It is time to reacquaint myself with those of you whom I haven’t met.
My name is Kirk Irving Koskella.
It is a new year. A new time. For many a time when people make resolutions. Hoping for better times, friends, and things they sometimes feel will make their lives better. Maybe a little bit brighter. But for most a resolve to become a stronger person in one way or another.
Following your dreams…
Our lives aren’t that different. From an early age, and throughout life, I questioned what I wanted to be when I grew up. The problem was the many choices afforded a young man. At times in my life, I sacrificed what I thought I wanted, and even allowed others I love to influence my choices. However, there comes a time in every persons life when following “your” dream confronts the reality of choices made. For good or bad.
So maybe you won’t have the finest home. Maybe you won’t take big vacations, or demonstrate the trappings of success that so many seem needful of pursuing. For me, it is like a favorite song, or movie, or novel.
Start living for who you really are…
Experiencing life can be so much sweeter when you decide to stop apologizing for what you are not — in the eyes of others — and start living for who you really are. Because if you don’t, your thoughts will contain heartache in unfulfilled dreams. Something broken in the lives of so many who search for happiness that is right in front of them.
It is now a New Year. Hopefully a happy one. No matter the standing of your peers. No matter how many New Year’s resolutions you hope to fulfill, it’s all Brand New. Your world begins again. You can choose to set aside anger, pain, resentment and past disappointments. You can choose to seek a new job, a career, education, a new and exciting place to live… or even a new love. And in this choice, you are renewed. Confirmed alive.
Don’t forget reality…
Happy to take on new responsibilities, rededicate yourself to old ones, or simply decide to unclutter your life. But when you decide upon this path, don’t forget reality. Reality has enough bumps along its path that we really should spend a little time telling ourselves the truth. If we decide to make compromises, then that is also a truth that we must confront. For when the truth is all you have to tell, there is nothing to fear.
I learned from a lot of different people in my life. From martial arts, to law, to film and television. I learned what it was like to be a champion. To succeed in whatever focus I put to my personal determination. And though some have tried their best to make my life something lesser than the truth, every time I step on the mat, go before a crowd, or present the pieces of puzzles remaining, I am invincible.
One of the best choices ever…
In the film world, the joke of being called “the One-Take Kid” may sound like a boast. But that truth garnered me a lot of work. The scariest thing I ever did was marry a woman I prayed would one day love me. Then having three wonderful children with her. Though scary, frightening even. It was one of the best choices in life I had ever made.
It is hard losing someone to death. But infidelity is worse. Trust and respect suffer in the best of circumstances. Still, the harder part is getting over that scary feeling of reacquainting yourself with the world — alone. It isn’t a question of resolutions. It is a question of remembering your successes. Rebuilding by remembrances of what you know you can do. Greeting the New Year with a restored optimism.
I finally get to be who I have always been inside..
Even if others missed it. If we truly are the sum of our experiences, then what remains of life for me will be as wonderful as:
the women I married,
the children I was a father to,
and the unsuspecting world that I pray is ready for what comes next.
What I “do” is what I am. What I “am” is not what I do. Teacher, Producer, Martial Artist, Lawyer, Performer… those career choices don’t tell who a man is. They are merely façades to mask things kept too personal.
As for me, I care about others… enough to… well… you fill in the rest. I am just a man.
I am Kirk Irving Koskella.
Happy New Year to all of us. May this life bring you your heart’s desire… as mine has finally come to me.