Your World Within Podcast by Eddie Pinero - "What We THINK, We BECOME" | Powerful Motivational Speeches | Wake Up Positive

Episode Date: November 16, 2022

"Believe you can and you're halfway there" - Theodore Roosevelt

Sometimes the moment has a way of appearing bigger than it really is. A facade. Let me explain. There was this kid when I was in first grade. Let's just call him Mike. What Mike would do was follow us all around the classroom and outside at recess. We'd constantly look for reasons to quote unquote, tell the teacher on you.

Right? Dude was an absolute menace. I'm 35, and I still remember Mike. My buddies and I would be, you know, playing basketball outside. You know, maybe just learn some awesome four-letter words. We'd love to give him a test run, but no, not if Mike was around. Mike would go right to the teacher and see, we feared Mike because we feared being in trouble.

Now, as time passes, yeah, you look back. and realize how absolutely ridiculous that is. I want to shake younger me and say, who cares about Mike? Go live your life, he doesn't matter. But the reality is at the time he did matter. He mattered a lot because he was the personification of what was most scary to us in the moment.

As a child, avoiding being in trouble or time out or whatever it was, seemed to be a big deal. And here's what I'm a lot. But I think, I think every chapter of life has a mic. Not in the literal sense, but in the sense that there's something we fear, something that consumes our time and attention, something that's been inflated to a state far greater than it really should have been, that has an impact disproportionate to reality.

Because as real as it seems in the moment, a few years down the road, we'll do the usual, know, shake our head and laugh about the seemingly obvious lack of perspective during that chapter. Hindsight being 2020 will be shocked. We couldn't see what we eventually came to see. But that's what growth is. It's a good thing. We want to evolve. No one wants to be the same in 10 years. See life the same way in 10 years. But it's also an opportunity to obtain some perspective. To understand that our current fears aren't all we've built them up to be. we just can't see it yet. Unfortunately, the dust has to settle before the picture makes sense.

Just like right now, we can't judge the world around us, the same way historians will be able to with clarity. That's why I often reference Brony Wears top five regrets of the dying, because it's a list of things people in their final stages of life look back on and say, yeah, that was dumb. It's people who have already walked the path, pointing out the metaphorical mics they've encountered along the way, because here's the deal. The root of our stagnation, the root of our frustration, our despair comes down to fear in some capacity.

Right? When you dig deep, it's a fear of leaving or staying, a fear of criticism, fear of unknowns, fear of letting down the people we do know. Our demons are manufactured. They're comprised of fear, fear that, sure, we'll eventually laugh and shrug off. But owe the power in being able to fast forward that sequence. To understand that life is too short to be held down by chains of our own making, right? How about laughing in the face of what intimidates you now?

Not five years from now, but now. How about looking around and asking yourself what obstacles in your life are Mike-esque? How about breaking our constraints down into what they've always been manageable tasks? Simply waiting for us to change the narrative. If you aren't pursuing that which is meaningful, it's most likely because somewhere deep down fear is holding you back. And that fear is holding you back because let's face it, you've let it in. See, the moment is beautiful. It's powerful.

It has everything you need, but it's not bigger than you. It never will be bigger than you. So let's not wait for some arbitrary time in the future to arrive at that conclusion. them who you are. As Emerson said, to be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment. It is nothing short of courage to walk into that dark cave that is your potential, to become a pioneer of uncharted worlds in search of who you might. It is courage to leave what will be accepted for an idea that will certainly be misunderstood. At least initially, it means you're playing by new rules using new metrics, not the rubric that's already been handed out, no anything but that.

And that is the fundamental difference between those who create and those who react, those who fight to discover. who they are and those who hide behind the mask of acceptance. It's courage. See, anyone can criticize. Anyone can condemn or tear down. But who's willing to run the gauntlet? Who's willing to subject themselves to that hell? Who wants something better so bad that they trade comfort and the re-eastern,

assurance of now for a life to ultimately be proud of, to be excited when the sun comes through the window, when they jump out of bed in the morning. There are most definitely complexities in life, and we do our best to understand them, to navigate through them. But that question, that particular question in my mind will always be simple. Do you have the courage to show them who you are? to make that decision, not reflect back their wishes and their reality like a mirror, but create your own. Harness it.

Carry it up the mountain like a torch through the night. See, what I've come to understand is that knowing simply is not enough. Understanding is not enough. Replicating is not enough. What these things lack is you. And if I had to best represent this understanding, it would be like this. If you take a musician, a technically sound musician, she can play. A student of music.

Well, he can understand and recite. An expert in the craft. Well, she can teach. But it's only someone who injects their authentic self into these abilities that can touch the whole. and touch the hearts of people around them, change their lives, fill minds with wonder and awe. Because when you take a step back

and really see what's going on, the songs that are sung, well, they're not sung because they are the most technical or most advanced because they followed the rules. No, we sing them because they meant something when we heard them. Their authors had the courage to move a step beyond understanding, and into the vulnerability that is self-discovery. That is creation.

It is a microcosm of life. And in a world where comfort is not only pushed upon us, but it's the essence of what makes us human, saying no, well, it feels like running uphill. When you blend in, you can't be questioned. When you blend in, you rarely lose. When you blend in, there is no risk, but when you blend in, there is no you. And I'm not suggesting you missed the mark or you lost the battle.

I'm suggesting that every once in a while, we need to be reminded that the journey has not even begun. That down the road, you'll see those people around you. They weren't so much concerned about you as they were themselves, that everyone is scared, everyone is unsure, no one knows or has the answer. But man, to see that, to feel that and move forward anyway, to know that you're worthy of a tomorrow greater than today, that is the courage rarely understood. And Emerson gives us with that message everything we need. The wisdom to know there's more and most importantly, the courage to show yourself and the world who you are.

It's time. The world will not stop spinning. The clock won't stop ticking, days won't stop slipping by. It's time. Things won't suddenly get easier. The difficulty does not remove itself. the path does not narrow. That perfect moment, it doesn't exist.

A flawless beginning is fiction. The stars will never align for you. It's time. Not tomorrow, not someday down the road, but this very second. See, you don't need all the answers. You don't need to know or be sure or be armed with guarantees. Your job, your only requirement is to begin. It's time.

To trade fear for opportunity. Someday for right now, it's time. To stop thinking small, stop seeing what you want as a reach, to stop looking at success as a stranger. It's time. to sit down and convince yourself that what you want can be accomplished. When it's as real as the space in front of you, when it's as probable as the completion of a single step,

it will happen because it has to. It's time. At some point, you have to see that you're not simply playing conservatively. You're not being a perfectionist. It's not about being okay with where you are. No, if we're going to get anywhere, let's be truthful. Let's call it what it is. These things, these ideas, these excuses are a derivative of fear. The problem with possibility is that it's incredibly hard to quantify. Technically, if you've never had it, you've never lost it. And And that is how we rationalize staying where we are.

That's why we compartmentalize the things we want most as dreams. But for a second, let's be bigger. Let's start from the premise that what life can provide or become is limitless. It is truly infinite. And when you sit on an idea or you refuse to begin, you are in fact, losing every single thing around you, everything. At one point it began. At one point someone summoned the courage to reach out and take what's in front of them.

Maybe you do the same. Maybe you take that step. Maybe the first few times go terribly wrong. Maybe it's terrifying. Maybe you find out who has your back, who your real friends are, and maybe those truths scare you but guess what? Guess what those steps turn into? Confidence, amplified purpose, and most importantly, more steps. You get to see right in front of you as your demons diminish, evaporate. The higher you climb, the better the view, the longer the road, the greater,

the experience. I would rather fall. A thousand times and continuously get back up stronger than be someone who looks at the world through a window like it's some fairy tale. Because at the end of the day, sure, they have no scratches, scrapes, or bruises, but I have no limits. And I'd make that trade any day. It is time. To stop separating what you want from what you have and take that step forward. It's time to go get it. No one is stopping you.

Nothing is stopping you. And in fact, if you choose to be, you are unstoppable. So take a look in the mirror, lace up your shoes, open the door, and begin. It's time. Reality is the existence of two entities, those who create change and those who merely react to it. And so I've wondered what separates the one from the many, what differentiates a fleeting moment from a chapter in a history book. See, I think we all come to a point where we look up and we see no top to the wall we seek to climb. We look down and see the water rising at our feet with every breath.

We look to our left and see those who are where we want to be tomorrow. And we look to our right and see the trail of decisions we love to take back from yesterday. This is where most create their limiting narrative. Where most succumb to the world around them, but most is not all. And every soul eventually comes to find that it. It was shaped not by sunny days or easy roads, but by walking to the edge of the only world it's ever known and daring to risk the normalcy to which it's accustomed. Because our appearance in the light is the manifestation of what we do in the shadows

when we're alone fighting the little battles. Greatness isn't just a different level of results. It's a whole new set of rules. the monumental task in front of you is the culmination of a battle that's already been fought thousands and thousands of times. It's been won or lost over and over again. Every time you decide to stand apart instead of follow the crowd, decide to flourish instead of just survive, decide to lead instead of follow, build instead of conform, when you endure,

It's because you've decided that you are different, not in that moment, but every single day leading up to that point. This is not a reinvention. It's living out who you already chose to be. So the wall is high, you will climb because it's what you do. So the water rises, you will swim because it's who you are. So the people to your left have succeeded. there is always room at the top, and you will claim yours. So you failed in the past, good, because falling then means you endure now, and so you will.

There's a quote attributed Heraclitus on the realities of soldiers in battle. He says, look, out of every 100 men, 10 shouldn't even be there. 80 are just targets. Nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make them. the battle but the one one is the warrior and he will bring the others word we throw around all the time is difficult how difficult will the journey be how hard is it going to be to succeed this is more or less asking is a desirable outcome likely we're asking if it's worth our time right if something's

difficult we associate that with the low probability of success But that's not the right way of looking at it. If you want something enough, difficult becomes your best friend. It's your greatest asset. And this is one because of the growth that comes with it, but two, because very few people are willing to chase it down. The reality is most people are average. And that's just looking at the definition of the word.

Right? If everyone was great, greatness wouldn't mean anything. There's something special about it. It's unique. It sets people. apart. We generally live amongst people, places, and expectations that make up everything we know. That's our normal. That's our box. But what's particularly interesting is that the people we celebrate, the accomplishments we admire, they go far beyond this sort of confined view of the world. So where is the line? Something's weird, it's abnormal, it's looked down upon, until suddenly

it's not. You snap your finger and it's cherished. That guitar player practicing 15 hours a day, it's lame, they don't have a real job, they're not contributing anything to society, and then he or she puts out an album that revolutionizes music and they're a hero. The whole thought process is counterintuitive, and that's why the words difficult and great are so closely related. Not because it's physically stressful, but because great comes with a hefty, mental price tag. Difficult means you are consistently doing what the average, normal, and unspectacular deemed to be too great a sacrifice.

They're not asking if it can be done. They're not asking if it's possible. What they are really asking, what they want to know is if they have to break through everyday normality to achieve a result. Do we have to make ourselves uncomfortable? Do we have to give more than we normally would? Do we have to be better than we were yesterday? If that answer is yes, the vast majority say thank you,

but no thank you. And that's where defining opportunities open up. Great means you had the desire to set yourself apart. Difficult means you have the dedication and the drive to do the little things no one else wanted to do. There is nothing miraculous about greatness. It is not divine. It is not incredible.

It's simply seeing the word difficult as a staircase instead of a brick wall. It means you get the opportunity to both give more of yourself and get more from the world. It is your secret door, your passageway. If the incremental progress, the growth and the sacrifice are worth the prize, easy, difficult, and everything in between, The only thing worth the second of your time is making sure that every step you take point you in the direction of where you want to be most. When our backs are against the wall, we're forced to become more.

When the clock is ticking, we are tasked with finding answers that hide among us. It's in the darkness, we find light, and while lost we find ourselves. The paradox of life is that from our pain comes our purpose, our evolution, and our greatness. I love thinking back to about 2014, making my way around Boston, having just quit my job, essentially purposeless, clinging to a YouTube channel and a podcast idea that I would name your world within. And why? Why do I think back? Why does this mean everything to me? Well, because at the time, I knew nothing.

I understood nothing. Nothing about speaking or media, audio, video, nothing about running a business. But more importantly, I knew very little about life and what's truly required to progress in a world with infinite moving parts. I didn't know that my lack of understanding. is what made everything feel overwhelming and complex, and that it was up to me to simplify. I didn't know the extent to which I'd have to befriend failure.

And that was the most eye-opening realization. Because when you gravitate towards a risk-free existence and you box yourself in as I had for so long, of course you don't get the upside, but you also don't fail as dramatically either. Life was a simple game of cause and effect. Do work, get result, not much room for more than that. And so stepping outside that box in the way that I did,

change some rules. I learned some things. First, you can spend time on something. You can exhaust energy on something. And get nothing in the shift. short term for your efforts. And I mean nothing, unless you count getting your pride stomped on. Unless you count your friends disappearing when you need them most, unless you count self-doubt in a constant worry about not amounting to anything. I mean, these are very raw, very real

human emotions. They tend to arise when we start something new, but in them is also the power. This is where the light bulb turns on and the path emerges. It's where I learn that we only get what we want when we endure or what we don't. And what a foreign concept when you think about it, right? It's like, Eddie, take this mic. Go stand in front of this audience and pour your heart out. Your knees are shaking, chest is pounding, but dude, trust me, it'll be good for you. And funny enough, it was.

It was because the fear in my stomach became the indicator that something new, something exciting, something more was around the corner. Like Pavlov's dog hearing that bell, any time the fear kicked in, I could feel myself getting closer to something meaningful, to a higher version of myself. The pain is an invite. The sheer terror. And let's face it, that's what it feels like sometimes. It's an upgrade. Disguised is the monster that you think you should be running from. When it is, as I recently mentioned, the adversary you should befriend.

We have to change our relationship with discomfort because our initial understanding, the one that comes stock in our minds, is never sufficient. to build anything of significance. Its default setting is to preserve the now, not expand it. And so just like those stock speakers that came in my 1999,

Ford F-150 when I was in my early 20s, let's rip it out. Let's customize. Let's upgrade the quality of the sound we hear and the things we say to ourselves. What an advantage it is to know that the hard things are what make us level up. To find that awareness.

What a blessing that when life's difficulty startles and scatters the masses, you could be the one that remains. Standing tall, seeking out the advantage amidst the commotion. every little act of courage becomes more and more meaningful, powerful. But we must lose ourselves to find ourselves. We must embrace our fears if we are to become courageous. We must fail in order to succeed, ensure sometimes the price seems steep. But I promise, not going costs more.

costs more, if only's cost more. So maybe for you it isn't a YouTube channel or a speaking career, maybe it's something totally different. But it is something. And should you bring yourself to pursue that which your heart pulls you to pursue, you'll have those moments of defeat, where you're mad at yourself

for leaving the comfort and safety of your previous world, You'll have times where you have no idea what to do, where you feel alone or stuck or unsure. The difference will be whether you see this as the invite you've been waiting for or the reason to turn around and settle for less. That's the question. How do you internalize all that emotion that will feel like it is consuming you? I couldn't believe how strong that temptation was to go back, nagging at me every day, just come off the edge, just be comfortable again. But as my old coach would say in college, when we're doing wall sits or something physically taxing, 15 seconds. You can do anything for 15 seconds.

And isn't life just a culmination of 15 second windows? It's compartmentalizing the process. It's turning the difficult into the advantageous. You have the ability to not think like everyone else. You have it within you to rewire your previous conceptions of the world, to see darkness not as your reason to hide from conjured up monsters, but as your invitation to become the light. Remember that the best way to be more is to have the courage,

to put your back against the wall. And you won't want to in the moment. There will never be a perfect time. But committing to that vulnerability will release from within you the power, the strength, the greatness that has been for so long tucked away. By moving into the chaos,

you are simultaneously creating the calm you always dreamed of. You're realizing the possibility that just needed the door left ajar to make its way into your world. I'm going to share something that over the years I've come to know to be true. And that's that generally the answers that we look for tend to fall between the extremes. So for example, you have two people, one person is adamant that option A is right. It's a no-brainer. It'll take you to the promised land. But on the other side, the other person saying, no, it's option B, and it's not even close.

Option B is the way to go. And, well, generally speaking, the answer we're looking for falls somewhere right in the middle. That's where the winning formula lives. Not always, but most of the time. The other stuff, the detail, the A's, B's and C's, the stuff that gets the flash that we spend most of our time talking about, it's unnecessary noise and nuance. To win is to trust your instinct. It's being comfortable with your authenticity as the foundation.

And then once you have that, you can choose to sprinkle the other stuff on top as flavoring. But I want to talk about this idea because I've fallen into the trap, and I think others do too, of looking for answers in the wrong places. I'm trying so hard to replicate success to meet other people's guidelines. We're so busy asking what the other people want to hear, that we're not asking ourselves, hey, what do I want to say? And in the process, we lose what's most valuable.

We end up rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Imagine if Malcolm Gladwell only wrote about what was trending on Twitter or what was popular. It's like, no, he writes about what he's interested in. That's why he's so fun to read. His curiosity and passion always comes through. Or if J.K. Rowling spent her time researching, what works, what sells books, what do I need to buy, what's been done before me, before she created Harry Potter? We probably wouldn't have it. Her brilliant imagination wouldn't have been shared with the world because, let's be real, wizards and boarding school weren't exactly on everyone's radar. There was no roadmap to that. Or I think of Jordan Peterson's lectures. Imagine if he crafted his message around YouTube or Instagram algorithms.

We'll lose all its power and meaning. He's authentic. He's raw. He's real. That's why we watch him. But the reality is every day we're told in Taylor Made, strategically located advertisements that, hey, John Smith achieved success, happiness and fame with this product or this service.

And without that, you can't get what you want. Or we turn on our phones. We go on social media and it's hearts and likes and double taps. And we're not saying what we want to say. We're reverse engineering how to get. get that validation. For those with brands or those in the marketing space, I mean, you know, it's always about trying to understand this mysterious algorithm where your posts will be buried. What we're being asked to do overall every day is manipulate ourselves to meet the demands of the

platform or of the external criteria. And I'm not saying it's morally wrong. There's no atrocity being committed. Part of life is adapting. But what I am suggesting is there's a danger that we're not aware of. Amidst all this chaos and confusion and manipulation, we tend to lose ourselves. And when we lose ourselves, it doesn't happen all at once. It's gradual. Happens little by little one concession at a time.

We don't snap our fingers and disappear. We slowly slip away, not by what we do, by what we don't do, in order to fit in. You know how everything in our solar system orbits around the sun? Well, what if you thought of that? son is who you are, right? When you're with your friends or family, when you're writing, saying, thinking what matters to you, without social media, without brands and marketing and societal pressure, just simply who you are. That should always be the nucleus of your world, your north

star. That should be the measuring stick to whether you're on the right track, not the externalities that ask you to change your key so that it fits their lock. What have you re-engineered? the way we look at things. What if we built a world where people expand upon who they are and what they care about, where we have the courage

to say no to the latest trend or item or advice because it's just not who you are? What if you were that confident? And then, if we think some of those externalities will help us,

then sure, sprinkle them on top. But they rotate around you. You don't rotate around them. That's the difference. To be content, you have to be the center of your own universe. Living by your guidelines. So instead of looking around and trying to decide your strengths, based on what will be accepted or promoted or what's been done before,

do yourself a favor. Take a deep breath. Step back and just simplify. You know what matters. And that's enough. You don't need the world to tell you that. So while the masses fight over solution A, or solution B, maybe you'll understand that both of those solutions solve the wrong problem.

And while the masses argue, you know, which car goes zero to 60, the fastest, scream about the features, debate which brand is the most reputable. Hey, you'll at least know why you're driving, which is more than most of the world can say. You'll know where your car is headed before you upgrade to that sunroof and those top-of-the-line speakers. Sometimes when you don't know where you're going, the best thing to do is go there. A wise man once stated that an object at rest stays at rest. And while his rationale is a little different than mine, I'm going to borrow from his premise. Right? Because when you moot, even if you don't know where you're going, you put yourself on a collision course with something.

You put into existence an entity to react to. Some call it destiny. Others call it fate. I call it simply initiative. Because if your journey is hypothetical, you have nothing to celebrate nor correct. A sailboat can adjust its sails once it leaves the harbor, right? It can learn from and manipulate its surroundings.

Make sure it arrives at a destination, right? It learns and adapts along the way. But from the harbor, it speculates. It expounds upon a path that might be straighter, might be faster, might be more thought out and tied together than the crazy sailors who took off for the horizon, but in actuality, it goes nowhere. In the real world, it is stagnant, and I could be wrong, but I'd make the argument 10 out of 10 times that the world,

real world is where we want our results. My proof? Well, a journey that started with insurance and evolved into music, in songwriting, in audio production, then video production, then creative writing, then a sweet spot that kind of combined everything, a spot that didn't make its way to my inbox with an exact address. A spot that required a lot of failure and lessons learned and disappointment, but man, more than that, so much fun. My proof is sitting down right now in real time, letting my fingers create a bridge from nothing to something of value. By the way, after sitting here staring at a blank screen for hours, it's just starting.

Could I be wrong? Could I screw up? Could I wildly miss the mark? Yes. In fact, it happens more than I'd like to admit. But here's the beauty, even if I am wrong. I now have something to work with. Something has been brought into existence.

And well, that means I'm officially further along than I once was. And I've heard over and over again that there is no perfect moment, that you have to just go. And the idea, I mean, it makes sense. It's impossible not to understand, but it's one of those things that until you feel it, it doesn't mean anything. How can you miss something you've never experienced?

Well, to put it in a way that help me understand, you aren't going because, eh, what do you have to lose? You're going because everything is to be gained. The answers that you pick up along the way, like a little coins you pick up in Super Mario, right? You have to start collecting pieces of a place, puzzle that you can then arrange. I truly believe that one of the most important ideas we need to hold on to moving forward

as personal agency, self-belief. And I say that because I feel like I'm watching it slip. There are cases where we literally don't know or understand that it's within our own ability and control to change our lives. No person or group or letter in the mail is going to come along and greening light your idea. In fact, you might not even really know what your idea means or how it will look. And that's not only okay. It's amazing. It's the marble that you get to chisel away at to create something. See, life is not the perfect execution of a plan. Life is the courage to make

your way into a world that no one really understands or knows anything about. And I'm not talking physics or biology or quantum mechanics. I'm talking about the real life that is emergent from those areas of study. Right? There is no perfect formula for happiness. But it will always be true that immobility or standing still is antithetical to progress. And there is plenty of data that supports the idea. Progress equals happiness.

We want to move towards. So that's what this is about. Here's to not being scared of what we don't know. Because somewhere in the realm of what we don't know exists what we need most. So yeah, stop waiting for the perfect moment. And yes, begin. But not because it's an ultimatum.

Do it because the things that make life fun and intriguing and exciting. And ultimately worthwhile, They live on the other side of your front door. The thing about storms is that they all have one thing in common, they pass. And once gone, they leave you as a person different than who you were before you stepped in. Before you found yourself consumed by its adverse conditions, they are disruptor. disruptors, breaking down and shaking up, but not for the sake of chaos itself. No, storms break

us down so that we can build again, so that we can find within ourselves the power and the strength that simply remain tucked away during those sunny days. And so walking up to this storm. What you'll immediately notice is a break from the normal. The every day. An obvious detachment from the standards by which you had been living. But don't be fooled into thinking those dark clouds and heavy winds have nothing of value for you. Don't be tricked into thinking the rain will consume all the good in life. Because at the end of the day, it's that very rain that washes away the excess and leaves the meaningful. We don't grow despite the storms. We grow because of the storms. So compose yourself and embrace what's around you.

Amidst the storm, you might realize that you don't want some of the things you thought you did. You might realize that life contains variables that make it incredibly unpredictable. And when old plans meet new variables, sometimes we learn that the path we were walking down requires adjustment. It needs change. Not because we were wrong. The dream was wrong, where the path was wrong, but because life is an experiment. Experiments are meant to test hypotheses and support exploration. Without the storm, sure, everything seemed fine.

Everything was flawless, but in the thick of it, when the variables, the multiplicity of factors present themselves, it often paints a picture for us that we previously weren't able to see. That's okay. Ideal, even. It's life. So when amidst the storm and presented this new information, this new portrait pivot, grow with your understanding and newly acquired knowledge. There's no point in remaining tied to the ideas, the people and the places that once served you,

but have since run their course. Right? Growth is perspective and awareness, and as the storm shakes your foundation, it also hands you a clarity that those blue skies simply could not. So adjust. adapt

and move further into the person you are destined to become. You can't learn that on a sunny day. No, that's what storms are for. And amidst the storm, you might find yourself scared, nervous, unsure. You might even look back and wonder

what life would have been like had you not stepped in. Perhaps you're angry with yourself for not navigating around, around the inclement weather. Maybe you'll find yourself asking, how did I let myself end up in such a situation when there were visual indicators and weather forecasts?

People warned me about moments like this, yet here I am. You might find that the drop in temperature is uncomfortable. The rain, difficult, the wind, annoying. But here's what they don't tell you. There's something innately powerful. powerful about proving to yourself that you can move forward despite those things. That when you're scared and step forward anyway, when you're lost but maintain your poise and trust in the process, when you're down but cling to hope to that light at the end of the

tunnel, you emerge with a different understanding of who you are. You end up stronger because you've allowed yourself to become stronger. And you don't get that on the sunny days. No, that's what storms are for. And amidst the storm you might feel like the sacrifice required in life is more than you want to endure. Maybe even more than you can endure. After all, it's during our trying times that we're forced to make

some of our most difficult decisions. We might be forced to let go of some things that had been staples in our lives. That in order to say hello to some things, we must necessarily say goodbye to others. And this hurts. Especially while it's happening, it hurts. But what you're really doing is learning

to identify what matters and mitigate the things that don't support that journey. Sometimes storms teach us that growth is not about acquisition and obtaining more, and they show us instead that we've been carrying too much, that we become accustomed to surrounding ourselves with things that no longer elevate or inspire or push us. And the best way to evolve is to move forward with less. So when you see parts of yourself fade away or dissolve, hold your head up. Because when you get to the other side, you just might see that cutting away those things

was more liberating than anything you could find or pick up along the way. And we're not taught this lesson on those sunny days. No, that's what storms are for. And amidst the storm, it's quite possible that you'll feel long as, from time to time. Maybe misunderstood. Perhaps like the whole world has everything figured out. They're moving single file through the correct door while you wander around aimlessly. That's not true. No one has all the answers and everyone has their storms. The question has always been as far as I'm concerned what will you

make of yours because we're always presented with the decision to let our adversity define us or to find something of value in it the opportunity hidden in plain view you're never alone in your pain or your distress those things are an inevitability tied to the miracle that is life But what you are is powerful. Powerful enough to learn in your solitude and bring that understanding back out to the world. Powerful enough to let the lessons guide you to something beautiful. Powerful enough to find the meaning underneath the turbulence. We often confuse our times of greatest transformation with setbacks.

We often forget that the darkness cannot withstand. a single flicker of light, and we can be that light when we trust ourselves. It's a lesson that can't be taught on sunny days. No, that's what storms are for. And that storm, that very thing you want with all your heart to avoid, it's not antithetical to your happiness or your prosperity. No, ultimately, it's how you create those things. The trials and tribulations help us look at life from different angles.

They remind us what we are capable of. Show us we can do so much more than we thought, that we have in many cases been accepting a reality that is not our own. That is just the beginning. And so whether you were on the outside looking in or at this very moment in the heart of chaos, Remember, this is making you who you need to be. And sure, it never feels good in the moment.

It's never exciting when it's happening. But there will be a point when you look around and see a world unlike the one you stepped away from. One in which you are stronger, bolder, wiser. One in which you have greater clarity and understanding a better sense of who should be with you and where you are going. It's not despite, but because of the storm, that you'll rise from the ashes and from the quote-unquote misfortune

to find yourself and your way.