what will your legacy be?

There are somedays when I blog about something new I have learned about CSS, PHP, MySQL, Apache, etc. There are also somedays I come home, unwind, and realize I have much bigger life lessons to share. Although life is not all fun and games I always try learn something from each experience. This is what I learned/realized today:

It is human nature to be liked and loved by all yet there are sometimes when you are faced with a choice. You can either take the path of least resistance and go along with the majority all the while knowing what you are doing is not right, or you can take a stand and try and do something different. As a history major in college I often studied and read about such “difficult” people: the Pilgrims, Mahatma Gandhi, MLK Jr, Rosa Parks, etc and had great respect for them. Why? Because they decided not to go with the rest of the pack…they wanted change and they would not accept the status quo. They exposed themselves in order to try and make change happened even if it pissed people off and left them open for criticism. Apple had a brilliant marketing campaign titled “Think Different” in the late 1990s which summed it up perfect:

Here’s to the crazy ones.
The misfits.
The rebels.
The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.
They’re not fond of rules
And they have no respect for the status quo.
You can praise them, quote them, disagree with them
disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing that you can’t do is ignore them.
Because they change things.
They invent. They imagine. They heal.
They explore. They create. They inspire.
They push the human race forward.
Maybe they have to be crazy.
How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art?
Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written?
Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?
We make tools for these kinds of people.
While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think that they can
change the world, are the ones who do.

Where am I going with this? Change is made by trying something different – not doing the same over and over. If you are unhappy with something in your life, take a chance…break out of the mold. It is ok to be unpopular. In fact, I would much rather be unpopular and strive for change, than to sit quietly while life passes me by. We all have choices, so what will your legacy be?