Memoir Reflections (Part 3)

Being successful is the number one aspiration that people strive for in life. Within his memoir, The Secret to Success, Eric Thomas talks about being successful and how to become such a successful person. "You have to want to be successful as bad as you want to breathe." Eric Thomas became an inspirational speaker after being a high school drop out and living the hard life before he found his way to success by positive motivation. He now gives his inspirational speeches to schools and athletes across the country. After getting his PHD at Michigan State, Eric decided he would write a memoir about his secrete to success, and thus, his motivational memoir was born.

Have you ever imagined what it would be like if you were homeless? It doesn't sound too appealing to anyone and is, of course, a huge stressor on the people who are actually homeless. Adam Shepard lived the life as a homeless man for many years. Within his memoir, Scratch Beginnings, Adam talks about his homeless life with the feeling of always being hungry and his attempts to shower everyday. This memoir really brings the realization of "you don't know what you've got until it's gone." Even the most simplest things in life become the most difficult to achieve as a homeless person. 

Becoming a professional athlete, drafted right out of high school, is every kid's dream. Josh Hamilton became one of these lucky kids as he was drafted right out of high school by the MLB company. Josh Hamilton is a very gifted baseball player as he hit his first home run two months after his seventh birthday. He even signed a dozen baseballs in exchange for an A in his English class. After a while, however, Josh was introduced to cocaine and Alcohol by his tattoo artists and quickly became an addict. His wife, Katie, would switch their money around from bank accounts in attempt to prevent him from buying more drugs. Not only did Josh become addicted to drugs, but he became addicted to getting tattoos and the feeling of adrenaline that it entailed. Eventually, Josh begins to find his way out of this nightmare that he was living through a dream that he had numerous times about him fighting the devil with Jesus by his side. He took this dream as the beginning of him fighting his addiction and became sober in 2006. In his memoir, Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back, Josh talks about fighting addiction and how he found his way out to freedom.