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Happiness is a rare commodity now, and if you can find it outside the box then just go outside the box.

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This is another culture poem about accents, and fiestas, and how my Pa’s botas were once embarrassing in public.

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The American Dream is a phrase first birthed by James Adams in 1931, over 80 years ago.

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Last week, I visualized my new workout partner. Today, I’m benching 20 lbs more than I ever have before. A few months ago, I noticed a 50-year-old man at the gym lifting twice what I lift in every exercise.

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What’s holding so many of us back? Why aren’t we entering the housing market and achieving the American Dream: a white picket fence and 2.5 kids?

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Rather than keeping with the Jones’s, we invest our energy and time into things of lasting value: Passion projects, learning, contribution, volunteering, time with family and friends, and margin for relaxation.

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So many Americans are working jobs that they hate because they have that mortgage, car payment, and their kid’s college fund that all keep them tied up as a financial slave to a career that makes them miserable.

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I am no more courageous than the recently-graduated millennial who works in a cubicle 9 hours a day to pay off massive student loans.

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We are tough and we aren’t whining. But let’s be honest, we all know that life was different in 1976 than it is in 2016.

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I have a hard time believing in the American Dream now if only because almost nothing seems to be based on merit and it feels like everyone’s just trying to rip one another off.