Uploaded March 2020 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
You can find my Patreon here:
patreon.com/michaelrollins
Jon Esca: youtube.com/user/joncivicsi
Claudio Kern: youtube.com/user/claudiokern
Stacey Abshire: youtube.com/user/snk1324
Primitive FPV: youtube.com/channel/UComnhgvx69i1XMFOeY2ClAg/featured
Over the last couple months I've had two distinct encounters where I've been told "You're not good enough". They've been surprising, not the least because both of the areas I was told I wasn't good enough are places I consider myself strong. I'm not going to lie, my ego took some shots. I've started to let doubt creep in and started to question basic things that I've always held as truths.
As I was looking at the final version of this edit I was contemplating being told "You're not good enough" and a little voice spoke a quiet whisper in my head:
"fuck that"
But, the folks that told me I'm not good enough are smart, right? They know what they're talking about.
"fuck that"
I can't possibly be as good as I thought if someone disagrees with my own assessment! They don't see the value in what I can do so why should I?
"are you going to let someone else tell you you can't? do they define you based on what they think is the ideal?"
And, suddenly, I realized that I let these two experiences box me in. I have been measuring my own worth against someone else's ideals. I've been stepping back and retreating from my own strengths because someone else didn't agree with my values. As a result, I started replacing my values with theirs.
The problem is that my strength isn't based on anyone else's definitions. It's based on what I know, what I've learned, who I am, where I've been and how I got here. How could anyone besides someone that's walked with me for many, many years, understand that I'm not made to fit into a tidy little box. My life is messy, all over the place and against all of my own efforts through the years defies being defined by "normal" limits.
As I edited this video together I found beauty in each of the pilots flights. Not one resembles the other, and yet when I go back and watch it I find things I love in each of them. There is no "ideal" here. There's no box that says "this guy is the best". Jon flew an HD micro around a track, but it's one he's reviewing and I know that if I want the absolute best opinion on HD micros (among many other things) I can ask him. Claudio filmed in some odd frame rate that didn't match my timeline but that forced me to get really creative with the color grade. Not to mention that despite the frame rate mismatch it's a great flight. Stacey wears white tube socks and yet still rips balls in a smooth as silk fashion. Primitive ripped the hell out of that office building but got caught by battery sag at the end. And yet, when his flight matches up against Eminem's lyrics of "feet fail me not" while he power loops the outside structure I get chills every time.
None of these guys is "the best". Each one brings their own strengths, their own weaknesses, and the combination of those makes their flying unique. It would be a terrible disservice to each of them to put them all into one box.
So a few folks come along and tell me I'm not good enough.
Fuck that.
You can find my Patreon here:
patreon.com/michaelrollins
Jon Esca: youtube.com/user/joncivicsi
Claudio Kern: youtube.com/user/claudiokern
Stacey Abshire: youtube.com/user/snk1324
Primitive FPV: youtube.com/channel/UComnhgvx69i1XMFOeY2ClAg/featured
Over the last couple months I've had two distinct encounters where I've been told "You're not good enough". They've been surprising, not the least because both of the areas I was told I wasn't good enough are places I consider myself strong. I'm not going to lie, my ego took some shots. I've started to let doubt creep in and started to question basic things that I've always held as truths.
As I was looking at the final version of this edit I was contemplating being told "You're not good enough" and a little voice spoke a quiet whisper in my head:
"fuck that"
But, the folks that told me I'm not good enough are smart, right? They know what they're talking about.
"fuck that"
I can't possibly be as good as I thought if someone disagrees with my own assessment! They don't see the value in what I can do so why should I?
"are you going to let someone else tell you you can't? do they define you based on what they think is the ideal?"
And, suddenly, I realized that I let these two experiences box me in. I have been measuring my own worth against someone else's ideals. I've been stepping back and retreating from my own strengths because someone else didn't agree with my values. As a result, I started replacing my values with theirs.
The problem is that my strength isn't based on anyone else's definitions. It's based on what I know, what I've learned, who I am, where I've been and how I got here. How could anyone besides someone that's walked with me for many, many years, understand that I'm not made to fit into a tidy little box. My life is messy, all over the place and against all of my own efforts through the years defies being defined by "normal" limits.
As I edited this video together I found beauty in each of the pilots flights. Not one resembles the other, and yet when I go back and watch it I find things I love in each of them. There is no "ideal" here. There's no box that says "this guy is the best". Jon flew an HD micro around a track, but it's one he's reviewing and I know that if I want the absolute best opinion on HD micros (among many other things) I can ask him. Claudio filmed in some odd frame rate that didn't match my timeline but that forced me to get really creative with the color grade. Not to mention that despite the frame rate mismatch it's a great flight. Stacey wears white tube socks and yet still rips balls in a smooth as silk fashion. Primitive ripped the hell out of that office building but got caught by battery sag at the end. And yet, when his flight matches up against Eminem's lyrics of "feet fail me not" while he power loops the outside structure I get chills every time.
None of these guys is "the best". Each one brings their own strengths, their own weaknesses, and the combination of those makes their flying unique. It would be a terrible disservice to each of them to put them all into one box.
So a few folks come along and tell me I'm not good enough.
Fuck that.
