Often times, when I talk about enemies, I will talk about the haters online or the people in your life that put you down and don't believe in you and your journey. We think that strangers are the enemies. We think that social media is the enemy. We think that our circumstances are the enemy. We think that it's everything external. Many of us believe that they are our worst enemies, but that is just not true. They can only do to us what we give them permission to do. There is a greater enemy that lives inside of us -- ourselves.

I have realized this in my own life. My enemies were procrastination, blame, and settling for less. In this life, you need to understand that your greatest rival is you. This world is a game of you versus you. Some of you may think that I have no idea what I am talking about because I have no idea what you have been through. Let me tell you something, I know that some of you have been through some absolute hell in your life. I feel for that. I understand that times can get darker than most people will believe, but what I am saying is that, in the aftermath of that pain, when things continue to control you and control your life, you have got to know that you are giving those things permission to control you. When you give these things control you become your own personal enemy. Your enemy is no longer the things that caused you pain before. Your enemy isn't even the pain itself. Your enemy is you and you alone.

For some of you your enemy is fear. Your enemy is inconsistency. Your enemy is lack of belief. Your enemy is an internal war and every single day you have a choice. You can stand up and fight that enemy or you can tuck your tail in and run. Those are the options. You can choose to stand tall and say, "You know what? I'm going to do something about this!" You can choose to stop letting fear control your life. You can choose to stop settling for less. You can choose to work through the pain of the past and finally begin to appreciate the present and smile about the future. You can decide I'm going to do something. You can decide to fight, but that decision has to be made every single day. This is not a one time fix all sort of fight. Some days you will lose, but the important thing is to never give up. Never stop fighting. Some of you have allowed that same enemy of fear, that same enemy of procrastination, that same enemy of settling for less to control your life for years. Stop allowing yourself to be a tyrant to yourself. Start to fight. Start to make the choice to fight. Every. Single. Day.

It all starts with you.