Self Identity

Good morning everyone, I hope this finds you having a great Wednesday.... or I guess what ever day you end up stumbling across this article..lol, I hope whatever day you find this on, is going well!

I've had several inquiries to my inbox, as to what it is I actually do. People see me post about Southern Plains Medical Group's new program Health Pass Plus, which is kind of like Direct Primary Care, but on steroids...15 medical specialties, unlimited visits, unlimited telemedicine, unlimited urgent care/quick care, labs, mri, xray, ct, all included for a low monthly fee, $100 per month for Primary members, $75 per month for secondary family members.

Then others will see me posting about mixed martial arts, and most recently Combate Americas. I explained my venture back into the business of MMA, with this article a little over a week or so ago. ( https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/one-co-founder-ufc-hal-brock/ )

To make a long story short, I missed the sport in which I gave endless hours of my life to, and I just wanted to be around the atmosphere again. I joined Combate Americas in a very limited role, outside of my healthcare work hours, to help promote their upcoming fight in my home state of Texas. The fight is Dec. 1st, in San Antonio, Texas, at the Freeman Coliseum.

Today though, I want to talk about Self Identity. You will see my above ramblings tie together soon, hopefully. I'm involved in our city's Leadership Development Group, the other day we went to a major manufacturer that is headquartered here in Oklahoma, HSI Sensing. A talented group of engineers, creating switches that do everything from securing submarine hatches, to allowing you to open doors. To wrap up the day, one of their salesman, Bryan Bergman, made an amazing presentation of being comfortable in your own skin, "Self Identity". I wish I had recorded the presentation, as it was one of the best speeches I have heard in a long time, and I go to things like that all the time.

One of his connecting stories that I really related to, was a story of him and his young son being out in public, and his son getting a little uncomfortable, and a little fussy. I've been there, and in that moment, it's really easy to get uncomfortable, to be embarrassed, instead of thinking, what does my son want, what does my son need? We get lost in what we perceive others are thinking, what they're thinking about our child, what they're thinking about us as parents. Now by all means, I'm not saying to just let your child run crazy, and throw enormous tantrums, but if it's something a little out of the norm, instead of getting embarrassed, don't you think our first thought should be how do I make my child feel better at this moment, what are they seeking?

We do this in business all the time. I see it so often, we let others, based on our perceived notion, of what others are thinking, drive "our" decisions. We even sometimes let those same notions, back us in a corner, make us shelter ourselves, play it safely. So, instead of being confident in who we are, what our skill set is, we go through life status quo, as to be "perceived" in the light that we want, rather than what is true to ourselves.

It's important that we are true to ourselves, that we become confident in our likes, in our distastes, because that is you at your core. To deny that, well, you end up liken to Mark Twain's quote above, you become lonely in your own life, in your own skin, because you are not being true to yourself.

So when I get those questions in my inbox, my answer is always the same. I love the business of healthcare and I love the business of MMA. That is who I am, both businesses get me excited, both fast paced and really busy, and I love it. I went close to two full years, almost denying that I was involved in MMA. Really due to I was concerned about others perceptions of me as a person. Some outsiders view mixed martial arts as brutal, as barbaric. I see MMA, as grace, as a game of complicated chess. I see some of my closest friends whom I would call brothers involved in the sport. I see their huge hearts, the fact that they would do anything for family. I don't see barbarism, I see athleticism and mad respect of others abilities, because in reality they could really go around hurting everyone.

Maybe it was turning 35, maybe its my family, but whatever it is, I just simply have chosen not to care about others perceptions of me. I like who I am, I am comfortable in my own skin, to the point where now seeing others caged from others emotions is so very apparent to me. I see the struggles some go through, not being allowed to be who they truly are, out of possibly an illogical fear that something could go wrong by being themselves. The problem, is that fear is doing more damage by caging your thoughts and ideas, than it is by preventing you from doing something you perceive as stupid, by simply acting as your true self.

Some may also see this blog, as another rally cry to "live your passion", "you can't be happy unless your profession is your passion". Phooey!

You are allowed to have many passions, you are allowed to work in an industry in which you are good at, in which you are versed in, even if it isn't your passion. The real secret, is not "do what you love", it's love who you are, be who you are, and allow yourself to come out in everything you do. Then you will see passion, you will evoke passion from others. Here's an old article of mine about passion if you want to dive into that conversation. https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/finding-your-passion-hal-brock/

Until the next time,

Hal Brock