As a youth, my folks enrolled me into various sports. It began with Pee Wee baseball and football around the age of 8, and carried on (into rodeo, swimming, track & field and boxing) no matter where we lived for the next 10 years. Here is the crux of it all… it began as my parents’ idea to have me participate, then somewhere around my sophomore year in high school it became my idea. Not only did I want ‘it’… I wanted to be good at ‘it’, whatever ‘it’ was. The desire to be a starting player, and to win, had become intrinsic. I’ve often pondered what turned that switch and to this day still ask myself, “Where does ‘want to’ come from? Why do I, or anyone else, seek excellence? Why?

As an aside: What I’ve learned is that the ‘want to’ I tapped into as a child manifests in my drive to create the best possible works of art, to take accountability for my actions, to seek inner peace and healing from past actions.