Sometimes, I feel a little down and enviously invoke the name of O.J. Simpson (as a formerly admirable and seemingly great in the past black man, and now a guy “who got away with it”) pessimistically, then I get over it quickly and get good to myself quickly in order to function and live well where I am. With that reality said deeply and personally, I begin this article. Who does not experience even among the best of us pessimistic jags and bumps in the road that they have to get over from the ground up sometimes. It is a part of life and existence, naturally. But those horrible pessimistic lemons have to be made into good optimistic lemonade, even by those with everything against them and seemingly nothing going for them in a positive way (yet).

We have got to be honest with ourselves for starters, that is what I mean by “the bare bones and the ground up” in my title. However hard it is to admit our flaws, pessimism and destructive tendencies. They have to be admitted in order to genuinely solve them and create inner strength and good self-esteem within ourselves. Rationally, to be present fully to ourselves, we must be present and realistic about our flaws and virtues fully. Without those admissions, we are searching in the dark for our light genuinely.

Turn the light on in your room, what do you see unremittingly? Do not flinch, look carefully and take a good or great look at yourself. When you do and do not get afraid, go insane or get weird, those are the beginnings of genuine, unremitted and realistic inner strength and optimism. Faking it until you “make it” does not count either.

Sometimes, it is being a totally, healthy and genuinely normal person with a heart that makes one a superhero if you know what I mean.

Everybody loves the feeling of winning, but so many do not like the feeling of paying fully for it in that way. It is a process, and it is an amazing process that builds character and even hurts sometimes. But, for those who genuinely follow through it is genuinely worth it in every way that really counts.

Ah, the joys and pains of optimism when it is real. Phony optimism is closing your eyes, fearfully proceeding forward and hoping that things do not blow up, mess up or go down wrong, and if you do win, you take the credit, but if it happens wrong, you abandon ship and shift blame like Sean McVay the Los Angeles Rams football coach seems to do on our local news programs in Los Angeles, California when they lose a big game and take all credit when they win those same big games.

I am saying own it all, failure and success and you will get somewhere genuinely, however hard it may seem at times, because it is genuine growth. Realistically, that is all if you are on a path of genuine growth without faking, flinching or fear. Everything else is skipping the issue and missing the point. They say the wages of sin or missing the mark is death. Well, the wages of making it is real life and existence really lived fully without avoidance, that is all. Everything is a choice, really.