Best Piece Of Advice

One of my oldest and best friends came to me in a Facebook message and suggested that I write about the best piece of advice that I have ever received. I thought this was a very intriguing question and a lot of instances came to mind. Other than the advice to write this post, about three or four things came to mind when thinking about the best advice I have ever gotten.


"Take advantage of every opportunity"- One thing that sticks out in my mind happened during my senior year of baseball. I have always been a pretty decent ballplayer, with defense being my strong suit. My last season of high school ball had been going alright so far, I had played on and off throughout the first half of the season, but hadn't cracked the consistent starting lineup. We had a Saturday afternoon game against one of our district rivals and I was not in the starting lineup. In about the third or fourth inning, we were up to bat and our starting center fielder came up to bat. We had a few runners on and we needed to bunt them over. The next pitch came in and our batter was on the ground. He had squared around to bunt and the ball hit his hand and broke one of his fingers. He was no longer able to play and the coach called on me to finish the at-bat. I had struggled at the plate during the season and had to warm up quickly. I was finally ready and I stepped into the batters box. The first pitch came in and I took a swing and lined the pitch right back up the middle, nearly hitting the pitcher. I was safely aboard first base with a single. That's when my first base coach, who is one of my biggest inspirations, said to me, "Take advantage of this opportunity". That's when I knew that this was my time to showcase why I made the team. The rest of the season I played a very solid center field and came up with some timely hits at the plate. I started the rest of the season and felt very good about my year.

The second piece of advice isn't really advice. It is actually a movie quote, but it is one that has stuck with me and really made me think. It came from the movie Transformers, which is without a doubt my all time favorite movie. In this movie, the main character is trying to convince a girl to get into the car, which is a robot. He says to her, "50 years from now, when you're looking back on your life, don't you want to be able to tell people that you had the guts to get in the car?" I have grown quite fond of this statement and have used it in everyday life countless times, although I don't say "car". I feel like this is something that every person can use. Pause and take a second before turning down a risk or an opportunity. That's how I think of it and that's how I use it.

My third and final piece of advice that has made an impact on my life is actually from a recent song. The song is by Lupe Fiasco. Entitled, "I Don't Wanna Care Right Now", it is a very good song to listen to. The lyrics can be powerful. At the beginning of the second verse, Mr. Fiasco starts with "God over everything". This is a powerful statement that has hit me hard. It has become one of my favorite quotes and is something that I want to start living by. I believe a lot of people could live by this and use this in daily life. I had never heard this before this song.

Maybe these three things aren't all advice, but they are statements that I live by. They are forms of advice and can be used as advice by anyone for anyone. Finding phrases and quotes to live by is something that, I believe, can be beneficial for everyone at any time.