Chapter 5: Spreading the Fire

Continued from Chapter 4: Possessing the Fire...





... It's was the announcement that I was making www.furnacelevel.com!!!

It was an ambitious, some would say, ridiculous vision. I had no reputation of "The Furnace" outside of the school and now I was going to dedicate a site to it... at least that is how it started... because I soon realized that you can't have a site that just talks about a personal thing that others won't be able to understand. You can't have a webpage that lacks the involvement and participation of others. How we all grow is by sharing with each other: stories, experiences, moments, time. And that summer, it was the time for "The Furnace" to learn this lesson, spread his fire of inspiration and energy, and grow a little himself!

Around the 25th of June (it could have been couple days before or after), I bought the domain name www.furnacelevel.com, marking the start of a new dream coming to life, and a dream that would develop into something that I could never believe possible at the time. If you have ever heard the phrase "a quick functional plan now is better than a well-thought out plan later"? Well, if not, I feel this was another one of those important moments that had a huge impact on my future up to the present moment. If I had not acted then by progressing "The Furnace" identity and his Furnace Levels, there would not be a future for this "fiery motivational guru" that we see today, nor the motivation and strength that he provides to others to help them reach their personal dreams.

However, shortly after buying the domain and sharing this very exciting news with all of my classmates and loved ones, something terrible happened that quickly put all of the energy for Furnace Level on the rear burner. Not more than 48 hours after taking the ownership of www.furnacelevel.com, two of my close classmates, along with two other students were involved in a fatal car accident that left most of town, and especially my school community, in deep mourning. It was the first time that I had lost people that I would usually interact with on a daily basis in some way, shape, or form. It was a sad summer for me and my classmates, especially after seeing each other again for senior year, missing the two individuals from our group, for they will forever have a special place in all of our hearts. It is unfortunate that they are no longer with us, and I'm sure they would be pleased to see the progress of Furnace Level today.

Despite the tragedy early that summer, "The Furnace" eventually got focused back on creating the webpage for Furnace Level, learning new things about the web and websites each day. It was a fun, time-consuming process being able to start a project such as creating a personal website. (I highly recommend it to others because you learn a lot and there is always more to learn. One thing leads to another, and then another, and the development of your skills and knowledge of the web becomes endless too. It's pretty interesting stuff, at least for me.) Then later, the development of the Furnace Level logo I remember as being a really critical time. I drew hundreds of sketches for how I wanted the design to be and even posted them online to get feedback from my friends. It was a really hard decision, but finally I settled on the logo that Furnace Level currently has now.


The 4th of August, 2009 Furnace Level level went live for the first time! During those beginning days, it consisted of a lot less than the site has now, since I used a simple website template creator. It wasn't until March 2012 that I decided to start to learn web code for myself and build my own website using dreamweaver. It was another big step for Furnace Level, and now, it has expanded into a site with many pages for people to read inspirational fire horoscopes, watch motivational videos, listen to pump up songs, buy Furnace Level apparel, receive updates and inspirational messages from "The Furnace", and much more!


The Furnace is here to make a positive change on this planet! He is here to get us all motivated and inspired to reach the maximum of our potential and leave our own impact on the world, no matter how large or small. If you want to be part of the movement and live the Furnace Level lifestyle, visit my website at www.FurnaceLevel.com and get fired up! You are the answer to your dreams! The Furnace just here to make sure you reach them.


Make sure to follow me on Twitter for daily inspirational messages!


The Furnace

Chapter 4: Possessing the Fire

Continued from Chapter 3: Finding the Fire...


As I said, "The Furnace" only started taking on his true fiery identity after stepping up for himself in that one past moment in U.S. History class. Little did I know this act would affect my life, again, taking it into a new stage of fiery excellence and one step closer to Furnace Level. This moment, like my previous big moment in which I first received the name, is another reason why I believe that your life can change any day, at any time, and you have to be ready to catch it when the opportunity comes. You have to be attentive and still driving yourself forward because one day your break will come. I'm 100% positive. Just don't give up, never.


Following that first day of history class, "The Furnace" would make his daily diagram of how "hot" (as in energy and motivation) he was feeling that day. It was a special 5 minutes dedicated at the beginning of class where the whole room watched as "The Furnace" was going to make his diagram of his "Furnace Level". These diagrams started off just being thermometers, but over time, "The Furnace" started to become more creative with his sketches and they eventually evolved into large drawings with several colors. There was even a special color given to the "heat-range" that "The Furnace" was burning in. The list went (from coldest to hottest): Green, Blue, Yellow, Orange, Red, then later added were Purple, White, Silver, and Gold. One day the "Furnace Level" would be a dartboard sketch with the hotness meter extending from the outer rings to the center! Another would be a rocket shot up into different levels of the atmosphere with the hotness meter extending from the Earth's surface to outer space! A third would be a sketch of an erupting volcano, a fourth of a marathon race, a fifth a fire volcano (one of my favorites), and some were even linked to current events such as when the swine flu was going around! Nevertheless, the "Furnace Level" was always something for me and my peers to look forward to and to comment on every day, and it went on for that whole entire school year!


It was with the Furnace Levels that year that the name "The Furnace" really stuck to me. One of the reasons was that I had a way to express my Furnace side outside of the realm of basketball, and therefore, many of my peers were becoming more aware and understanding of my fiery identity and being more open to addressing me as "The Furnace". Also, many of the people in the classes below me had siblings in my class, and therfore heard stories about my Furnace Levels. Therefore, some of  the younger ones only knew me as "The Furnace" because they only really knew me by the rumors going around at my school. Moreover, during the basketball games that season, it was fun to see that I started to get a bit of a fan base going. One of the things that a few of them would do, if I started to play really well, would be to imitate shoveling and stocking up a furnace with coal and then saying, "The Furnace is heating up!"


This time was also a great time in the development of my self-confidence. I believe that at that stage of my life, I was really happy with the reality that I was creating around me. I felt more in charge of it, more comfortable in social settings, and most of all, enjoying every moment that was around me. It was also at this time that I started realizing the power of my true potential and the impact I was having on others around me. But you know, as they say, with great power comes great responsibility, and that, I would soon come to find as I headed into the summer before my senior year. When one of my classmates expressed their sadness for the school year ending, thereby not being able to see the Furnace Level for the summer, I knew I had to do something, and I decided to make it a huge surprise for all my classmates. At our senior final presentations, I slipped into the slideshow an  announcement of a way that the Furnace Level would always be with my classmates and also with the rest of the world. A way that would be accessible twenty four hours a day and seven days a week. A way that was so simple, yet so out of the box, only with a vision could it be created. What would this annoucement be you ask? It was...

To be continued...



The Furnace

Chapter 3: Finding the Fire

Continued from Chapter 2: The Fire Grows...


After a long summer of waiting tables, I couldn't wait to get started with school again, and at this time, I didn't know that the next big event in my life as "The Furnace" was right around the corner. Once the first week of school came, a special class was waiting for me third period: U.S. History.  It was a class that had a reputation for being difficult, taught by a professor who was very stingy on details, but who had a good relationship with most of the students because he was a pretty laid-back and had a good sense of humor. (I don't if he will be reading this, so for now, we will leave it at that.) Who was to know that in this class that school year that I would be presented with an opportunity that would allow me to find the potential that this nickname had?



It all started the very first day of this class. It was what you would see as a typical first day, where the teacher introduces his or herself and then goes around trying to learn everybody's name, or so it seemed until it came to me... When the professor addressed me, I was caught a bit off-guard because after saying my name and looking at my face, he paused and said, "So I hear they call you "The Furnace". Why is that?" (I forgot to add that he followed the school basketball team since a lot of members on the team were in his class last season, so he knew my nickname as "The Furnace". With that question, I feared he knew more about me than me about him, and especially being the first day of school, that can be more of a surprise than you asked for.) What I replied to him I do not remember. It was probably weak and unsatisfying because I myself didn't really know why I was "The Furnace" and to tell the whole story behind it would have probably made me look like a weird kid on the first day, and I didn't want any of that.





What I do remember, and what was the important moment was that that followed. From the look on his face after what I said, I could tell he wanted more information, and, with a smile on his face, I knew that what was to happen next was for him to have some fun by exploiting my weak position. The next thing he asked me was: "So, if you are a furnace, you got to have different ranges of heat, right?", indicating levels of heat with his arm in front of him. For him, it was a moment in which he awaited the next move I was to play in his game. However, for me, it was a moment for me at which my game just started. In fact, it was a moment so special, that time actually stopped! I remember receiving his words and then BAM!; everything but my mind was still. For those split seconds of paused time, my mind was processing the information, and then, as if by impulse, my body suddenly came up with a decision of how to respond, and this response was more than just the decision to seriously take on the name of "The Furnace", but also to do something about it, right there and then. This was the moment.




I replied affirmatively, and then as if possessed by ultra-strength and courage (from "The Furnace" side of course), I got up out of my seat, walked over to the chalk board, and drew a thermometer, filling it up to today's temperature of "The Furance". I don't quite remember what happened after that, but I'm sure everyone in the class was looking at me. It was something so spontaneous and bold, and I bet that if I were put in that situation again I wouldn't have happened.




Even today as I look back, I ask myself how all of that could have taken place and could have been real. It really made me question a lot of "what if's" in my life and the question of fate. What if I hadn't shown up at basketball practice early that one day and starting making those jokes? What if I had gone to a different school or been sick that day? Or what if I had acted differently in the classroom with my U.S. History professor and not gone up to the board? Again, was I fated to be "The Furnace"? 




There is the quote that says that people are known for their actions and not for their words, and I think that this moment was an action that spoke a lot about "The Furnace", and how I committed myself to taking on this identity. What happens next is where "The Furnace" starts revealing himself for real, now that he has got the fire!



To be continued...



The Furnace

Chapter 2: The Fire Grows

Continued From Chapter 1: The Undiscovered Fire...


That basketball season was quite a change of pace for me. It was my first year playing a key role on the team, while at the same time, having this new name echoing in and out of my everyday life. As the rumor of my new nickname spread, the harder and harder the nickname "The Furnace" stuck to me.  From my teammates, the name passed to the ears of their parents, from their parents, to the ears of other fans at our basketball games, and by the end of the process, a large population of my school knew my identity as "The Furnace". I eventually came to wonder: how does a simple inside-joke come to backfire like this?



I was not thinking this in a negative way, but I was just surprised at how it all happened. It seemed bizarre to me that the name "The Furnace" would stick to me like that. Was it that my face often became bright red after pushing myself to play agressive basketball? Did it have something to do with the way my hair looked when I was running up and down the court? Was it my joking personality that made a funny name stick to me? I did not know the answer to this question. I have always been curious to find out though, or maybe it was meant to be all along? Is there a part of me that can best be described as "The Furnace"? Do you believe in fate?



I had a lot of fun with this new nickname even though "The Furnace" was only spoken about in basketball. It became as if I had two ways of expressing myself. I had my normal fashion in which I would act in a more regular mode. Then, I had my furnace style of action, and with this, I could jump into a more energetic mode and express myself in a different way will being in a setting that was only semi-serious. A lot of what I hadn't expressed before I could present behind this new identity and use it to see myself differently, which I really appreciated. (In fact, I recommend to you getting your own nickname for yourself to find out new ways that you can express yourself. If you want, you can visit www.FurnaceLevel.com to ask for a customized fire nickname that I will help you pick.Who knows? Maybe your nickname like me will become your new reality?)





Like I said, the nickname "The Furnace" only came to play during basketball games and practices, which was only a couple of hours a day during the winter season. In front of my friends, teachers, and family, I was still Christian Martin, so it wasn't like my life was 100% flipped upside-down. My daily routine didn't change. I just kept being me while having something new to give me a new flavor to my life. A flaming hot flavor it was!



Unfortunately, once lacrosse season came in the spring, the nickname "The Furnace" wasn't really producing the same effect it had during the basketball season. I was playing on a different team with a few individuals who knew the nickname and others who didn't, therefore "The Furnace" side of me came out less and less often. As my sophomore year went on towards its end, I began to wonder whether I should take the nickname situation more seriously or to just let it ride-out, and that's when The Furnace's life starts to get really interesting...


To be continued...



The Furnace

Chapter 1: The Undiscovered Fire

Dear Furnace Level followers,



Today, I am going to tell you all a story, but this is not just any story. This is a tale that is still continuing, that has not finished and that is not planning to anytime soon. This story is about something that no one knew existed, but that was discovered as time went on. A tale that comes from an everyday person's life that changes his life into something more incredible than he could have ever possibly imagined. Most of all, it is an adventure that reveals many lessons and discoveries about life, all by how one single day can change a person's life and the way he will be living it forever.



I do not remember the date of this special day because, at the time, I didn't know it would have such a significant impact on my life. I only realized this much after the event happened, so the exact date is  very much lost in time. However, from what I do recall, it was a day that was not much different from any other. I was still in high school at the time, so my days were pretty much routine: wake up, get dressed, eat breakfast, go to school, go through my classes, sports after school, and then head back home.




In high school, I played basketball. I wasn't the star player, but I started at the point-guard position, which was a huge step for me being a sophomore. At times before practice, my friends and I would play a pick-up game until the coaches arrived. This particular day, I arrived at the gym a few minutes later than usual, for an unknown reason,  and my friends had started without me. The teams were already five-on-five, so I waited on the sideline, putting on my court shoes while watching them play.



After a bit of time, I found watching the game quite amusing because my assistant coach, who was playing on one of the teams, had exhausted himself and had decided to wait on the offensive side of the court for long passes while his teammates played without him on the defensive end. This stategy resulted in my assistant coach scoring all the points for his team, which I found funny since he wasn't doing any of the work.


Meanwhile, the rest of my team started pouring into the gym, and as they would sit down, I would inform them with what had been happening in the game, by serving as the game's mock commentator. Refering to my assistant coach, I told them, jokingly, "He's on fire! He is burning it up out there! He's like a furnace." My friends caught hold of my humor and started to laugh and enjoy the game with me.


Not much later, my head coach arrived at the assigned practice time. As my teammates and I started to huddle in with the coach before starting practice, I got serveral humorous looks from my friends while saying "furnace," referring to my comments from earlier. However, once we were huddled up around our coach, he overheard the "furnace" calls from my teammates and misinterpreted it as being my new nickname. Once the coach said it, the nickname stuck, but that was just the beginning for the whole life that I never saw coming.


To be continued...



The Furnace