build your beautiful self

Have you ever felt this way?

You go to an amusement park FILLED with excitement! You remember all the fun times you have had in the past at the park, and the thrills you got as a child. You are practically sprinting to get to the gate to get in! Excitement builds when you get to the line of the first ride. You know… that one that is your absolute favorite, most rewarding memory of that place? The one you would ride again and again and never grow tired of as it whirls you around and around and up and down!

The line moves slowly and excitement builds as you are getting closer and closer to the gate. Pretty soon it is your turn to get on the ride! You enter the seat and strap yourself in and your mind floods with good emotions! You are happy, excited, pumped, stoked, your heart is racing, all the good things in your life bubble to the surface and you are raring to go!

The ride starts. It does all the things you remember when you were younger except something is different this time. As the machine is spinning and whirling you around, you start feeling ill! The more the ride goes on the more sick you feel! In a very short time as the ride progresses your mind is pulled from excited, stoked, happy, filled with hope and promise to sick, depressed, desperate, and generally all around bad. You think to yourself “DOES THIS RIDE EVER END???” It drags on for what seems like an eternity (even though it is about 1.5 minutes)! Around and around, sicker and sicker, more and more depressed, until it slows to a stop and the ride is over. You leap out of your seat thankful you didn’t throw up or die. You pick up the shreds of what used to be your mind and your body and you walk out the gate disappointed.

At this point you are so upset about the fact that you couldn’t enjoy the things that once brought you so much joy, that you debate whether or not to leave the park all together.

Stay or go? Try something else or give up?  You decide to stay and try more rides. After all, you are older now and paid your hard-earned money to get into this place so you are going to get your money’s worth. Right? You feel alright but uncertain about your decision as you wander further down the path and decide what thing to go on next.

You started this escapade on the most thrilling and sick provoking ride, and you were so excited for the thrill of something you love. What do you do next? As you are wandering down the path you come across another ride you remember liking. This one, unlike the other, is less intense. It has less twists and turns and not so many up-side-down loops to it. Perfect for your already bruised, sick and twisted stomach. Score!

You get in the line just like before, only this time you are a little less excited, a little less happy, a little less flooded with good emotions, but you are still excited, stoked, ready to go because the brain senses the anticipation again of something that might bring you back to joy. This time, however, You have a slight twinge of anxiety mixed with a bit of uncertainty. You didn’t have that before EVER in your entire life. The last ride experience is creeping in and sabotaging your fun! Now you are sitting in your seat and you are ready to go. The ride starts. “Ok,” you think to yourself, this ride is nicer than the last and you aren’t feeling as sick as you did on the first ride. It is a little easier to take in the beginning. Then it starts picking up speed and doing all the things the ride is supposed to do and you start feeling ill again. “DOES THIS RIDE EVER END!??!!” you think to yourself. The ride slows to a stop at the end about 1.5 minutes later and you crawl out of the seat, same as before.

On and on this goes until you decide, about 5 rides in, you just can’t take anymore or you’ll throw up and you go home. You have given up on the excitement. Given up on the dream of being a child forever. This strikes you in a negative way and the effects last well into the next week because
A) you had to give up
B) it hits you that you are more seasoned now
C) everyone asks you about it so they can fill some time with small talk.

Doesn’t this sound familiar? I think this sounds a lot like life to me!!! You go from thing to thing, person to person, job to job, house to house, business to business, gym to gym, diet to diet and on and at each major setback you scream DOES THIS RIDE EVER END???

I wanted to use this story to illustrate what I see in so many people now! I see people who come out of high school/college/training seminars/etc so excited! They are raring to go, excited about the possibilities, they jump in with both feet, and have all the positive thoughts and memories stream in. They start to work towards their goals. They apply for jobs/look for business opportunity/try marketing for prospects/etc. They follow their programs and what the people who taught them do. They don’t receive instant gratification. Their dreams don’t magically happen after their first day or first month or first year. That feeling creeps in of sickness, depression, despair, and self loathing. Their mind has been conditioning itself over the time period that they just can’t do it. They get to a point just before they throw up and give up because it is just too much.

On the opposite spectrum, they achieve their goals and create larger ones and then they say to themselves, “I HOPE THIS RIDE NEVER ENDS!” Those are the fortunate in this world to strike it right away.

In the previous person, though, their spirit isn’t completely broken but they are unsure if they should go on more rides or give up and go home. Along comes that hard-earned money thought. They give it another whirl. They walk down the path of self discovery and find the next ride that is a little less intense but still exciting. This time they have learned lessons and are a little more cautious, a little more anxious, and a little more reserved. They get into the seat of their new [insert item here like new job or new business] and are filled with reserved excitement but armed with the knowledge of what negative experience they just had.

Each ride they go on, they get smarter and smarter because they are learning lessons along the way. They pick opportunities based on what they didn’t like about the last one and it may feel a little better. Or they can go the other way and feel worse that they didn’t “make it” again.

On and On this goes until finally they are either fed up and give up, or have a breakthrough and find something that really brings joy into their lives and money follows.

My purpose of writing this is to inspire you to NEVER GIVE UP! As long as you are still trying, you have a change to make your life everything you want it to be! You just have to be willing to try again, or try something new! Never stop believing in yourself even when you think it is at the absolute worst and you are going to ralph all over the ride platform!  Never give up! In life, death is the only thing you can’t recover from. Sometimes you just have to look for the people who can help you succeed! There are so many people in this world, myself included, that are strictly put on this earth to help people! You never know what someone knows until you ask.

I want you to know that I believe in you!  Just remember that things worth doing take time and I know that you can overcome any obstacle if you:

A) Have the desire to overcome and keep driving on
B) Ask for help
C) Never stop believing in yourself
D)Self reflect to find your true passion in life and do that!

I know this was a long post but my truest hope for you is that you find your thing that allows you to lead a long and fulfilling life! If you need someone to help, I am here for you!

Have a wonderful night!