Leading

Lead - To go before or with to show the way; conduct or escort.

"If you would just lead them, they would follow you." - William Wallace.

      I tend to believe the world and its occupants have more meaning in themselves than they potentially want to express. In fact, I believe that most people in the world have more than one thing in common, the inability to lead. Not only the fault of leading others, but the suffer in the fact that they cannot lead themselves. Our world is full of people conforming to ideals, trends and cultures but the majority of people do not truly lead. Leadership has it's different varieties as for all of them are not good. Good leadership comes with humbleness. The people that think they should lead are often times people that are the worst at it. People that believe they are so called "different" are actually people that are so afraid of what others might think influencing them to stand out that much more. The loudest person in the room is the weakest person in the room. People who tend to say "I don't give a fuck" are often times people that kill themselves on the inside. Leadership starts with yourself. Taking risks and not looking back is something you cannot fully understand until you experience it firsthand. I believe one day people of my generation and the generations after will be ready for a change so great that dependency will no longer be looked greatly upon in the slightest bit. Everyone will take up themselves entirely and the world could see its true potential of being not just average but limitless. Leadership is only as strong as the faith the person puts behind themselves. I greatly hope that whoever reads this will find it inspirational.

With love,
William Brooks

Keepin On.

Hello World, 


It's been a while since I posted on here due to the lack of conversation and experiences to share with you all. I've been strictly chillin' as some would like to call it. Others would like to say I'm laying low. Whatever you want to say about it, I'm incognito. Reason being, I took an evaluation on myself a few weeks back and wanted to actually try and do some things to improve myself like I said I was going to. I'm reading almost everyday, running and exercising at the gym more regularly, playing golf and minimizing my distractions. I can say that it is a tough road, however, I feel like it's doing me a lot of good. Mondays have been my worst day this quarter simply because I don't have to work or go to class. With that being said,  I really have nothing to do to put me on the task of being productive. It was hell at first. But here lately I have managed to find somethings that help me pass the time and help me in other areas of my life. Like I said I finally have brought my golf game back from a long overdue vacation. It's been great so far to get back out there and just relax while taking the time out to think about everything else that's going on. It's always something to get better at and it helps me in being patient with other things that are going on. I recently had an old friend who I played music with release his new band's CD about a week ago. Fusebox Poet is there name and if you haven't heard of them then you're missing out. It's great to know that people I know are going somewhere in life and doing something with themselves. Being around people like that will not only inspire you to do whatever you do but they'll challenge you to be better at it. Moving FORWARD and taking risks. That's always important. I also have been creating a little music on my own lately. Just to refresh my love music and to help me prepare for an alternative career outside of filmmaking once I graduate. I picked up a book called "Decision Points" a few weeks ago. It's the previous President's (George W. Bush) memoirs on his presidency. I feel like he makes a lot of valid points on being in the toughest position in the world. I can't say I agree with everything he ever did, after all I'm pretty moderate when it comes to politics. I will say that I respect any person in that position and hope the very best for them and wish them guidance. The last few weeks have been melancholy at best but I do believe they have helped me grow. I still wish a few things were different and mistakes I've made could be changed but I know that this reformation of myself will help me prepare for my future in the world. Life is good.


With love,
William Brooks

Oh The Places To Go.

In the past few weeks the thought of leaving Charlotte, NC has been the thing thats been the most exciting to me as well as the most haunting. I graduate in less than a year and I feel like it's rapidly approaching. I plan to get my masters degree in film after the Art Institute of Charlotte. I believe my main cities of choice are either New York, Chicago, Houston, or Los Angeles and they are in that order for a reason. There are so many places in the world that I want to visit. How could I just settle down for one? They're plenty of places in the United States alone that I need to explore before I can make a final decision. Europe is definitely on a list of places to travel. In particular, England, Italy, Germany, Spain and France. I believe Europe will be an excellent place to live after I achieve everything I want to do in film first. Australia and New Zealand both have a mystery to them to me that I want to discover in my younger years after school. If I had it my way I would have a house in every place I wanted. Maybe one day it'll happen. We'll See.


With Love,
Will Brooks

Time (Burning)

 Time (Burning)

What a mysterious creation. The wonderful mechanism that creates so much opportunity for ourselves but also contains the driving factor for so much pain. Do we have enough of it? It's the creation of something that governs how we live in every single way from how long we work to establishing events and holidays. Is it even necessary? It's simply there for control. Control on the things we do and how we do them. It decides the value of things and separates what has become and what will become of us. In recent years, especially through college, time has been the essential essence of determining what I do and how I can get it done. I wish there were days where all other judgements and responsibilities would just flee from me and I could discover what I want and how I want.

An interesting fact about time is that it can also measure. Light from a single star is so old that it left hundreds of thousands of years ago but we see it today. People who walked the earth thousands of years ago looked on the same stars and wondered the same thoughts. It has this haunting factor to it that if you really think about the expansion of the universe and all thats in it, then me and you aren't so amazing. In fact were pretty irrelevant to everything going on out there, but at the same time it has this comforting factor as well. We have something in common with the historical greats that walked the earth before us. We were all amazed by the beauty of our sun or the travels of a comet who has never burned out. Think about that. We have observations and hypotheses on how our universe is created but no one is right and nor will they ever be. I look at this picture of a comet and wonder what all it's seen. What it would think of life on earth as it passes our very small planet every not so often? What purpose does it serve if any? Does it even have to have a purpose? I think it's quite amazing in the fact that time doesn't govern it. It sails across the galaxy so freely. One day it will burn out but while its burning, its burning bright. This is beginning to sound like a rant.

I suppose what I'm trying to say is that I get caught up thinking about little things a lot. Things that weigh me down and stress me out. When I look at stuff like this simple little comet, I'm just amazed. Time is always gonna be present but it doesn't have to control us. We can still do the things we want and become who we want to be.  The comet is really a metaphor for me and you. We can break away from the norm and while we're trying to do what it is we love we will burn. One day we all burn out but WE will burn out bright. 

With love,

William Brooks

Moving On

Good evening world! I hope life is treating you well at the moment and if not then understand that everything bad has something good that can come out of it. I haven't been able to post anything new in the past couple of days due to the large amounts of work I have been handed. In the past I would usually be ready to kill someone at that this moment and find an excuse for why I don't want to do it. Lately, I have a totally different mindset. I feel and know that all of these tasks laid before me have the potential to make me a better person in business, my career, and in my social life. That's an exciting thing! Recently I have found out the absolute importance of deadlines and finishing work on time. It's preparing me for my future in the "Real World" as far as business and clients go, but it also helps me stay on task for other little important personal things. Weeks like the past few weeks have helped me stay focused on school and work and not to worry about  little things that can get in the way of everything else as well as my well-being. I have some great teachers, mentors, and friends that are helping me along the way and I couldn't thank them more. More times than not, I have found that if I just sit back and observe the situation and evaluate it, I can come up with a strategy that will help me fix it and I'm better off in the long run. So... With all of this being said, I hope each and every person that reads this post finds some encouragement and inspiration to tackle whatever it is that they are dealing with in their lives at the moment. Remember, when you are the most uncomfortable with yourself you find out the most about yourself. Until next time. 


With Love,
William Brooks

Concerning Friends of Old and New

  "Steady as you go through your memories
  I don't want to lose you in life's crazy sea." wb

Today's post will be quite long. I apologize for the inconvenience but it will be filled with a life lesson as you will shortly see. Today is Halloween. I woke up with a sore throat which automatically ruins the day. Yesterday I felt it building inside while I stood around at work all day thinking of better places, people, and areas that I could be around.  A sore throat ruins everything throughout your day every time you swallow. It's inconvenient. This was problem #1.


 Problem #2. While I was at work yesterday cleaning a large mechanism, which cooks all of the barbecue that Black's Barbecue has ever produced, I had a brief conversation with this girl via texting. Mind you I am already morose at the point because of what I am doing with myself on a Saturday afternoon. I'm not complaining about the job because every job is important but on this particular day it wasn't where I wanted to be. Now when I say brief I mean it. It was one of those conversations where I get the one answer replies and very general answers. Totally fine. Conversation through text message cannot convey the emotion or thought that a phone call or a face to face conversation can. And to be honest I get it. I get when those conversations are like that, there's probably a good chance you don't wanna talk. Honesty. Just be honest and if I ask why you don't want to talk, its just for my personal well being as to know so next time I can fix that problem for the next person. But what I don't understand is how when I am with that person there is so much more to us than that text conversation. She's more alive to the thought of US and she has this synergy to her that is just so obvious. So the text conversation ends with me asking her if I can talk to her after school. She replies, "I don't think that's a good idea." Why is that?. No answer.  I can tell she wants to try but somethings holding it back. Text messages and online chats are a complete failure between the two of us but face to face its real. Who knows, I may be wrong. Probably so. But I can still feel what I feel. So there, love problems. A dime a dozen.


 Problem #3. School. School is just kicking my ass right now. So many projects with very high expectations. Graduation is finally in sight. Its only getting harder. What can I say about it that's different than what every other college kid is experiencing in their senior year right now! Nothing. But just because it's not an original problem doesn't mean I'm still not going through it or that it's not easy. It's completely ok though. I feel confident in what I'm going to do when I get out of school. I have a bright career ahead of me and an exciting life. 


With all of these things bothering me on one of the most anticipated days of the year, I can honestly say that with the news I heard this morning, none of them could mean a damn thing to me at the moment. I grew up in a small town called Clover, SC. I still live here with my parents while I commute to school and work every day. Clover is one of those towns where it is great to grow up in and great to settle down in but nothing in between. It has a lot of good people and a lot of good atmosphere.  A family that is dear to a lot of people is the Killian Family. They've always had a big presence in town ever since I was in kindergarten with two of the kids, Danielle and Lee (Cousins). They have always been good people and have always been nice to me. They are smart kids, good at sports, and popular. The whole 9 yards. I graduated in 2007 with Danielle and Lee but shortly before we walked in May, Lee was in an car accident. This accident paralyzed him from the waste down. He had a baseball scholarship. This was mind blowing news to the community and I could only imagine what it was like to be in their family. Its been a few years now and Lee still fights his battles day by day. As I write this I find it harder and harder to tell people what I am about to say. Danielle had a younger brother named Chandler. He was a year younger than us. As I woke up this morning and browsed through Facebook. I kept seeing messages of Rip Chandler Killian. Naturally I was shocked and wanted to find out what happened. Last night, Chandler had shot himself. Reasons I have no idea or should they be shared here. It is not my place to say.....  The news hit me hard and I still can't believe it. With the whole area asking themselves why do these things happen? Why him? Why? They're questions we might never understand. I only hope and pray that his family will heal to their fullest in this very hard time. With what happened to Lee several years ago and now this...I can only imagine. 


So with all of this being said, I sit here thinking that those first three problems are so small, so ridiculous to think about when something like this happens. I sit and complain and worry about problems like that all the time and its not doing any good in doing so. Things like those problems really get my down from time to time and they really affect me. When things like this happen though it puts me in check and makes me realize what all I have to be thankful for. I have the most absolute best friends I could ever ask for. From the ones that go to school with me now to ones I work with, went to other colleges and high school with, and played in bands with. I cannot thank them enough for when they've been there for me. I have an absolutely beautiful family who is so loving that I couldn't ask for anything else from. My family and friends are my rock. Like you may have come to the conclusion earlier, I don't have the third type of love which is romantic love but I do have love through my family and friends and it is very strong. I hope that people who hear of Chandler's passing will not just grieve but they will realize the same. Its ok to be sad. Its what humans do in times like these. I know his death is bigger however. I believe it will inspire and educate kids that come through this town for many years to come. I believe it will ignite kids who are already here and teach them that life is way to short to be worrying about things like stupid girls and school and that they need to get out there and do what it is they love. Death is a course we all must take in life and it can actually be a beautiful thing sometimes. In times like these we bring ourselves closer to the values we as people depend on. We can no longer hold back ourselves because it is just not the way to do things. Enjoy yourself for being here, enjoy yourself for the things you do and the things you love and the people you love. Enjoy every second because we don't know what will happen. And these are encouraging thoughts. While people lose a good man, we all gain something from it. We must live our lives as we were going to but add the fact that we have a little more meaning to them now. I ask that each person that reads this just know that when we do lose people, they are not lost. I love you all and especially those with open minds and open hearts. You all have a purpose and reason for everything you do in this world and the next, and that's more exciting than anything else in your life.


With love,
William Brooks

From Here On Out

Hello World,
 This is to the very few that will read this message, to the very many who I hope to inspire in the future. My name is William Brooks. I currently go to school in Charlotte, NC and spend most of my time there but not for much longer. Charlotte is a beautiful place but at the moment it is too young of a city for me. I need something with a little more culture and history to help me figure out things at the moment.  I plan to share myself on this page for as much as I can for as long I can. Why? Absolutely not because anyone cares to read what's going on in my life at any given moment. But this blog gives me a chance to express myself in some form everyday at the end of the day. I hope to be sharing all my adventures through filmmaking, photography, creating music, writing stories and poems, life in general, philosophies, good times and bad times all in this blog. I am currently going through quite an exciting experience in my life. Things are keeping me on my toes and it's definitely a good thing. I can say that by not knowing what is coming next is something that I look forward to. I always keep moving forward even if it's the hardest thing to do in life. I stay close the ones I love and I never leave people behind. My goal in this world is help people feel alive. Make them feel and let them know that they have a place in the world and everyone is worth something. I am a lover, not a fighter. I give people the things they deserve and more chances than they probably deserve. I have labeled this post "From Here On Out" for a reason. I want to better myself everyday in every way possible. Health, social life, professional life, filmmaking, storytelling, love, and all other aspects that make up me. As a last thing for this post and a final statement. I would love nothing more in this world than to have someone special with me along the ways of my travels. Until next time world. 


With Love,
William Brooks.


P.S. I recommend listening to Sigur Ros while reading this post.