Your World Within Podcast by Eddie Pinero - DO IT FOR YOU || Morning Motivation || Best Motivational Speeches

Episode Date: August 22, 2022

"We are all broken. That's how the light gets in" - Ernest Hemingway

Quite some time has gone by since the last letter I wrote to my younger self, a few years actually. And I think we're due, because older me continues to learn to both enjoy and be humbled by life. To experience hello and endure goodbyes. To win and to lose, to acquire, and to cut away. the world is a maze of complexity to navigate. And maybe we should start right there. Because look, kid, there are some fundamental ideas about life that you just have wrong. There is no door that you walk through where you suddenly go from not understanding

to finally having all the answers. Part of growing up is realizing how little human beings know about anything and that's okay what you'll understand is it's not a reason to run it's a source of courage to draw from oh but adults are wise you might think

no adults are just children with mortgages you'll learn that and as we all become renters even that's changing Oh, but him over there, or her, wait, them, they have it all figured out. No, they just walk with conviction into their individual unknowns. That's all. Oh, but there has to be some certainty. We have to know some things for sure, you might think.

Well, certainly we do, or at least we think we do, but you have to understand, 150 years ago, science said bleeding someone out would cure them of their illness. Right? Our pursuit of truth is crucial, but it's a work in progress. Life is a work in progress. You are a work in progress. So what am I talking about? Why does this matter? Because I don't want you to think that you are ill-prepared to venture further into your potential. I don't want you to think that other people have what you don't, that you're not enough. The world around you is chaos.

It's a mess. It's clay. Some people use it to build and create and shape the reality, and others, well, others don't. The kicker here is that nothing is built if you don't first give yourself permission to take the unknowns and make something with them. Once you understand that there is no secret code that must be figured out, you free yourself to explore and capture the the essence of being alive. Again, life is messy. So go flail around, wander, go get lost.

Who cares? You see what I'm saying? You can watch from afar succumbing to the illusion that the world is some meticulously constructed orchestra where everything's playing in unison. Or you can dive in and make your own music, dance to your own melodies, because there is no perfect.

There are people who stand still and people who pick up the pieces as they go. Next, and very closely related, younger me, give yourself a chance. Try things. No, more things. bigger things, terrifying things. You see those posters of people you have hung up on your wall? They're not of a different world. They're people like you.

But they decided along the way that they would try, that they would step out a line, break some rules, push life, and see how hard life pushed back. Younger me on my college essay, I referenced one of my favorite quotes. I attributed it to Mark Twain. Turns out, it wasn't even by him, but life goes on, right? It said, 20 years from now, you'll be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than the ones you did do.

So throw off the bowline. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sales. Explore, dream, discover. It's a beautiful quote. And here's what I gather from it. The biggest mistakes I've made over the course of my lifetime ended up being my greatest teachers,

leading me to something new, to where I most needed to be. I mean, a lot of my mistakes are even funny stories, right, that I joke about with buddies over a beer. The vast majority of things you're worried about, they either won't happen or they're reversible. But what gets you, younger, me, what truly hurts is wishing you have the courage to apply to that thing that you instead let the deadlines slip away, or talk to that person you walked right by, or audition, or train,

or travel, or follow your intuition, your heart to someplace new. Those are the things we tend to carry around. The second you learned that not going is far scarier than stepping out into the unknown you'll possess a perspective that's incredibly valuable. It will change your life. And lastly, this one's kind of hard to articulate, but let me tell you, it continues to resurface. Here it is.

If your intuition is telling you something, listen. Trust it. If something feels wrong, let it go. If it feels like it's where you need to be, you're being pulled in that direction, explore, move towards it. When you know in 30 seconds that someone isn't a good person, don't give them your time. When something doesn't align with your goals or objectives, don't feel bad walking away. When something excites you, trust that feeling.

This is all intuition, and I've come to find that initial response to be more and more valuable. What that feeling is telling you matters. Don't turn your back on that. Now, of course, there's a line we have to walk, or an element of pragmatism we have to hold on to. Sometimes, when we're particularly upset, it makes sense to let the emotion subside and allow rationality to enter.

But this is more about being aware of who you are and what you want, right? Don't talk yourself out of what you know you want and into what you know you don't. Life gives clues. It's not always 4D chess. Sometimes it can be simple. What's needed is right there. But you have to look around.

You have to listen and trust yourself, and no one will ever know you better than you. But if you tune yourself out, then how can you have a shot at living a meaningful life? One on your own terms. be impossible. So younger me, trust yourself. Beyond what anyone else tells you is best

are most beneficial. Again, those are answers only you know. So listen to you. One of my favorite messages is that you are your own experiment. That as we move forward into the haze of the unknown, we understand that at times we'll fall. At times, we'll see our plans disintegrate right in front of us. But this is, when we step back and really examine not a cause for alarm, but a chance to celebrate.

Celebrate because the world's pushing back at you implies that you are moving forward. And that is strength. As the saying goes, in the broken places, the light shines. through, Younger Me, promise me you won't be scared of breaking. That you won't fear leaving the harbor. Because nothing out there is bigger than you, or too much for you to handle or navigate. The funny thing is, Younger Me,

that your journey is reliant on you giving yourself permission to go, to see, to explore. All that starts with you, greenlighting your own. your own adventure. But remember what I'm telling you. There is no rubric for life. It's trial and error.

Remember that if you don't give yourself a chance, you simply watch the opportunity slip by. And remember that you are the only one who knows what's best for you. So trust that intuition. The world will be whatever you choose to make it. And my hope is that you realize you are strong enough. You're bold enough.

You're capable enough to make it whatever that might be. So younger me, go pave your path. Go blaze your trail. And remember along the way, as you navigate the ups and downs, highs and lows, remember to look up. and enjoy the ride. Someday, the things that you currently don't understand will make sense.

Someday, the big things you're dealing with won't seem so big anymore. Someday, the doubts you have about yourself will be revealed as false. Someday you'll see that the things you worry about didn't matter at all. Someday you'll see that the road before you wasn't something you had to walk flawlessly, but rather something you had to trust and believe it.

Someday you'll look in the mirror and see that you had it in you the entire time, that there was nothing you needed or should have been hoping for. Yeah, someday. Someday that will all be true. But what about some days from the past? I remember years ago thinking someday I would venture out into the world. Someday I'd speak my mind. Someday I would start my own business.

I would surround myself with people who believed in what I believe. Someday I'd make a little more money, have a little more time to do what I love. Someday I'd have all that. And as I look around, I realize it looks a lot like, like someday. But guess what? As we grow, so do our some days. It's a chase that never ends. There's always something more. There's always something bigger and better. And the problem is not the ambition. The problem is forgetting that in so many ways you've dreamt of being where you stand right now.

You have arrived. You're not the same person that 10 years ago was throwing some days out into the universe. No, you have grown. You have learned. You have evolved. Why does this matter?

It matters. Because without acknowledging how far you've come, you cannot acquire the strength, needed to go where you must go. When you don't feel good enough, it's often because you haven't looked over your shoulder and opened your eyes, the evidence is right there. It's hiding in plain sight.

There's proof that you've been there, that you faced demons and conquered them, endured your battles and overcame. You did that. And at one point not that long ago, you couldn't say that you had. You weren't yet that person, but things are different. Now, what you have today was once only that hopeful someday. It was a fleeting thought.

It had no merit and no value, yet you brought it to life. Look what you've done. Understand how far you've come, how you ran when you could, you walked when it was possible, you crawled when you had to, and continued on to arrive at a someday that is right now. You, my friend, are a maker of things unseen, an architect of tomorrow's and some days, so don't you dare, don't you ever entertain the delusion that this gift suddenly stops now. Suddenly the burden is too much. The mountain is too tall.

No, what you do is overcome. That is who you are. You've done it for you. You've done it for the ones you love. And in some cases, the ones who didn't even understand, but you kept going. Marching through the fires of hell to turn some days into right now. And I get that the road before you is uncertain. There's no way to know exactly how life will unfold.

But that's besides the point. A bird can't predict every gust of wind it's going to encounter. It spreads its wings, takes off, and adapts because it can, because it always has, because that's what it does. I'm not advocating that you should have all the answers. No, I'm suggesting that you trust yourself to find them. To move forward into the haze that surrounds you, to make sense of the seemingly illogical, bring about reality from the make-believe.

Someday, you will have what you're aiming for. But here's to never letting a today go by without realizing that you are always living out a someday from your past. You are always arriving and leaving simultaneously. the accomplished and the student crossing a finish line and on the starting block with another race around the corner, another chance to stretch your legs and reach for the heavens. If you ever forget that, I ask that you find it within yourself to look over your shoulder, to remember what you once asked for, and to appreciate the journey that you have undertaken. You did that. Now onward you go, you have more some days to bring to life.

The little E on the car dashboard reminds me that I'm pointed east. As I sit at the red light, perpendicular to ocean abs staring out at the water, this is it. This is as far as I can go. There are no more streets or towns or cities. There can't be any more stops along the way, just miles and miles of ocean. It's interesting for me to think about all the changes I've made up to now, growing up outside of Los Angeles on the opposite coast, relocating again and again, sometimes very targeted methodical move,

sometimes just for the sake of change, but always moving, always going. There's a saying that wherever you go, you take yourself with you. You can change this scenario, the circumstances, the surroundings, but ultimately you can never outrun yourself. You are accompanying you on whatever journey awaits. And it's often not until you run out of real estate, until there's no more road or options that you're forced to look in the mirror and acknowledge that it is you who must change. It's you who must evolve and become that person that you need you to become.

And that can be a scary thing. After all, anyone can get in a car and head east. Anyone can point the compass away from the chaos of now. Move away from their demons. But how many of us can find the strength to look those demons in the eye? How many of us can make ourselves bigger than what attempts to weigh us down? All of us can, but how many of us do? Are we running to something or from something?

Because there is a difference and that difference is not small. One of my favorite speakers, Jim Rohn, when referencing our journeys through life, our push to make more of ourselves. He essentially said, it's not what you get at the other end. It's who you become along the way. And I think like everyone, I've forgotten that from time. time to time over the years, forgotten that value is not simply ingoing, but in becoming, in the courageous little steps that accumulate over time. Forgotten that the external world might inspire or excite, that change might invigorate

the soul, that the road untravelled might remind me of life's beauty, but these externalities are only as valuable as you allow them to be. There are only opportunities if you decide them to be so. Change inspires. But will you let it inspire you to do that thing you know you need to do, but are terrified of doing? In that road, it might remind you of life's beauty. But will you let that reminder be your invitation

to share your own beauty with the world? Whatever that means for you. Can you be that vulnerable? Can you take that leap in the story of your becoming? See, it is incredibly easy to look out at the world and pinpoint its flaw. All those little problems and imperfections, they tend to jump out at us. But can you identify what you, yourself, need? Can you be courageous enough to ask those questions of yourself?

What matters to me? What does a meaningful life look like to me? Where am I falling short? That is a conversation that needs to be had. And it needs to be had often. Otherwise, we will drive and drive and drive until we hit water in are forced to ask that question. Because it's interesting that when we don't pause

and make the changes that need to be made, Life has a way of ensuring that we do. But when it's mandated by life, it tends to be a lot messier, a lot more chaotic. At least than when we make the decision ourselves. But either way, we cannot run forever. Either way, we must step into a new pair of shoes and learn to walk confidently with them into the night. There are plenty of little mantras floating around out there,

out there, little pieces of advice, and perhaps it's best for us to weigh them each individually. See what meets our needs and fits our criteria. After all, life is not one size fits all. But one of my favorite among these is to do one single thing that scares you every day, and I'll tell you why. Because when we become conditioned to turning our backs on all the uncomfortable things in life, We cripple our prospects of a better tomorrow. It's synonymous with the seed refusing water, saying no to the very thing it needs most. And what should be noted here,

one of the reasons it's so dangerous is that saying no is incredibly subtle. It's not some big event or explosion. There's no fireworks show that occurs every time you walk away from what you need. No, it goes unnoticed. And again, one of the greatest challenges is quantifying that which we don't do. How do you measure that thing you walked away from?

Well, unfortunately, you can't. You can't at least until you're staring out at the Atlantic with nowhere to run, no more escaping on the agenda. You don't know until you're forced to pick the pieces up and make something of them. And I say this so that hopefully it can ignite that spark in your soul that you need most. Whether you previously recognized it or not. I say this to remind you how much bigger you are than your problems, how you have the ability to transform all that exists around you when you transform yourself.

There's a certain inevitability associated with how we see ourselves. And I believe this to be true at both the personal and the societal levels. Anyone can look in the mirror and see the past, where they've gone wrong, how inadequate and ill-prepared they are. But the courage to look in the mirror and see strength. To both identify and understand one's shortcomings, but know that you have the power to do something about it. To know that the times you fell or didn't make the cut, they don't indicate that the endeavor was all for not or unequivocally wrong.

No, there is so much good tied into your pursuit. So much beauty and courage ingrained in your soul. But imagine. Imagine a life where you no longer run from the gaps but close them. Imagine finding it in yourself to begin that hero's journey. And where you used to run to protect yourself, now you take the offensive to grow yourself. Where you used to avoid the possibility of failure,

now you chase the possibility of victory. You can have that if you want to. You can be that if you choose to. And sure, you may never be that. Sure, you may never be able to outrun yourself, but you can always adapt yourself to be that person you always needed you to be. Sometimes we just need the reminder that we are strong enough.

We do have what it takes. And that the thing that hurts us most in the short term not only saves us pain in the long term, but it becomes what we live for. It is where we find our meaning. And so perhaps this ocean before me is not there to remind me of my constraints that I have no road left,

but a reminder of just how often we measure using the wrong metrics. Perhaps I needed to see again that it's not where I end up, but who I become along the way. that when the internal self steps into the shoes it's been too intimidated to wear, that when the world within becomes the beacon you need it to be, the roads and the stops along the way, they matter a little bit less than the eyes that process it all, that decide what it means,

how it will be utilized in the game of life. And so, yes, the little E, on the car dashboard, it says that I'm pointed east. But as I sit at this red light, perpendicular to ocean abs staring out at the water, I know this is only the beginning.