Stuck in Drive: Live, Learn, Crash, Burn

By Mark Levy

Stuck in Drive is a testimonial-based juvenile/adult nonfiction and self-help and personal-development book. It teaches you how to navigate your life in the right direction by choosing which gears to use. Its core message is that anyone anywhere can achieve success and "live in drive"; just don't get stuck there. Being able to take on personal responsibility for their life at an early age is key to becoming successful as well as putting forth a level 10 effort and have the undying determination and faith in God. Everything written in this book is what Mark has learned through his own life's struggles, trials, tribulations, successes, and victories.

These are the principles that took him from being someone on the verge of going to prison and risking his life for risky behaviors to earning a bachelor's degree in sociology and becoming a social worker, newly published author, and serial entrepreneur. If you take these principles of success and apply them to your life, it is guaranteed that you will be successful and fulfill your lifelong dreams.

Now is the time to live in drive! In this book, you will learn how to do the following:

Identify your gift and discover your purpose

Build success by using "God-confidence"

Maximize your greatest asset--you

Use failure as an opportunity to learn and grow

Overcome fear and more

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Aug 26, 2023
• ISBN: 9781662476839

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Stuck in Drive

Live, Learn, Crash, Burn

Mark Levy

Copyright © 2023 Mark Levy

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING

Conneaut Lake, PA

First originally published by Page Publishing 2023

ISBN 978-1-6624-7682-2 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-6624-7683-9 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

About the Author

Introduction

If you're a citizen of the United States, I'm sure you have heard the phrase Life is what you make it. However, what many fail to acknowledge is that technically until you're of legal age, life is what your parents make it. Therefore, it's important for young adults to place their focus and values toward setting realistic goals, especially during youthful years.

One of the things I have always embraced the most since the age of early comprehension was learning. It's pretty obvious that education is key to becoming successful in America and across the world. However, the sad part about it is that not all my fellow brothers and sisters around the world, who are minorities, would agree with me. Statements like "It's not what you know, it's who you know" that open up doors for people to make it in this world. This applies to the mass majority of people in this world. Personally, I was never one to believe in social norms without questioning their origin. I always found value in going beyond what was presented to me in search of deeper meaning.

In my pursuit of endless knowledge, I realized that education is my key to success and one of my greatest strengths. Think about the phrase previously mentioned, "It's not what you know, it's who you know. Sounds to me like this phrase came from someone who is not of color, seeing how those who are not classified as a minority have certain advantages that allow them to gain financial stability far quicker than those who have nothing to build from. Those who have nothing to build find themselves living from paycheck to paycheck, desperately struggling to make ends meet to support themselves and family, while other minorities involve themselves in risky behaviors or businesses that the law has deemed to be illegal. This cycle eventually coined the phrases The rich get richer and The poor get poorer." It's clear that a system created to continue the oppression that began during slavery is still at the forefront of modern-day society. However, this system is cleverly disguised in ways that are not openly noticeable.

You have heard the age-old saying The system is corrupt in many ways, but the question I would like to ask as a person not of color is who gets the shorter end of the stick in a system that's corrupt? Could it be true that the government f——cks with everyone in America or only a particular group of citizens? Are laws in place to protect citizens? If so, what type of citizen? Does the system force people into making poor decisions, which lead to negative outcomes?

These are the questions that have circled my mind since kindergarten. They are my identity and a large part of what makes me who I am today. I am a fearless man of faith because I'm aware that through prayer God is my savior, provider, and protector. With God, anything is possible, and my relationship with him keeps me at peace and above the negative influences.

You see, nobody really knows you but you. Only you have the power to determine how the world views you. It's all up to the individuals who are not afraid to fall. In many cases, most do, but those who get back up to continue their journey toward success are the ones who win. What I learned is that people who fail in life either have no real goals or get distracted from their main goals and haven't learned their lesson yet. Trust me, I'm living proof, and my stories of trials and tribulations are true. However, if it wasn't for my faith in God, I don't know where I would be. Talk about almost beating the odds.

Every minority faces odds in this country, including stereotypes that many fall victim to in addition to the legal injustices throughout the nation. If it were not for my mother having the smarts to put me in school, I would have never learned the importance of education. I thank God for giving me the ability to pay attention to all things around me because it has made me become aware of how vital information is to our world. Therefore, to acquire it meant becoming knowledgeable, whether I chose to apply the information or pass it on.

Chapter 1

Ifound learning to be cool. I interpreted education as being able to be my own boss. As for those who were not intrigued with acquiring beneficial information, I saw them as followers with parents who were not fully invested in their children's lives. For this reason, I favored going to school as a child, and I listened to whatever the teachers told me to do my for my own good.

I did have my fair share of dramatic episodes of loud outbursts and rude remarks between kindergarten and middle school years that led to detention, suspension and having to transfer to another school. Nonetheless, I was always a student who did his work, got good grades, and built a decent reputation with most of the staff members in any school I attended.

My only problem was that I was too smart for my own good at times, with incidents occurring because I advocated for myself in a manner that indicated I had allowed my emotions to get the best of me. I became so infuriated that I was not able to articulate myself properly as I would have done if I were calm. Instead, I just lashed out, saying whatever smart remark and well-thought-out insult that I had in mind.

Any other time I was either suspended or had to transfer was due to involving myself in childish stupidity, such as fighting, but the fights were never really due to words, as I lived by the saying Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words would never hurt me. So I only fought if I was assaulted first, which meant I had to throw down because my stepfather didn't raise no punk, nor did he encourage me to be a follower either. Even though he thought I was, at the time, I was certain I wasn't. I was just living life in a middle childhood phase, learning the ups and downs of what to do and what not to want to go through for my own experiences. I was on my own path versus the path of my step pops lecturing me about the lessons he had learned from his mistake, although as I got older I could see the value in his stories.

Chapter 2

Other reasons why I fell in love with education was because of the praises my mother would give my older brother for doing so well. He was a straight-A student and served as a role model for my other siblings and I. He also held the title of our mother's favorite child. I looked up to him because, unlike me, he stayed out of trouble and was always involving himself in activities I never saw anyone else pursue before. That's where I became fascinated with the whole idea of becoming a successful entrepreneur. Watching him separate himself from the dudes who hung around our neighborhood looking for trouble made me admire him. That, along with his enviable height and ability to be a ladies' man.

Since the age of fourteen, my brother always had a job; whether it was working during the summer or holding a regular job, he always worked. By the time he began working regular jobs, he had already left the nest for reasons only a mature teenager would leave a single mother home. I will never forget the feeling I had on the day he moved out of our room, leaving it to me to have all to myself. I was proud to see him graduate and be able to afford and support a living situation on his own at the tender age of eighteen. I couldn't wait until it was my turn to leave the nest. In fact, I planned to follow the same blueprint that my brother used, involving having graduated from high school with a lot of work experience as well as a job.

However, things didn't go as I planned in high school. I ended up having a few mishaps along the way. Fortunately, I had always known what I wanted; I just needed support. With the help of my mother's materialistic habits and desire to keep me somewhat laced up as a kid, I fell in love with name-brand fashion. However, the person who is really responsible for inspiring my love for name brands and introducing me to a variety of different expensive clothing brands was my brother. This is why I love fashion to this day.

Nonetheless, I no longer break the bank to keep up with the Joneses anymore, and I still receive compliments on all my outfits whenever I decide to dress up. The same is true for my brother who owned all the latest trends of the nineties and early 2000s, to the point where he used to lend all his clothes to the local neighborhood wannabes so they can be seen looking like celebrities.

Watching my brother succeed in his education and pursue the entrepreneur lifestyle of self-investment gave me a vision that I would one day become someone with equal ambition. I couldn't have asked for a better person to look up to growing up. Although we never really talked much to create that strong brotherly bond, we showed our love through quality time, inviting each other out to birthday celebrations, family reunions, family trips, and business events.

If it weren't for my stealing ways, my brother and I would probably be closer, although he denies the fact that me stealing from him is the reason for our lack of brotherly love. But lying to his face didn't help the situation between us and after saying no when he asked me if I took any money out of his jeans pocket while he was asleep. If anything, it sealed my fate, and the love he showed toward me never was the same after that. It was like I became a stranger to him.

Chapter 3

My stealing habits lasted a year with me stealing from my mom and other close friends, all because I decided I wasn't going to need my mom to support me anymore. I was tired of her false promises meant to control me in ways she failed to realize would only make matters worse.

I love my mom, don't get me wrong, and I'm aware of the fact that she raised six children all on her own, giving her little to no time to be there for us physically in order to pay the bills. In life, we all have sacrifices to make. Therefore, I appreciate the fact that my mother, for the most part, was responsible enough to keep a roof over our heads, along with the help of public assistance, and decent clothes on our backs and good food in our stomachs. I had all the trending game systems growing up until the age of thirteen and pretty much anything a kid could think of, which may have presented me as somewhat spoiled.

My mother maintained a good reputation of being a decent parent who was overly strict and a mean b——tch. But people in my neighborhood knew her as a person whom they could depend on from time to time because she was good at saying no to her children but not to family or friends. My mother is who I consider to be phony and fake in public, and only her children and her boyfriend know the real her—the evil her, that is. She's what you call a functioning addict, her drug of choice booze and a whole lot of it, as if drinking two to four beers daily isn't disturbing enough.

I was about seven years old when I noticed she liked to drink excessively, mostly on the weekends with my stepfather's sister who lived down the hall, and other friends or family who would visit. I remember asking her why her face always looked wired, which I already could tell was from the beer, and the effects were a face completely buzzed out.

However, unimpressed with how smart I was, she just laughed, then shouted, telling me to stay out of grown folks' business and to go to my room before she beat my ass. She treated me as if I was the most annoying child, which I was because of how smart I was with my mouth and my ability to call it like I see it. She hated me for being so aware of things only nosy children pick up on that adults do or fail to do. Therefore, she treated me differently than she treated my siblings, although she treated us all the same as far as not having a strong bond with us. She was a dictator instead of a mother for reasons which I believe to be a combination of hereditary traits mixed with her alcoholism. She's a secretive woman; therefore, I would never really know the full length of what caused my mom to become so miserable aside from her giving birth to six kids.

I always wished that my mom was strong enough to handle everything she went through in life in order to give my brother and sisters the proper love that was more interpersonal than impersonal. If she actually made the effort to spend quality time with us, she would have realized how much of her physical support was needed in our lives, especially during our teenage years. We pretty much raised ourselves and learned our own valuable lessons from the mistakes she made and were too ashamed to admit because it made her feel less of a mother.

In a way, she disowned us by withholding affection, and she only did what she was legally obligated to do as a parent, which was raising us to a point where we didn't get taken away or risk her own imprisonment for child neglect. We don't blame her for her circumstances that led to her having all six of us. However, she can't be mad at us for knowing she had a choice and that events in our lives could have been better had she made the right choices, which were to plan a future for herself and stick to those goals until she reached success.

It's the American dream to chase dreams and become someone of importance, but not everyone is able to capture their dreams because not everyone is wise enough to avoid pitfalls based on their decisions that will ultimately lead to their demise. Still, we appreciate the hardship of our relationship with our mother because her dictatorship only made us want better for ourselves in hopes that one day, we would be successful and be able to give her a life she always dreamed of. I can tell that's the life my brother is striving for. He wants to be able to support our mother to the point she doesn't have to work anymore, which I myself would love to see and even be a part of making it a reality for her as well.

Before I became a teenager, I remember being close to my mom and could even remember being called a mama's boy. It wasn't until I was able to comprehend life as a preadult where I began noticing a distance forming within our relationship. Many things can be the reason why we aren't as close as I would hope, like the fact that she's a single mother who raised six children on her own with little to no help from our dads. I feel sorry for what they did to her, it being what every guy does to women in order to get what they want by telling her what she wants to hear with no intention of being a real man. Nobody stuck around, which made her even crazier as years went by, and the only man who did stick around was my youngest sister's father.

I later realized he was only around because it meant he had a place to stay. Therefore, he had no choice but to contribute to my mother's bills. I noticed his status as a father figure and a real dad to his kids depended on if he was on good terms with the mothers or not. I was aware of the fact that he was a deadbeat since he abandoned his first daughter because he was no longer able to live off her mother. At one point, I was fooled into thinking he was my biological father because my mother made me believe he was, but I was well aware that he wasn't because he would never acknowledge me as his son whenever we were in public. The answer he would give whenever asked Is that your son or kid? would be no, and that I was his girlfriend's son, which hurt because I really was under the impression that he was my real father.

Nevertheless, I refused to cry over spilled milk. As I said before, I have always been one to pay attention, and thanks to my interest in education, I have always been able to process information at a mature level. By using my advanced cognitive-thinking skills, I was able to conduct myself in a manner of self-advocacy, whether it meant I had to act with verbal cues or nonverbal cues. All I knew was that I had to look out for myself in a world where people find it easy to overlook certain responsibilities, because people like my mom and step pops were only going to tell me what they wanted me to hear, even though I was smart enough to read through their bullsh——t and figure the truth out on my own.

Chapter 4

Growing up, I was taught to respect my elders, and by having that rule enforced in me, I was able to grow wise way beyond my years by learning from their mistakes. I gained a lot of knowledge due to my ambition to learn because I knew the value in my education, and all I ever wanted to do was graduate from high school and attend prom. I never got to attend prom due to my misbehavior in middle school, but when I got to high school, I vowed to stay focused and avoid getting into trouble in order to graduate on time.

I regretted being held back due to my behavior and poor performance on the standardized math test that was required for all students looking to advance to the next grade. Although I passed, it was my overall behavior that caused me to have to stay a grade behind, and I was not allowed to become a fifth grader until I knew how to behave and quit having such a smart mouth. Therefore, in order to teach me a lesson, I was retained in the same grade despite having sufficient grades and test scores to progress. My only weakness was math, and having failed the math standardized test by a few