it up with cookies and sweets and stuff. There was literally no meaning behind what I just said. I'm just tired and saying things for the sake of saying things. I've been spending the last three days almost entirely with all the bros by my side. Now, the next two days are set aside for family, as they should be. With no real special gift on my mind and nothing I want more than anything in the world this year, I feel like it'll be a lot easier to focus on the true meaning of Christmas. Charlie Brown will be proud of me. Oh and Jesus too.