Your World Within Podcast by Eddie Pinero - In Your Weakest Moment, Here’s What No One Tells You

Episode Date: June 2, 2025

In this raw, cinematic episode, Eddie Pinero confronts the haunting truth about our weakest moments. When you’re at your lowest, when it feels like everything has crumbled and you’re surrounded by metaphorical wolves, that’s not the end. It’s the invitation to become one of them.This is your opportunity to rise.We explore what it means to stand tall when life tries to break you, and how the moments you fear the most can forge the greatest version of yourself. No fluff, no empty motivation — just a gut-punch reminder of your power in the face of chaos.More from Eddie Pinero:Monday Motivation Newsletter: https://www.eddiepinero.com/newsletterYour World Within Podcast: https://yourworldwithin.libsyn.com/Stream these tracks on Spotify - https://spoti.fi/2BLf6pBInstagram - @your_world_within and @IamEddiePineroTikTok - your_world_withinFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/YourworldwithinTwitter - https://www.twitter.com/IamEddiePineroBusiness Inquiries - http://www.yourworldwithin.com/contact

There are moments in life that feel like endings. But what if there's simply the next version of you? A question that brings me right to the present moment. It's funny how something so small can undo something so sacred. This time, it's something as arbitrary as back spasms. A sharp pain when I breathe in that kind of moves different places to my upper left back to my lat, shoulder. And at first it was, you know, kind of an afterthought. It was like, okay, you know, it'll heal.

I'll be fine in a few days. After all, part of getting older and lifting is working around these things. You're never 100% perfect. It's been almost three weeks now. And instead of healing, it's getting worse, right? It hurts to sleep, hurts to breathe. Even thinking about a pull-up feels like betrayal. And here's the part worth examining.

I didn't think it would hit this hard. But, you know, here I am, canceling workouts with friends, texting, hey, sorry, man, got to skip today. That Murph workout, I was so pumped to do, that ritual of strength and struggle, you know, shared with people I respect. Gone. Postponed. Forgotten by everyone except me. And this isn't just me whining, by the way. Like, I'm getting to the point here.

I feel less anchored, because for me, movement isn't just fitness. It's clarity, it's identity. It's the thread that really weaves the rest of my life together. And without it, apparently that thread has started to unravel. My wake time shifted a little bit. Don't have to get up early to hit the fasted cardio. So morning structure softens. And you get the idea that domino effect, kind of stop tracking meals,

skipping the cold plunge a few times, turns into a few more, opening Instagram instead of the notebook. And, you know, the part of me that would roar forward with focus and fire, well, he's just a little quieter now. And I think that's the moment where the wolves come. You know, not suddenly, at least not in this case, not dramatically, but gradually until they're everywhere, until you look around and go, whoa.

You know, one sits on my shoulder whispering, you're losing it. Another paces in front of me. Momentum's gone, you'll never get it back. One hides behind false logic, right? Maybe this is just who you are now. Maybe it's easier to accept that. And the cruelest one of all,

he just watches, says nothing. Because he knows that I am. know. The context here is for the first time and a long time I'd finally felt healthy like I'd mitigated and sort of remove myself from a lot of these things I've dealt with over the years. And that's what's been interesting to watch, right? That subtle erosion of self-belief, that part of me that's always said, dude, you've been here before, you'll get through this. Sometimes when you're just down and out, it feels hard to hear. But here's the inflection point. And I love to share these inflections.

This morning I sat alone on my balcony and I asked the question that matters most. You don't like the person you're becoming, the trajectory, you know, you've taken in a very short period of time. It's like, do I let this moment consume me or do I become something new? Do I let it be a new evolution? Because this is no different than any other challenge in life. You know, it feels big and personal and complex because, well, it's what's right in front of me now. But in reality, you know, it's just another obstacle. You know, pain has a way of asking you who you really are.

Not when everything's working. Not when you're strong, but when you're broken. When the routines fall apart, when your identity starts, sanity starts to slip through your fingers, and the wolves, you know, they are not the enemy. They're the test. In a way, they are the invitation, a hand extended. And so this morning, I gifted myself the decision. Not to sprint, obviously, not to lift, can't do that. But to face that circle of wolves with grace. To stop hoping they go away. and to meet their gaze and answer them.

Yes, I'm in some mental duress, right? Poor me, life goes on. Yes, I'm losing momentum. Yes, in a way, holding off regression, but I'm still here. Blood in my veins, air in my lungs. And gonna rebuild from the inside out. Again, it's not like I just found out

I'll never walk again, right? Perspective here. Because the wolf isn't some fantasy of me at my peak, it's who's already inside, who I become when everything's stripped away. When normalcy and routine and comfort are taken, who do you become?

So if you fill them too, right, those doubts, those whispers, if your momentum has been slowed, if your identity feels like it's dissolving, this is your moment. Not to run or hide, but to rise. To not lay down, shake your fist at the world and become the sheep,

but to meet the wolves where they are. Life isn't about staying strong when it's easy. It's about becoming stronger when every part of you wants to disappear, when you're frustrated and annoyed. And all you see is off-ramps. Your north star is covered up by clouds. That's when it matters. when the wolves circle, you become one.

And so that's the question. When life has you pinned, what do you do? Do you become the sheep? Or when you're circled by wolves, do you find a way to become one of them? Let's dive deeper. It's in your lowest moments. When quitting feels the easiest.

when retreating or surrender feels the most intuitive that life asks the most of you. That's when you want to hide, to point fingers to collapse, blame and fear the wolves. But maybe that's when you're meant to become one. Life is admittedly a game of nuance and complexity. There's no one side.

fits all roadmap here. But sometimes, to distill our most important crossroads into their simplest form sheds light on the road ahead. It helps us better understand what lies before us. After all, we don't lose ourselves because we misread the little complexities, because we got lost on the details. No, we lose ourselves. we're unable to see the most basic, simple, and seemingly obvious things.

And so let's take an axe to this tree. Let's break the complex down. Let's examine our darkest moments. Our most challenging trials. When we hurt the most, when life brings us to our knees, when we feel the wolves circling. After all, that's when we're most inclined to become the sheep.

It's easier to shrink, to blame the seemingly bloodthirsty beasts waiting for their chance to take everything you have left. Drawn in by your momentary weakness, they know this is the invitation they've longed for, free dining at your expense. Oh, how every instinct in these moments resonates with being the victim. How intuitive, right, to lay down and want to shake your fist at the world. But what if? What if these moments called you to do one thing?

Not bow down to the universe and loathe the wolf, not fear the sharp teeth, nor the glowing eyes piercing through the night, but rather find it within yourself to rise up and become one? What if it wasn't a threat? No, not at all. What if it was an invitation, a whisper? Hey, you know that part of you buried deep down? That beast in slumber, the one who's been dormant for perhaps too long, the one who doesn't take no for an answer, who sees the world not as a collection of steel bars restricting their every move,

but a playground. one who expects turbulence, who sees the obstacles not as a problem, but is a reminder that you are right where you need to be. That lives inside you. With all its strength and courage, all its fight and resolve, when you feel the wolf's circle, don't collapse into that part of you treading water on the surface. Dig deep. Descend to the depths of yourself and reemerge as one of them. Fight fire with fire. See, sometimes life calls on you to take shelter.

This is not one of those times. Step out into the world, into the storm, into hell, and carve something beautiful, into the chaos. Will it be easy? No, of course not. That's the whole thing. When we're in pain,

anything but surrender is counterintuitive. But that's why the ascent is transformational. Start with the premise that it's not a matter of if the wolf inside of you exists. It's whether you can collect yourself and choose to be him over the sheep.

Can you tolerate the sharp pain of transformation in exchange for the slow, dull, chipping, ache of surrender? When the wolves circle, and if they aren't now, my friend, they will. A life fully lived is never void of them. Accept the call to transcend life as it's currently lived. Let the sharp teeth be a reminder that you can cut through the haze of doubt. Let the eyes be a reminder that you can see through the now and visualize the ideal. Let the howls be a reminder that your soul cries out for more. That their moon is in fact your moon and what's available to them can belong to you.

When you want most to accept the role as sheep, when you want most to lay down to tip your cap and call it a day, that is your moment. To not just endure, but to dig deep, to step outside yourself, to find light in darkness, to become the way, and to be more than you have ever been.

All right, so that last segment delved into the opportunity that comes from our hardship. And the next segment here, kind of takes things up another level. It talks about the utility and power of being broken and rebuilding. You know, there's something that, I believe it's referred to as the art of Kinsugi

that really demonstrates this, an old Japanese tradition where when, like, dishes or things break, they're put back together with the golden lacquer. And the idea is the sort of recrubes, recreated version because it's now unique and has so much more life and story to it is more valuable than the original untarnished version. And that's the idea that I try and get through here. It's like these moments that really bring us to our knees, they're an opportunity to build again

with more life and character and story. That's what living is. And so reframing that is a good thing, an essential thing, a beautiful thing, I think changed the way we approach life. You hear a loud crack. The ground beneath your feet shakes, the sky's darken. Broken glass covers the ground all around you. Over your shoulder, you see rough, stormy seas. This is your fall. It's what we often refer to as the dark of night, the worst of times. And me, I've had moments like these a few times. We've ultimately parted ways like two ships passing in the night, but I know the feeling. The feeling of despair, of helplessness.

A heart silenced by echoes, a house hollowed by fire, know the feeling. This is the forever relationship that ended up folding right in front of you. Funny enough, way sooner than forever. This is the unfathomable, indescribable loss. This is walls falling. Promise is broken, its betrayal. This is a knife to the back, an ending you didn't ask for. Oh, I know the feeling. And then, Just as the sky caves in, just as your castle seems to dissolve in shifting sands, as though a 7.0 magnitude earthquake just ripped through your world and left. The remains of an ancient civilization, little keepsakes from a time that is no more.

This is when, now that the turbulence has stopped, you get to sit and think. and reflect, which is often the part that hurts worse than the castle walls coming down to begin with. This is the emptiness of winter, a barren landscape, and all you want is home. Me? I've felt moments like these a few times. We've ultimately parted ways like two ships passing in the night, but I know the feeling. The subtle hum of silence where chaos sang. Who would have thought nothing could be so painful? This is when the music, the podcast, and the YouTube videos play non-stop in the background

because God forbid I hear myself think. This is when minds race and worst-case scenarios dance around the flames of all that's left. This is when you. are left to face the one person you've been avoiding. Yourself. And see, amidst the ashes, the destruction, the ruins, this is when something truly magical happens. This is when, if you so choose, you get to build again.

This is when you start to look around and see the value and all that stuff that just brought in. you to your knees. As though the ending you didn't think you wanted, just open the door to the beginning you didn't know you needed. This is when,

like a phoenix from the ashes, you rise. You take the broken pieces of yourself and reassemble them. And piece by piece, as you put yourself back together, it appears, as Hemingway put it,

You are now strong at the broken places. For what's more powerful than someone who learns that even the greatest adversity, even the flames of hell, does not kill him. Doesn't hold him down or take him out. It appears as though this thing is not over. No, this thing is just beginning. and me

I've met moments like these a few times we've ultimately parted ways like two ships passing in the night but I know the feeling the resurrection of self the reconstruction of meaning in my own life it's why I stand here before you

not because I never fell not because those walls stayed up, but because it all came crashing down, and from the ashes I put myself back together, and here I am tarnished and cracked and broken, but strong enough to tell the tale, to remind you that when the world collapses, it's not indicative of an end, but a chance to build again, this time better than before. Look, I know the moment hurts. I know the crushing blow of solitude tied to one being humbled by life, but I also know that you are stronger than those things. In fact, you are stronger than you think you are. There's a new world waiting simply because the

destruction of the old didn't end you. It made you. All right. So this next segment talks about that resistance we have to breaking open, right? If the last segment talks about the opportunity in allowing life to crack us open so that we can rebuild, and it's this constant game of breaking and building again, the next one touches to that fear and that resistance. The segment's called The Things We Don't Say Out Loud.

And it's about all those things we keep to ourselves our whole lives, never tell anyone, never try, never explore, and they just kind of die with us. There's a quote by Emerson that pretty well known, but I think for a reason, it says the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the songs still in them. So concerned with preserving this untarnished image of ourselves

that we never really get to live life. and that's what this touches. So the things we don't say out loud. You ever wonder how much of you has materialized? Like if what F. Scott Fitzgerald says is true and our lives are defined by opportunity, even the ones we miss, then how much remains in the ether?

And I don't think it's about playing a game of what if. You know, that would be endless. It would be self-defeating. No one's perfect. I don't even really think it's about making a right turn instead of a left. Because as long as you're moving and moving with conviction, life ultimately brings you where you need to be. But more, my concern is the steps never brought to paper.

My ideas on the hatch. My opportunities, I either knowingly or unknowingly left on the shelf. Because it didn't seem real enough. Like a Broadway play between my ears, that as a spectator I knew would end. After all, that's what stories do. How much of ourselves have we passed aside as simply the things we don't say out loud? At first, it's infinite. We've yet to be taught to limit because limits aren't things, their ideas, and ideas must be adopted.

That's why they say some of the life's best things were done by people too ignorant to know they were impossible. too naive of the notion that they couldn't say them out loud, then it's comparison. They have what I want, but it was meant for them and not me. How delusional to think I could have it. How crazy to think that life has yet to be written, and I am an author.

My date is with normalcy in the box where I keep those things we don't say out loud, and then we look around and we see highlight reels. We see awards and vacations and smiles, but we don't stop to think maybe they're just like me. Maybe they're people who struggle and question themselves and doubt the road ahead. No, it must be the past diverged.

They took happiness, and I took those things we don't say out loud, and then there's everyday life when things don't go as planned, when the world presents curveballs, and you haven't learned to hit off speed, so you feel small, and you feel inadequate and ill-equipped, and you could reach out, but that's not cool, that's not right. That's something that you don't say out loud, but we keep it in, like all in,

and eventually it becomes the if-onlys, and I wish I had. it's the quiet envy gazing longingly towards those who just cared less, who realized maybe life's not as serious as we make it out to be, who turn thoughts to things, not by burying, but by embodying them. And maybe that's the trick to unlock the gate, keeping your perceived reality from the possibility of a new one. The one you could create, if only you promoted your fleeting thoughts to forward progress. See, dreams can fail to come to fruition in two places,

in your head and outside of it. But at least outside, it has a chance. At least outside, you can take the common, normal, everyday background and make it the backdrop to your movie where you play a lead role. But it must be accepted and acknowledged, not thought of or even whispered, but screamed so that the details and the trivialities that exist now work for you. That's right, they are now yours. Not because you thought about it, but because you reached out a hand and you took.

You ask the world for something. And in life, it will always be true that you don't get what you do not ask for. So when you find yourself staring up a wall comprised of self-defeating narratives and manufactured limits, be ignorant, be irrational, be the reason your dreams have a chance. And when you look around and you see more

and wonder why you don't have it, know that you can. You're allowed to. If you sacrifice, you will. But you must believe you are worthy of it. Not in the back of your head where you keep your locker combo and movie quotes, but in reality, where words bounce off lips. And when you feel like life is treating you unfairly, like they're happier or have it better,

know that life is peaks and valleys, not just for you but for everyone. And how you internalize that and carry on makes the difference. And when you feel lost or stuck, you are not hopeless, but in progress. Being broken down so that you can be reconstructed, stronger, better. Victory is not in hiding those struggles, but accepting them as the difference, as the reason you created the miraculous. Not because you had dreams.

Because you said them out loud. The last segment here will end with a giant kind of overarching theme of self-belief in the narrative that everything we've talked about, right? All that stuff, none of it matters if you don't green light your path. If you don't give yourself permission to go. And that's big picture things. That's trying little things. That's shaking hands with people. You know, when you're nervous to pick up the phone or walk up to them, that's being vulnerable online.

like all these little green lights no one on earth is going to help you along like no one's going to do that for you that has to be initiated by you and so this video the power of self-belief kind of serves that reminder hey there's a lot of great things out there but the universe is waiting on you every single dream vision or idea in your life starts with a simple understanding that it's obtainable, that you can make it real. That's the beginning of everything. Self-belief is the gatekeeper that stands between current and future.

See if you think of reality as these city walls you're living in, it's not crazy to think that there are going to be people that only know that existence within the walls, right? That's what they see, that's what most believe, it's how they live. It is only self-belief, a confidence in something greater outside those walls that opens the gate, that expands your reality. And if you don't believe anything good exists on the other side, why begin? If you don't think you're capable of getting there, why start? And this formula is simple, right? Let's not overthink it. We only move towards outcomes that we believe to be possible.

And that's more important than ability, skill set, strength. I mean, you name it, believing in yourself trumps all that. Because the person with an inferior skill set, maybe an average natural talent, but they believe in something and they move towards it. They give everything for this idea, they know it to be true. It will always beat the talented person that's unsure. The procrastinates that has one foot in and one foot out. And if you don't believe in yourself, you're building a city on sand because I'll tell you what, great things, they're great for a reason. They're in rare supply.

They're limited. Which means not everyone can have them. Which means those who do have them have to fight. for them have to deal with being uncomfortable have to give more sacrifice more pay a steeper price than the masses and if you don't look in the mirror stare yourself in the face and know you are one of those select few what's gonna happen when life kicks back at you you'll fall you'll resort back to what you know you'll flee the battle for safety security and comfort

But when you know your movie ends at the top of the mountain, when you know at the end of the day, you're going to cross a finish line or hold a trophy, your brain internalizes conflict differently, very differently. For someone with self-belief, obstacles don't make you wonder if you should keep going. Because you already know you have to keep going. I mean, come on, you haven't arrived yet.

There's still a road to travel. No, in this situation, obstacles simply prompt you to ask how. How can I get through this? And that's a small discrepancy that changes everything. Because at some point, you'll look to your right and you'll look to your left and you'll find very few people get to the how question. They all stopped at if. I wonder if I can do this. I wonder if I'm capable.

Well, they'll never know. They'll never see that sunset beyond those metaphorical city walls because they never truly believed in themselves. They never opened that gate. Look, I went through 16 years of education without a teacher or professor telling me, Eddie, 99% of life is just believing in yourself to figure challenges out as they come.

To figure life out as it comes. That's it. Only X percent make it through law school, only Y percent succeed at this and that. That's what you hear. But no, none of that matters. It's simple, it's simple, it's simple. Most of the world quits when things get challenging. If you don't, if you have the courage to believe in trust in yourself, you'll succeed.

Why? Because you won't stop until you find a way. That's the power of self-belief. It's not quantum physics. It's not complex. You know, at one point, I didn't think I could make a living outside of a cubicle or office building.

Then I saw others do it. And for the first time in my life, I believed it was possible. I changed my actions to support my beliefs. And here we are. At one point, I didn't think certain financial goals were reality. I didn't know about a free, flexible lifestyle.

I wasn't aware of the type of relationships that would change my life. Why? because they existed outside those city walls. I didn't believe they were real. I didn't believe in myself to create them, to make them in my own life. But with the change in belief comes a change in reality.

You will always follow through on who you believe you are. So let's go back to that mirror visualization. At some point today, look at your reflection and think about nothing but what I'm about to tell you. Everything you need, you have. I promise you. You are equipped to change your life, the lives of everyone around you,

and the world in which you exist. So take that back. Feel it and never ask it again. From now on, the question is how. Your fate is not a coin flip. It's a puzzle. It's about arranging the pieces. And those two eyes looking back at you are more than capable of figuring that out.

Ask simply, do you want it? And if yes, open that front door, take that first step and inject yourself into a journey that will be unlike anything you've ever experienced before. A journey where you have the answers, the aptitude, and now the self-belief. And when you find yourself in the lowest of lows or the darkest of nights, find solace in that fact that that will be more than enough to get you to dawn. All right, guys, well, that concludes the episode. I hope you got a lot from it.

And if you did, make sure you like, subscribe, leave a comment down below. Let me know in your world what wolves are circling and how you're going to rise to confront them. and be better than you ever have i appreciate you watching hanging out and uh more to come see in a few days