
Today, I started off my day with yoga.
It's important to engage in stillness, and just let yourself be consumed by mindfulness. Starting off the day with an activity that supports positive mental health is extremely important, and today I wanted to give anyone reading this a mantra to follow.
Never forget who you are.
The COVID-19 pandemic has definitely affected a lot of us in negative ways. It's contributed to ended relationships or loss of work for many people, and some of us may have forgotten just who we are because of it. Today, I want to virtually spend some time telling everybody reading this that who you are is great, and who you are is courageous, and who you are is beautiful. Never forget who you are, because who you are is truly phenomenal.
Oftentimes, we define ourselves by our failures. We start defining ourselves as our struggles, and we begin to think that we're weak because the times have gotten hard. We define ourselves by what surrounds us, and that's a problem when we're surrounded by negativity.
You've got to remember who you are.
You've got to stop letting certain situations make you forget who you are. There was a time in my life that most of you probably know about—I lost the NFL, and temporarily forgot who I was.
I had let football define my life, and when football left my life, I let that loss define my life.
Let me tell you something—everything that was meant to break you is going to build you up instead if you allow it. Your trials aren't meant to define your life—they're meant to refine it instead. Your life isn't over after one failure, so don't let that one failure become your entire identity.
Today, I want you to remind yourself of who you are.
I don't care what people try to say about you, and I don't care how the virus has affected you. You've got to dig yourself out of that hole and remind yourself of your greatness anyway, because who you are is unique and incredible. The sooner you realize how great you really are, the sooner you can do great things.
I know that's easier said than done—people and circumstances have ways to bring us down. It's not always easy to have faith in ourselves, but we're nothing without our faith. We're nothing if we can't believe in ourselves. That's why today's message is so important—if you want to be successful, you have to push through. There's no other way. You've got to keep faith in yourself and God no matter what happens.
It all starts with you.