Blood, sweat and God

Blood, sweat and God

Saymour Lincoln


EUR 15,90

Formaat: 13,5 x 21,5
Pagina aantal: 144
ISBN: 978-3-99107-582-0
Publicatie datum: 07.05.2021
An engrossing read about a young man’s encounters with drug addiction, relationships with women, Social Work and the exciting life of a famous skateboarder; including waking up naked in a Ghent police cell. Read Blood, Sweat and God. You won’t be disappointed!
Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1: “Me and my dad”
Chapter 2: “Are you that crazy guy?”
Chapter 3: “La escuela”
Chapter 4: “Psychiatry stories”
Chapter 5: “The wake-up call”
Chapter 6: “My brother from another mother”
Chapter 7: “Ca vient de la rue”
Chapter 8: “Life as a fat boy”
Chapter 9: “The true MVP’s”
Chapter 10: “La madre”
Chapter 11: “The last shining of our sun”
Chapter 12: “Faith”
Chapter 13: “A and Optimus”
Chapter 14: “Madea and Julius”
Chapter 15: “#neverforget”
Side chapter 1: “DVD in the dark. Door opens.”
Side chapter 2: “Nacim’s memorial”
Side chapter 3: “Alyssa”
Side chapter 4: “Love … Life”
Side chapter 5: “The gift of change”
Side chapter 6: “Old friends”
Side chapter 7: “The power of music”
Side chapter 8: “The S.K.Y.”
Side chapter 9: ”Virtues”
Side chapter 10: “That significant other”
Side chapter 11: “Martha”
Side chapter 12: “Hero”
Side chapter 13: “Can we change?”
Side chapter 14: “Sacrifices”
Side chapter 15: “Thoughts”
Side chapter 16: “Your life, your road”
Side chapter 17: “Louder than words”
Side chapter 18: “The F.O.L.G.”
Side chapter 19: “The end of the side chapters”
Vol. 2 Chapter 1: “The dirty South”
Vol. 2 Chapter 2: “Flaws”
Vol. 2 Chapter 3: “Strengths”
Vol. 2 Chapter 4: “You and only you”
Vol. 2 Chapter 5: “What women want”
Vol. 2 Chapter 6: “What men want”
Vol. 2 Chapter 7: “For a friend”
Vol. 2 Chapter 8: “Student or master”
Vol. 2 Chapter 9: “The process”
Vol. 2 Chapter 10: “The mind”
Vol. 2 Chapter 11: “The journey has ended”
Vol. 2 Chapter 12:” Tears of the son”
Words of thanks



Introduction
In 2017 I started to write stories on Facebook for all my friends to read. Stories about events that had happened in my life. For the next couple of months, I would write a chapter each night and post it the morning after. I mostly didn’t know what I would share until I started writing that night. So, every morning my friends would wait eagerly for what I had to share.
I want you, the reader of this book, to have the same experience. I think that a big introduction would take much away from that experience. This intro, my last chapter and the words of thanks are recently written.
I hope that Blood, Sweat and God will be a good read and that it will make you think about life and all that it has to offer.

Chapter 1: “Me and my dad”
As a Liberian, my father came to study at the Ghent University in Belgium. There was a civil war around that time and thanks to him my family and I (as a toddler) could come to Ghent. My father graduated but because he could not speak the language, he had to work in factories to provide for us. As a little kid I always remembered him telling me that education for a foreigner is very important. I always felt that statement as putting pressure on my life. That plus the fact that my big brother was a high school superstar in basketball made me feel insecure about myself because my biggest fear was to disappoint them (my biggest fear in life is to disappoint the people I love). Years passed; my grades were good but then I discovered skateboarding. My skating improved but my grades got worse. That made my dad angry because he felt I was messing up my future. I was a teenager and all I wanted to do was to escape from that pressure and just skate.
Over the years, my dad and I had so many discussions about my future. I was angry at him because I felt that he held me back from what I wanted to do in life, so I blamed him for most of my problems growing up. Thinking back on those years I realized that he always supported me (he bought me my first real skateboard, he bought me my skate shoes, he was excited for me when I got sponsors, he was happy for me when I won ‘Best Trick’ contests). Now I know that he just wanted me to be happy and have a bright future because he knew I was book smart. I started studying Social Work to make him proud because I felt that I had let him down during my skateboarding years.
My father moved back to Liberia to give classes over irrigation techniques at a Liberian university. I felt really sad because I never got to tell him how much he meant to me growing up. It's been years since I've seen my dad and during my mental breakdown, he couldn't be there for me. I can't imagine how he felt during that period. That's why he always worries about me. But I'm doing fine Dad, I love you and … Emmanuel Lincoln you've been my hero since day one and I wish the best for your 60th year on this planet and I hope to see you soon. Lil Optimus out.


Chapter 2: "Are you that crazy guy?" Part 1
On a hot day I unknowingly drank liquid LSD, and it fried my brains … I ran naked through the streets of Ghent. The cops ran after me and they arrested me. They took me to a psychiatrist afterwards. While I was in psychiatry treatment, photos of me naked circulated heavily on my Facebook wall and people were loving the sensation. It even made the news and to this day I thank Koen Tielemans for asking every single person to remove the post off my wall. You're a legend Koener! Trust me, waking up naked in a police cell not knowing what happened, is a weird feeling. The only thing I thought about in that moment was: ‘Oh man, my reputation is going to suffer from this’. What people thought of me back then was important to me. When I came out of the psychiatric ward people started to look at me in a different way. People were gossiping about me and some people just avoided me … I was embarrassed and I felt sad that people didn't want to associate with me anymore. I felt like I couldn't talk to anybody, so I got depressed from everything … smoking weed eased the pain, but I knew that that wasn't going to bring a solution … I didn’t want to go outside anymore because was I scared of people’s reactions.
My skateboarding and my social contacts suffered from it. One sponsor after another started to drop me because I wasn't producing footage as I used to. ‘If they only knew what I was going through!’ During that period I started to get to know Jesus Christ. The Lord does not give you battles you can't overcome. That was the only thing that kept me going. I had two choices: stay sad and depressed or make changes in my life to get out of that vicious circle of negativity. I chose option 2. Slowly but surely, I gained a grip over my life again because I started to focus more on what was important to me; my friends, my family, my education, skateboarding and God. I'll share some deeper stories about that period in other chapters but what I want to say is that you shouldn't care about what other people think of you. Your friends and your family know who you are, and their opinions are based on the fact that they know you. Other people’s opinion are based on rumours and from the "I heard that …" source of information.
We all feel sad about things that happened in the past. Don't let that hold you back from moving forward in life. If you're hurting inside, talk about it. The worst feeling is when you think that you're alone and that nobody understands or cares; but trust me when I say that some people do understand and care and that you are never alone. Your past made you who you are but your actions in the present define you. So, don't get stuck on what happened in the past or what people think of you because you might miss out on the wonderful opportunities that God is giving you each new day when you wake up. Lil Optimus out!

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Blood, sweat and God

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