Out with the bad, in with the good

I'm improving my life. Spring is here and summer is around the corner. These are my 2 favorite seasons of the year. I feel more alive during Spring and Summer than any other time. The seasons bring new hope for me. Unfortunately, I usually end up wasting them on a couch under the air conditioning trying to figure out "What's there to do?"

I get progressively worse every year. The good months fly by and I wasted them with minimal golf play and more loafing than before. The reason things get worse and worse for me is that I let too many negative aspects into my life. I guess it's just a chance to rebel against the system or me trying to sew my wild oats. There are a few people that I've been dealing with on occasions. When you step back and think about it, they are scum. They might seem like good people on the surface, but just standing back and taking a look at the things they do and how they act, it's just not the type of people I would want myself or my friends to be around. Fortunately, there are only a couple of these people in my life and it won't be so hard to cut ties with them.

It's not just people either. I let many negative things influence my life... over my years on this planet, I've been negatively influenced by alcohol, drugs, tobacco, gambling, etc. Then I wonder why my life sucks so much. I just let all these negative influences come into my life and before I know it, they consume me. They define me as a person. "Why me?" I always ask. Well, I'll tell you why. I bring it all on myself.

Over the course of this year, I'm going to strive to be a better person. This means that I have to cut out these negative influences in my life. The bad people that only bring me and my friends down have been cut. Anything that makes my life worse has to go. One by one, I need to replace that negative influence with a positive one.

For example, I can cut out nicotine and replace that with something positive such as exercise or fishing. I refuse to believe that I can't quit dipping snuff. I refuse to believe that I'm stuck forever as a slave to the tobacco companies and even worse the government that collects all those taxes off my tobacco purchases. Tobacco does not positively affect my life in the least little bit. Although it does have several negative effects. It has to go.

One by one, I need to identify all the negative influences in my life and just rid them from my world. These influences bring me down, make me sad, make me angry, cost me money, hurt my friends, and just pretty much has a negative effect on my karma. I'm a good person and I don't need all these negatives. So I'm cutting them out.

**Footnote**

Gambling does not = poker. Poker is not gambling in my book. However, slot machines, sports gambling, etc are things I lose at consistently and should go. Poker has actually had a positive influence on my life.