Tag: Potential

Regrets (College)

There’s not many things I regret in my life. But 1 thing I use to regret before meeting my wife and starting to write this love at 1st conversation story, was my decision to not go away for college. As a kid, that was always a goal of mine to go away after high school. And not for the degree or to accumulate overwhelming debt. But for the experience. The chance of seeing something different. The opportunity to be around different cultures. Different backgrounds. I would say different races but that wasnt a big deal breaker for me after going on a college tour in 10th grade to some of the Historic HBCUs. I was sold on Virginia State after 10 minutes. Howard was a close 2nd but either one would’ve been just fine in my books. No pun intended. But I never even filled out a application for either University. Actually I don’t remember filling out 1 for any University AT ALL. My old AAU Basketball coach even set something up for me to go to a Junior College in Pennsylvania. The College Coach called me and and we had a good conversation. The application came in the mailbox a few days later. I opened it once, looked at it and maybe even wrote my name and address. Then I said nah I’m good. I don’t know what it was. That resistance of leaving my comfort zone use to haunt me and sometimes I still go through those tug of wars with myself. Comfortable and Content. 2 things that don’tallow you to grow and live. And where I’m from we call a 40 minute ride to the beach a road trip. I’m not exaggerating. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the day one of my boys told me he was Out Of Town an I asked him where did he go. He said Morristown. Like Morristown, New Jersey. We live in Newark,New Jersey. 25-30 Minutes tops, depending on which part you starting from. Maybe that’s why the few times I did get to go outside of the Jersey turnpike I would impulsively say “I’m not going back” LOL. But that’s what happens when you rarely leave. Everything else feels like the great escape. But I was never looking for the great escape. Just something different from the daily corner store,chicken shack, liquor store run. Weekly barbershop stop. Occasional Downtown stop. Occasional mall trip especially being in Mall Capital. Waiting for my best friend to pull up and ask what’s the plan. Only to realize after hours of hanging around..We have no plan 😒 lol. An of course, the twice a year road trip Jersey Shore beach run. Seeing something different for a year or two or 3 or 4 with people I’ve never met would’ve probably filled that void of curiosity. Or maybe not. I can’t say what it would’ve been because I never even took the shot. I don’t regret it anymore or at least now I can say it’s a regret I can live with. But I’ll probably always say “What If.”

“Gotta learn to live with regrets” – Jay-Z (Regrets)

Is Potential Overrated?

Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve will forever be one of the most intriguing conversations to have. From all walks of Life but especially in Sports and Music. Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve also represents different outlooks an I don’t know which one gets viewed as the saddest story. Let’s take Would’ve for example. Grant Hill Would’ve been a Hall Of Fame Lock. Ken Griffey Jr. Would’ve broke all the major baseball records. RG3 Would’ve Been 1 of the best QBs in the NFL. Penny Hardaway Would’ve been The Best Point Guard Ever to play in the NBA(I had to throw that in there for biased reasons lol) But you get the point. These world class athletes Would’ve gone down as consensus all time greats had it not been for tragic career altering injuries. And we can say that certainty because we saw them dominate their fields before the injuries.

But where the conversation takes a turn is the Could’ve Should’ve debate. Because a lot of us are walking around with so much Potential that we know we have but we don’t act on it. And some were so naturally gifted at a young age that we don’t know what we Could’ve did with the talent if we were disciplined. That’s why I ask is Potential overrated. Lamar Odom probably had the most Potential to be just as good if not better than Kevin Garnett who had a Hall Of Fame career. Odom was 6’10 with a point guard handle, ran like a gazelle and played the game like he knew what he was doing just came to him at birth. He never did max out that Potential and not due to a career changing injury. For whatever reason he was just good enough. And that’s something I want to dig deeper into about myself. The “Just Good Enough” conversation. Not going the extra mile to maximize my own Potential that I know is there. The Potential that people around me see and have to find themselves saying to me “Stop Bullsh*tting Blake”. The up until this point Unfulfilled Potential that led to my song “Coulda Been Kendrick”. That conversation is for a post on it’s own because it’s a back story to the song that can’t be glossed over. Potential is a very interesting thing that I don’t know if it’s Overrated or Underrated but it’s worth having a discussion about all the time.