One Man’s Outlook on Life

Joshua D. Hogg

Joshua Daniel Hogg

mroutlaw@mchsi.com
Hogg/ Outlook on Life 2

Prologue

Many people write books for many reasons money, fame, and fortune. I think that I am

different. Many people believe that I have a genuinely unique outlook on life and have told me

that I should write a book on it. One thing that you will say to yourself when reading this is “man

this guy speaks metaphorically a lot”. I do that not because I think that everyone is stupid, but

because one person that reads this and understands what I am saying does not mean the next will.

I hope that after reading this book that you will be able to live your life to its fullest while

looking differently at yourself, everyone else, and generally the world and life differently. Life is

wonderful at times and horrible at different times. What we make of these moments and the

moments in between is what makes us. We are the masters of our own destiny; we make our

lives what we want it to be. I wish that anyone that reads this will look at their life and never

settle. Life is a precious gift and we should not waste it. I believe that when our life comes to an
Hogg/ Outlook on Life 3

end that we should be able to look back and say, man I have Lived, Laughed, and Loved what

more could I have asked for. I think that I have done all that I can and I am ready to go. No one

should be forced to look back at their life in the end, and be disappointed by what they see.

Picture this you are in your nineties and you feel your life coming to an end. The world pauses

and someone strangely familiar walks up to you and says, “I have a movie for you to watch.”

When you sit down in the theater and begin to watch this movie that you quickly realize is your

life you must wonder what you are going to do. Are you going to fall asleep while watching it, or

are you going to laugh, fall in love again, get angry again? At the end are you going to say “Wow

that is life” or are you going to ask for a do over? You right now can make that change. It is

never to late.
Hogg/ Outlook on Life 4

Chapter 1

“Life”

Life is something that is very unique. No two people live the exact same life. Our

experiences are different. Although we may do the same things in life, the way we experience

these acts are different. For instance you may ride a roller coaster with your best friend and love

the experience and your friend may hate the experience. So although we go through life and

make some of the same choices and go down the same paths are reactions to these life

experiences are different. That is what makes us a very diverse world.

We are going to experience many things as we go through life, and our life is going to

look very different to us each time that we reflect back on it. I believe that reflecting back on

your life and what you have accomplished is a must. There is saying that I try to live by in life

and that is “You can’t know where you are going, until you know where you have been.” It the

choices that we make each day in life that shapes what the next day is going to be. You will read

this over and over again throughout this book but you are the master of your own destiny.

Now what I want you to do for a moment is to sit back and close your eyes. After you

have done that begin reviewing your life. Start from as far back as you can remember. As you do

this you are going to start to notice one big thing. Your life seems to be in stages. You will notice

the person that you were when you were eight years old is not the person that you are today. You

will notice that your life could actually be divided into sections. That you were one person with
Hogg/ Outlook on Life 5

values, goals, and beliefs. Then as you grew so did those values, goals, and beliefs. You evolved

and so did they along with you.

There are many movies out there that refer to “The book of life”. Some movies portray

the book of life has what God writes names down in. Other movies portray it has a book about

life. The fact is that life is a book. Now as you are sitting there reviewing your life and the

different stages I want you to begin to think of it has a book. For many of you this may be a very

short book and for some it may be a large book depending on how old you are and what you

have done in your life. Can you see and pinpoint where each chapter of your life changes? Can

you tell when he page turns? For some this may be hard to comprehend at first. Just think about

it for a little while and you will begin to see. You may need to slow down your reflection

process. You may need to examine it in more detail.

The fact is that what I am saying is true, no matter how hard you want to deny life is a

book. The only one that holds the pen to write in your book of life is you. No one has or will

force you to become something different. Now just to pause here for a second I know that

someone at this point is thinking, “that isn’t true, ________ someone forced me to change” well

that isn’t true and we will examine that a little later. Again I repeat you are the master of your

own destiny.

Before I began to look at my life like a book. I used to say all the time “ I am getting old,

or man that seemed like a long time ago”. The fact is I am 28 years old right now and I have yet

to begin to live. Now don’t get me wrong in 28 years I have done a lot of things. I have lived, I

have laughed, and I have loved. Although I will concede the point that I have a lot more living

and a lot more laughing and a lot more loving to do.

Hogg/ Outlook on Life 6

Once I began to look at my life like a book and I saw the specific chapters of my life I

noticed other details to. I began to notice the triggers that changed my life. Now these things you

have no control over. There are factors that are going to come into your life that sometimes you

control and sometimes you don’t. These factors are what triggers the next chapter of your life.

These factors can be anything from a death, a birth, a new job, money, a lost love, or a new love.

or a host of many other things. Again I probably know what you are thinking. “Josh if I don’t

control these factors that force my life into the next chapter, then how am I the master of my own

destiny.” Well just because you cannot control what factors end one chapter of your life and start

another does not mean that you are not the master of your own destiny. Just because these factors

force you into another chapter does not mean these factors write the next chapters of your life.

You and only you can control how something affects you and what you are going to take away

from it.

Now at some point you are going to be done analyzing your life and what you have done

so far. At this point you are thinking okay, “I have lived a good life or I could have done better.”

Your next thought is going to be “well what now?” Remember I said that you control what is

written in this book you make the choices that lead to the book’s contents. The simple answer

would be to change what you don’t like. You have the right to change just about anything in your

life no matter what it is. The book of life is yours and yours only. Remember that it is a complete

and accurate recording of your life. The one thing you have to ask yourself and always keep

reminding yourself. Do I want my Book of Life to be a best seller, or do I want it to be a limited

edition with only a few under copies.

There is going to be change that happens in your life all the time. One thing that

most people will agree on is that change in your life can be scary. We as humans are creatures of
Hogg/ Outlook on Life 7

habit and routine whether we like it or not. What this does is makes us resistant to change, good

or bad. A lot of people don’t have much resistance to change and will cave and accept it after a

while. Here is another point to remember, you never have to settle. Again you control your life.

Change is going to be thrown at you in many different forms. It could be something as small as

the doctor telling you that you have to change your diet or it could be as big as your spouse

getting a really good job offer across the world. Either way these changes are going to come at

you and there is nothing you can do to stop them. Whether you accept these changes or not is

solely up to you.

Everyone has the ability to be what I like to call “ a life fighter” we have the ability deep

down inside us to fight for what we want in life or to fight against what we don’t want. There is a

key that unlocks this will to fight. Some people know exactly where that key is and other will

spend a lifetime wondering. Well I am going to tell you where I believe it is. The key to finding

the will to fight is simply believe that you are worth it. Don’t kid yourself there is some of you

that is reading this that believes deep down inside that they are not worth a fight. That they are

not worthy of the good things in life. Let me be the first to tell you that is crap. If you were to

strip away all the material things in life. There are many ways that you are better than the next

person. On the flip side there are many ways that they are better than you. In retrospect that is

what makes us as a human race diverse, our differences. Everyone has something to contribute

and this contribution makes you valuable to the human race. So the first thing to do is stand up

right now and tell yourself I am worth it. Now go out and work hard to get what you want, after

all you deserve it.

Now let’s talk about a little bit of a different type of change that every single person,

without a doubt, will face in their lifetime. This change is internal change. As we grow from a
Hogg/ Outlook on Life 8

child through an elderly adult we are going to change many times. Our values are going to

change what we believe in is going to change as we become more enlightened to the truth in life

and the truth of the world.

Sometimes these changes are going to come and go and you will never know it until you

look back and begin to reflect. Some changes are going to be so obvious that it will almost

smack you in the face. Now be prepared I am about to reveal some personal experiences. Me and

my wife have many differences in opinions about things. Some as little as how we are going to

arrange the living room and some as important as child rearing or details in our relationship. For

years I when we would get into a fight I would tell here “well you need to change this about

you”. Then one day my eyes were open to the fact that I cannot demand that she change

something about herself. For one she is such a strong woman that it would never work. For two I

don’t humanly have that right. So now when we have a fight about something I will point out

how her behavior or ideals about something affect me. Then I leave it to her to decide whether

she wants to change that or not. Sometimes she does and sometimes she does not. When she

decides not to I just have to accept that and move on.