Hard times are going to come. When you are in those hard times, it can feel impossible to see a way out. It may feel hopeless to believe that there will be life after the pain, but you must believe that there is something good around the corner. There is more to your life than the pain that you're currently going through, the people who left you, your lost job/dream, your stresses, and depression. I know it is hard to believe, but it's true.
Too often, we feel the pressure of the future and the weight of the past. You won't be able to operate at your best for the future until you drop the weight of your past. Give yourself permission to heal. I know this is easier said than done. It feels like you're falling behind if you stop pushing forward, but that's not necessarily true. The truth is that you need that time to pick yourself up completely so that you are strong enough to enter into the next season of your life greater than ever.
Too many of us are settling for a lesser version of ourselves because we accept the things that happen to us, and we allow them to define us. That may be a bad relationship or a painful past failure, but whatever it is, we tend to take it and believe that because it happened to us that it must be us. I'm here to tell you that there is another way. There is a version of you unhindered by the failures of your past. There is a version of you that is unburdened by the labels you once identified with.
You are always in control of what you accept. If I gave you poison, would you accept it? No! Because you know that this would hurt you. It would make you sick, it might even kill you. What if it was a poisonous idea? Would you take it if it was a poisonous lie? What about a poisonous name like "loser," or "failure?"
I want to talk about three ways that people live their life:
- Thirty percent of people are being left by life. This means that they have accepted that this is all life has to offer - that this is the end. They accept their depression or their scenario and deny their ability to move past it. I've been there. I allowed one period of my life to define me, I isolated, and gave in to the lie that my journey was over.
- Sixty percent are being led by life, much like a boat on the water with no sails, subject to the tide. Something about being led by life leads to unfulfillment. You may have a good job, but you may not feel a sense of purpose in it. It's easy to get stuck.
- Ten percent are leading life. These are the people that wake up with intention every morning and don't accept what people are telling them. They don't accept that they've gone as far as they can. You deserve more, go out and get it.
It all starts with you.
