The Shining Light - In the words of Brandon Stockdale

I was laying in bed just after midnight when the inspiration for this post came about. This isn't a post about the typical New Year's Resolutions that people come up with entering a new year, but this post is more about looking back at 2017 and looking ahead to 2018. Looking back at 2017, I experienced a lot of growth. I was just thinking a few days ago about just how far I've come. Going out of 2016 into 2017, I was still at Spartanburg Methodist College, finishing up my first semester of my last year there, applied to Clemson University and at the time, watched Clemson and Ohio State play in the College Football Playoff Semifinal for the second straight year. Fast forward a year later, God has blessed me tremendously. I saw Clemson win the National Championship, I was accepted to Clemson in early February and now, I've just finished a first semester at Clemson where I have enjoyed it, and struggled at the same time all while continuing to discover what it is that ...

Hello everyone! Just over a year ago I applied to attend Clemson University and it's hard to believe my first semester is over and I've learned so much in my first semester in Tiger Town. I would like to use today's post to reflect and update you on my journey at Clemson by discussing the progress of those core goals I talked about in my last blog post during fall break. 1. Academics: One of the things I believe in is transparency and being honest with people so, everything I'm about to say is the honest truth concerning my first semester academically at Clemson. This has been an interesting first semester academically at Clemson, to say the least. As I said at Fall Break, things are obviously more challenging at Clemson than they were at SMC. As the semester has progressed past Fall Break, I've had to have some difficult conversations with myself and those around me about moving forward in the current major that I'm in right now which is English. I have c...

Hello everyone! It's been a while since I last posted and lots of things have been happening since the last time I posted the night before I left to head to Clemson. It's hard to believe my first semester at Clemson is half way over and I've learned so much in my first half of my first semester in Tiger Town. I would like to use today's post to reflect and update you on my journey at Clemson by discussing the progress of those core goals I talked about in my last blog post. 1. Academics: For those of you that have been following me since I started my college career two years ago at Spartanburg Methodist College, you know I have kept academics at the forefront, and that has not changed as I have went off to Clemson. I am still spending hours studying in the library on Sundays and in the Watt Family Innovation Center during the week. I knew that things were going to be more challenging academically at Clemson than they were at SMC, and the academic challenges have tak...

Dear SMC, Family, Friends and my Clemson Family, Well, here we are. Tomorrow begins a new chapter in my college career at Clemson University. Two years ago, I set out at Spartanburg Methodist College with a vision to do what I had to do to get to this juncture in my college career and it has been a learning and enjoyable experience. My dad asked me over the summer if I had the opportunity to change anything that has happened in my life the last two years, would I? The answer is a resounding no. Have I made mistakes along the way? Yes, but from the relationships I've developed with the fine people there who have been there since the day I stepped on campus, to making the Dean's List twice, I could not have asked for a better first two years. I want to again thank everyone at Spartanburg Methodist College for taking a chance on me and allowing this dream to become a reality. I will miss all of you this year and I wish you nothing but the best and I know we will all keep in to...

At the conclusion of my last blog post, I talked about how everyone is different and blessed with different strengths and weaknesses, and I made a point about how we need to embrace them. In the final installment of Discovering Your Calling, I want to build on that statement I made. It is my hope and prayer that as you get older, you will begin to find yourself. The question that most people ask is: How do I discover what I was placed on Earth for? I was given an acronym awhile back and I would like to share that with you as you continue to invest in yourself. The acronym is S.W.O.T. The acronym stands for strengths , weaknesses , opportunities and threats . I believe people need to constantly conduct a S.W.O.T. analysis if you are going to discover what God has in store for you. I've dug deeper into the four components and here are the key things you should know when conducting this analysis. 1. Strengths As I will continue to say, you need to understand what you do well if...

Life is full of other people's opinions. I believe it's important to have different points of view from other people because it can help you further discover life, which is one of the reasons that I started this blog. The burning question I have always had, and I'm starting to figure out is this: How do you deal with opinions of people that are negative and don't believe in your vision? The simple and most frequent answer is to not worry about the criticisms of other people and rightfully so. In this installment of Discovering Your Calling, I'd like to further explore this question by understanding, I believe, three reasons why people criticize and how society should handle it. 1. People are going to criticize your vision and calling because of their complacency and lack of drive. In case you live under a rock, you know we have complacent people in the world we live in today. Complacent people are generally, those who are never happy and constantly complain, b...

I hope everyone had a great Fourth of July holiday and is ready to get back rolling with whatever you have going on for the rest of the summer. I've decided to write a series of three blog posts over the next few weeks in a series I would like to title "Discovering Your Calling" which will deal with three specific topics: Questions that lead to Realization, The Inevitable Criticism and Priority: You. These topics are subject to change as I continue to create and think of content for this series. Let's jump in to the first topic: Questions that lead to Realization. I'd like to pose a very simple question: What is your gift? As in, what do you feel God has blessed you to better than anyone else? This is a question that many people know the answer to, however, there are some out there that may still be on the fence of truly discovering what they were put on Earth for. I can speak for college students everywhere who, at some point has struggled to answer this ques...