Some people choose pain, and some even choose disrespect. I say that because, of course people can give you disrespect, but it is up to you whether or not you continue to tolerate that disrespect. A situation can give you misery, but it is up to you to continue to tolerate that misery or not. A lot of us are choosing to remain in situations or to stay in mindsets that are keeping us from being the greatest versions of ourselves. I struggle with this same thing a lot.

I want to be clear about one thing. You can one hundred percent be the victim sometimes. Maybe all of the time. There are situations that are going to happen to you that are not your fault. Here's the dirty truth though… It's easy to be a victim. It feels nice to say, "it's not my fault." The problem is that it takes away all of the power from you to see yourself as the victim, and you do have power. You can choose to fight the situation. You can choose to fight the disrespect. You can choose to take control over your emotions. I'm not saying it is not hard, because it is, but hard is not impossible. That is so important to remember.

There is so much greatness locked inside of us that we don't let see the light of day. Usually this is because we are too busy trying to figure out whose fault it is that we feel this way instead of working to fix the situation, regardless of whose fault it is. We continue to shrug off responsibility and we continue to do the things that will keep us stuck in that victimhood. We complain about our situation and we wish that we could change but at the same time we are not willing to do what it takes to make change. We stay in relationships that are toxic. We stay with friends that constantly put us down. We continue to stay in jobs we hate. We sleep in, eat like trash, and we never take care of our health. It's no wonder things aren't changing because you never have the energy. When you aren't fueling your body correctly, you can't expect to have the energy to change.

You can never expect to have the energy to do anything until you identify the biggest threat in your life that is keeping you from changing (and if you are tired all of the time you might want to start with food, sleep, and/or exercise). Once you find the problem, change it. Cut out the bad habit that is keeping you down so you can finally evolve and show your greatness. I say this all of the time but you have got to get sick and tired of being sick and tired. Nothing will change until you say no more. Nothing will change until you stop allowing the misery in your life to affect your actions. Nothing will change until you start being thoughtful about who you allow into your life. Instead of choosing misery, choose change.

It all starts with you.