If you are going through something difficult in your life know this:
Transcript:
So I thought I’d come out here to the beach today and shoot a spring video. But as you can see it’s snowing not necessarily optimal conditions. But you know what? Life doesn’t always bring you optimal conditions to do what you want to do. That’s why change is hard.
So today I want to ask you a question. When is a time in your life when you’ve done something really difficult but made it through. For example: maybe you finished an educational program, maybe you changed careers, maybe you lost some weight or transformed your body, maybe you left a toxic relationship, maybe you saved some money.
If you’re a certain age, chances are if you look back far enough you will find some examples of times in your life when you rose up and you conquered and you won despite the challenges.
Seventeen years ago I faced what was probably one of the biggest challenges in my life. I quit smoking. I had smoked for 20 years. Blech! I know. GROSS! I can’t imagine this now but it was different times.
I had tried quitting smoking probably 20 times in those 20 years. I’d tried the patch, I’d tried Zyban, I tried hypnosis, I tried cold turkey,. I tried nicotine gum. You name it, I had tried it and nothing had worked. But I did not give up. I failed at quitting: many, many, many times. And I kept quitting.
And eventually, in April 2002, I finally quit smoking for good by joining a 12 step program. And in that program, I got a little coin that said one hour. And this was for the one hour of my first meeting that I hadn’t had any nicotine. And I held on to that because I knew if I could get through that hour I could get through the next hour and I could get through the next hour and I could get through the next hour.
It wasn’t easy. I had cravings. There were situations that I had to change in my life. A lot of feelings came up It was uncomfortable. But 17 years later I’m still not smoking.
And this week, I was able to look back at that because I had to make another tough decision. I had to let someone in my life go that I was feeling addicted to in a not very healthy way at all. And, letting this person go literally brought up cravings just like when I’d quit smoking. I could feel this need for this person coursing through my veins which was a big red flag that they were not a good person for me in the first place.
But the fact that I had quit smoking prior – I looked at this and I said, you know what, if I can quit smoking I can get through anything. I’ve been through this before. I’ve had this challenge before I albeit with a different substance and a different thing. And I got through it. I succeeded. Looking back at my history has given me the confidence to know that I will succeed this time.
So, if you’re going through a tough time in your life and you want to make a change and it’s seeming so insurmountable and so difficult and so challenging, I want you to look back on your life. Because, as my as one of my mentors Jesse Elder says, you have a long history already of winning. You have already overcome and the fact that you’ve overcome and you’ve risen up and you’ve met challenges before in life means that you can do it again. It’s in you to win. It’s in you to succeed.
Not only that: Future You, the you who is going to be you 10,15, five, however long years from now, maybe even one year, maybe a week from now, needs you to go through this now so when they reach a certain challenge they can look back and say “Yah! Current me overcame.”.
So think about what you’re going through. Think about your past. When have you risen up and overcome a challenge? You’re already a winner. All you need to do is step into it, know it, and succeed.
