UP With Marc

There is power to be found in this world. Not the power of God, Not the power of Mother Nature, Not the power of crystals, Not the power of our greatest inventions. Nothing can surpass the power of our own minds.

Debate it all you want but with your mind, you have the power to choose to lead your life in Gods hands. You have the power to choose to let Mother nature decide your fate. You have the power of choosing to embrace the energy sources of our planet through crystals. You have the power to invent anything…..that comes to your mind.

We choose negativity in our world. We choose to hate, to hurt or even to kill. We choose to harm ourselves. We choose to blame others. We choose to watch and be entertained by other people misery. We choose to make other people’s lives miserable.

We choose to let depression take over. We choose to let anger in and out. We choose to be like someone we truly are not. We choose to let our mind be taken over by negativity but with that very same mind we can choose to fight back.

We can choose positivity even if it is the hardest thing you have ever done. With your own mind you can change your mind! We can go out and love people for who they are. We can lift people up. We can save lives. We can choose to change ourselves for the better.

It’s our mind, our thoughts, our actions that shape our futures. It takes strength to blame ourselves and a coward to let other minds take the blame for your thoughts.

Our mind is a tool to use and unfortunately abuse. In the last 8 years I have chosen this grand journey of positivism…..so many times have I fallen. So many times have the negatives washed me away from my direction. So many times have I wondered: who I am, why am I here, why is this happening to me, where am I going?

I speak a lot about goals in my life and how important they are, but they are always evolving. The most important thing to remember is, even if your standing still you can choose to let your mind fight forward. In 8 years my life may look like it has gone no where but my mind is the strongest it has ever been. I choose positive and when life is hell I fight because inside my mind says, “you want me to succeed!”

This quote can be debatable but it depends on how you read it. All to often I have experienced the departure of happiness in the last 7 years alone. Worst break up of my life, getting life threateningly ill during my cruise job, fighting for my own name and future with children against 6 FALSE claims to DCF, and leaving Florida…….just to name a few big ones!

If it was not for my devastating break up, upwithmarc.com may have never been brought into exsistance, I would have never worked on a cruise ship, I would have never moved to Florida and found my gift of inspiring and connecting so positively with children. I would have never done so much with the last 7 years of my life and meet so many amazing people before fate brought me back home to be reacquainted with family and friends that I have known all and most of my life. All anticipating my arrival back home too!

Was almost dying worth working on a cruise ship twice; discovering Canada, Alaska, and all of the Southern Caribbean? I’m still alive and typing this message right now, so I am going with a HARD YES! That is a term I stole from a good friend in Florida.

I don’t know that I ever talked about this publicly but I think its time. My time under the heat of DCF was scary….but I have built such a glowing reputation with the team of teachers and staff I worked with that every one of those amazing individuals proved every claim wrong that this psycho lady had against me. Instead of stepping back scared I stepped forward gaining more trust from the parents of all these students I was connecting with. Culminating to the ultimate trust of letting me take one of my friends daughters on a final Florida adventure with me before I moved.

Before I moved…..I don’t think my present happiness was gone in Florida but the future of my life goals was seemingly unsuccessful down there and if I wanted to achieve my goals I needed a change. Its a happiness I walked away from to find more happiness to come. Physically I left but like so many other great moments in my life its one of the biggest memories I will NEVER forget.

You can find so much happiness in life no matter how hard it gets or how many negatives weigh you down there are more and more positive to be found. If something in your life turns from happiness to unhappiness it is up to you to change that. More people out there then you think care about you amd are willing to help but you have to forgive, forget and open up to let them! More happiness can be found. I found it and you can too!

I did it again. I just up and moved. No job but this time I am more prepared, this time I came back home to Illinois. I lay in bad at my good friends house this morning to a nice 33 degrees outside all the while people wonder why I left 80 degree winters.

Florida was amazing to me, all four and a half years of it. Going to the beach in December, January and February is pretty awesome when the rest of the country is covered in snow. The places I traveled while I rested here in Florida where amazing. New York, Alabama, Ohio and of course several trips back home for the holidays. I won’t ever let anyone forget my time on the cruise ship. Yes I was in the Southern Caribbean working on a cruise ship for 6 months, thats what inspired me to move to Florida in the first place. But…..oh my, the summer, while living and working in Florida, that I worked on a cruise ship in Alaska. Between Vancouver Canada and all of Southern Alaska, what an absolute amazing opportunity. Working on a cruise ship seems to be a once in lifetime opportunity and I did it twice! Last but not least I explored more of Florida then other people that have lived there all their lives. From Key West all the way up thru the Panhandle; I did, saw it, experienced it, ate it and took pictures. My last hurrah and long weekend I even took one of my friends kids with me and treated her as my own.

The adventures will continue, the ocean I will miss….deeply. The friends I have made I stood strong in their presents but many tears have fallen as I drove away. Then there was the kids and the discovery of my gift of connecting with them. I will miss them most of all………I worked with kids, mostly Elementary setting, the whole time in Florida. I work at a summer camp for kids and an after school program. I also volunteered at all the after school events and coached soccer. I volunteered at Give Kids The World and Make-A-Wish Foundation. All of this has inspired me to be a motivational speaker for children and write a children’s book. These children were so innocent and pure hearted. Getting to know them was like my reason for living this life I lead. Learning how they think and act. Watching how they interact with others. Seeing first hand where I can step in and inspire them for their futures to come. I made an impact on quite a few. Watching them light up when I said something cool, watching their eyes open back up after helping them through a personal problem, and seeing them show respect for me after talking thru something they did wrong. All interactions with these kids were amazing. I miss them all and most of all I miss the ones I was able to connect with outside of school through the parents I became friends with!

There was one kid in particular I connected with more than any. Don’t know why or how but the connection was huge. I don’t have my own kids but I would imagine it was a sample of the feelings I would have if she was my own. Of course I was good friends…..great friends with her parents and her whole family for that matter. I knew she was connected with me too. I know you should not pick favorites among siblings but too bad. The connection was so amazing, so interesting, so fascinating, so educational and so loving, at the same time. Talking to her, taking her places, watching her grow up and maybe even teaching her a few things as been an unforgettable experience. I knew I meant something to her and that was amazing. I watched her when she had a scare of moving away from me a while back but I dreaded when the time came for me to tell her I was moving away from her. Judging by the tears and anger and avoidance I am pretty sure I broke her little heart. We stay connected though and we have messaged each other back and forth a few times and hope she continues. I want to show her that people can be far away and still care deeply for them. She may have been more then a handful at times but the good moments far outweigh any moments where kids are just being kids. I would steal her up, in every positive sense of the expression, in a heart beat. It was the truest experience I had of all the kids and it will be missed.

Let us not forget the guy that offered for me to stay with him and his wife down in Florida, till I got back on my feet. You know the guy that introduced himself with nunchucks slamming into my hands, the one whose dryer I hid in equipped with snacks and was never found during hide and seek! The guy that will inadvertently research everything about something for you. I have known Chris for 30 years and its an honor to call him my best friend. He is the nicest guy I know, not just to me to everyone. I come down there and its like a reunion of memories. I was able to develop a better friendship with his wife and his beautiful children. He not only gave me a place to stay but him and his wife gave me the job I had that carried me the whole time I was there…..you know working with children. I got Chris into kayaking and soccer and then I leave….pretty sure hes “friendship” mad at me but we will be friends forever. I will miss hanging out at Chris’s house.

Thats it. My heart says its time to go home. I have dressed up Florida to be this amazing place and it is, but its time to go. Sure its the beginning of winter and I have blizzards and negative temperatures to look forward to but my heart says it is time to go. I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. There is a reason I moved to Florida and I pretty well nailed that down if you are still reading! There is a reason I am moving back. For a goal oriented person standing still is probably the most depressing feeling ever. I loved my job and what I was doing for all of these children. It pains me very deeply to finally admit that the money was not there to achieve the goals I wanted in life. I was searching for a new job and there was nothing down there for me. I search for a forever girl and shes not down there for me. I have had so many adventures and met so many amazing people but I have spent too much time by myself. I have things I want to do and happen with my life and they weren’t happening.

The choice to move back home was hard. There was alot to give up and alot to gain. Alot to gain back and move forward with. I have not been happy or sad overall. One of my Florida friends said it best, I am at peace with my decision. There is no help like the help of family. There is no love like family love. Coming back here I have a plan. I know exactly what I want and I know my family will help me along the way. Big thanks to my brother for taking me in. My whole family has helped me so much and I know they will support me through this new transition as well. With my friends it’s like I never left. It’s so cool that my friends are friends with my siblings and my siblings are friends with my friends. Just how I left it!

Okay so here is the bottom line……the plan. Its quite simple; find a job, buy a new car, find my own place, get a pet or pets, then start searching for a new soulmate. YES, IN THAT ORDER! Of course I have prepared for this…..I have money saved up for bills. I have a new resume thanks to my other brother, and I have resources and networking connection to chase for my job search. I know what car I want and I know I want rabbits again.

I said 2018 was my year and I was wrong. Thats ok I have had a year to think about it and 2019 is my year people! You think that was it? Nope! Once I get a job and settle in my own place the car, the pets and the girl are just bonuses. It’s back to chasing my main goal…..motivational speaking for children. Everything I did do and will do in my life just adds to my story. I will start speaking this year and I will get back to posting here on the regular. Thats not all I still have a children’s book to publish, a TED Talk speech to give and new adventures to experience. Will there be challenges? Of course there will be challenges. Bring it on 2019. I have support from people all over the world and it’s foolish to not be motivated by that as January 1st 2019 hits. These are my minutes, my hours, my days and this is my life. I will take my life as far as it can possibly go! I will continue to help others at all times and be grateful for the help given to me.

Happy New Year everyone. Don’t just say 2019 will be the best year yet, get off your rear and MAKE IT HAPPEN!

A story. Maybe not a positive story but a real one. Maybe not a sad moment but this man he knows who he is and is grateful for….perhaps his gift. He can suck in anyones grief. He takes it away from them but then it gets stuck inside him. Little by little he releases himself onto others as he, little by little, takes in the negatives. He wonders if his down spells are just the build up of others he has tried to help. Sometimes helping without them even knowing. He does find opportunities to release these griefs, sadness and negativity but sometimes its hard to find. But still he searches because he knows he is meant for good things and he knows what he is capable of no matter how crazy his ways. His intention might be unconventional but his heart is always in the right place. Finding his way is a path that maybe people have never traveled. People understand the simplicity of his actions but can’t always comprehend the complexities of his motivations. If you have the pleasure to sit down and talk with this man you may never hear his own griefs. If he is not helping you I guarantee you are helping him. You must not worry because not everyone can take in emotions like that. Infact some people are so wired with positivism that its like a glorious release. This man will continue his journey of helping others at all times but while he goes he searches deeper into himself. He searches for that positivism with the glorious release. It could be God, the ocean, a person, a dog or even music? Who knows. But one thing is certain this man will not give up. His answers are out there and he will keep looking until he discovers the truth behind all his questions. If you find this man, he will help you as best he can. He is happy to help you again and again, but know that when he leaves he searches to charge up that positive once again.

You can not achieve greatness without reaching for greater things. I may not achieve all my great goals but I know I can achieve, always going after them!

My eyes are so set on being a motivational speaker. Even if I never get there, there is one thing most of you know about me, I WILL NEVER GIVE UP! You always hear, look at the journey not the destination. Life has picked this destination of motivational speaking about 7 years ago or maybe even longer. But I found my purpose at the bottom of my life……when everything was coming to an end, when life seem to be failing me. Thats when I just tripped over my purpose.

The purpose was to be more positive, to help others do the same and to inspire our younger generation and even the older generation. Even my dang auto correct on my phone at 3 am when I can’t sleep, is telling me my next move. IL. Stand for Illinois, thats where I came from and thats where I am moving back in only a few weeks.

Illinois is were I am meant to be now and some people get it. Some people understand what I am doing….this is amazing! It helps me know I am on the right course, where I am meant to be…..because getting people to understand me has been the hardest part and I have people young and old in my life that get it! I am meant to meet and interact with all of you. What you share with my life helps me strengthen what I share to yours and everyone elses life.

This new journey back home is a strange one, and as always promised in my life it comes packed with challenges. I have grown to understand that these challenges are what shapes my inspiration in the future. There is a mystery to my methods but there is no shortage of desire to get there.

Someone was talking with me about it being more enjoyable to bring someone along on their journeys and vacations. They could not be more right I would absolutely love to share my life’s journeys with no other then the right person or people. BUT, here is the thing, If I waited to do all that I have done with a significant other or even a friend I would have done very little to nothing for the last 7 years of my life.

I have done so much with my life already but if I waited for others these last 7 I would have never work on a cruise ship…..TWICE! I might have missed my opportunity to explore Canada, the Caribbean Islands, Alaska, New York, Ohio, Alabama and other places. I might have missed discovering the heart I have for children and the strongest connection I have ever felt in my entire life with inspiring our younger generation. I am gonna miss the great connections I have made here in Florida but I am sorry Adults, I am probably going to miss your children even more.

Speaking of Florida if I would of waited to go with someone on my dream list Florida tour these last (almost) 5 years, I would not have a destination list longer then Floridians that have lived here all their lives! I saw as far down as Key West, to the oldest city of St. Augustine and as far up and over as the border of Alabama. I have seen a plethora of beaches on the East coast, the West coast, in the Panhandle and in the keys. I have seen so much sea life in nature, dolphins swimming by me in the water and jellyfish riding the wave right up to my beach chair. I have seen manatees, alligators and turtles galore. Florida has a Cave….I have been in it. Florida has a wolf Preserve….I have huged a wolf….yea! Sushi, smoked salmon, ahi tuna…..the food I have eaten is so awesome. The gardens and natural parks I have visited. Riding my bike alongside the Ocean….WOW. The parks, Disney, SeaWorld, and so many others. The list goes on and on. Journeys to be jealous of…..journeys within the journeys. If I waited for someone to go with me I can’t even imagine how many things I would have missed how many things I would have never discovered.

I Discovered new skills. New skills with children of course, both regular education, special education and stealing the attention of my friends kids. New talents in writing too. If you know me I am a man of many skills and I came across the wonderful skill of photography in the best way possible…..I was taking pictures of Alaska with my phone and after I posted the pictures someone asked “what kind of camera do you have?” It blow my mind and transfered to being obsessed with wanting to photograph the moon and buying a nice camera and doing just that!

Norman Vincent Peale said “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.” I have never heard that quote till after I took my pictures of the moon and my mind just exploded with positive reality. I believe so much, that everything happens for a reason, so much that I think you are foolish to not believe. Our lives are full of fresh ideas and new adventures but we have to let ourselves follow that path. No its not always safe. Yes its littered with changes and challenges, but dang it….play it safe and you live for nothing more then the story of what someone else has already done. Create your own story, live your own life, don’t wait and remember everything happens for a reason.