Half Full - Thinking Positively

My best friend (and first friend), Jeff, died of natural causes back in 1987 shortly before he turned 21... or maybe it was shortly after. It doesn't matter. We were born 9 days apart and lived right next door to each other for several years until he moved across town. We were still best of friends - which included fighting every day and making up the next - until my family moved away when I was nine years old. We played Star Trek as kids and I was ALWAYS Kirk and he was ALWAYS Spock... we never died. But unfortunately, he did.

I'll never forget the day I heard. It felt like someone sucker-punched me in the gut when I wasn't looking. It took many years to feel like I could get that breath back. I truly felt like a part of me died that day as well. I helped carry my best friend's body to his grave. It was my first experience with death.

I kept all my feelings inside and didn't tell anyone. Not even my closest friends or my wife. I struggled with my job and hated my work. I had the "pleasure" of dealing with panic attacks and other physical side effects of cooped-up stress but when I went to the doctors they couldn't find anything wrong.

Six years after my friend died I checked myself into the hospital. The 6th floor... the mental ward. I didn't know what to do. I was having trouble controlling my thoughts. I wasn't suicidal... rather, I was afraid to die. However, the interesting twist was that I was also afraid to live. I was diagnosed with depression and was given anti-depressants. I took them for almost 15 years up until about 6 months ago... but that is a story for another time.

Several years back I started to understand that blaming others for my depression and position I was in was just wrong. My wife and I started our own company, had a couple wonderful boys, and I started realizing that truly it isn't what happens to you that matters in life but how you deal with it. You always have a choice.

God had blessed me with the ability to creat graphics that were kind of "quick and witty" and so I declared it was time to improve the way the world thinks. I was going to do that by offering our designs on items and keep positive messages in front of people to remind them how to think.

This was the basis for the Half Full -Think Positive design. You have a choice. Choose wisely! Check out this and all the rest of our designs at the sites included at the top of this blog.

Thanks for reading!