Contest Winners -- Things I Learned This Past Week

First thing's first. Here were the winners of this past weekend's giveaway:

- Rob: You win a free shirt from OurShirtsDontSuck.com, plus an Invite to Gentlemint.com

- Dave: You win an Invite to Gentlemint.com.

If both of you could e-mail me, I'll get with you about how to collect your prizes. Thanks for playing!

Picking the winners for this contest was not difficult. Why's that? Because a total of two people participated. I'm not whining. Seriously. I learned a few things.

+ Don't do contests on weekends. Moreover, don't do contests on HOLIDAY weekends when very few people are reading blogs and definitely not participating with them.

+ This site still has a ways to go. That's disheartening. I want to be huge. Now. With that said, reality checks are needed from time to time to keep me grounded. Thanks reality. I appreciate it. ha.

I also learned the following this past week:

+ Just because you can mix vicodin with muscle relaxers, doesn't mean you should. I happened to do so a couple days ago to help aid my falling asleep after injuring my neck in a freak grocery carrying accident. It wasn't a good idea. I'll leave it at that.

+ Following your dream is scary and loaded with peaks and valleys. I had a serious freak-out moment last week, where I laid in bed, staring at the ceiling, wondering if I'm being really stupid and irresponsible to chase my dream during a time when I'm out of work, on the hook for a home mortgage and have a pregnant wife. I'd love to tell you I came out of the worry session with a clear head and a resolute heart. Let's just say it's a work in progress.

+ I have awesome internet friends. In particular, Shawn Smucker and Chad Gibbs have been huge helps to me during this transitional period of my life. Both guys gave up their personal time to offer advice and share their life experiences with me. I don't think either of them could understand how much it helped and humbled me. Thanks guys.

+ I'm scared. I know I sort of mentioned that above (re: freak-out session), but I mean it. I'm scared, in general. My paycheck will go away in a few months. I have a house mortgage. I have a baby on the way. I'm scared to death about being a father, particularly in these trying times. I'm scared that I'm being dumb and that I'm not as talented a writer as I think I am. I'm scared that you will all hate my e-book that I'm releasing soon. I'm scared about a lot of things.

But here's the most important thing that I take away from all of this: The worry, nerves and fear -- none of that fixes anything. The dragon is going to be outside my castle, regardless of if I close the door and retreat to the innermost parts of my domain. I can hide under my bed, or I can go slay the dragon.

I'm going to. I'm going to do it, and If that means falling flat on my face...so be it. Either way, I'm excited about the day when I can write a blog post about how God worked it all out.

What valuable lessons have you learned lately?