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My parents felt I needed discipline in my life and by having me go to a parochial school that would be the trick. I have a line in one of the presentations I do that talks about believing there are no coincidences. I mention my four years in prison or as the rest of you would call it: high school.
I did attend Catholic school, and each school day one of my classes was—well—Religion. I was not a huge fan of the class or the times we had mass.
Church was not my “thang,” and until I met my wife Ann, I had not been a church—unless it was a wedding or a funeral. In the back of my mind, it was something very much missing.
Our Pastor was recently talking about how Jesus was coming to terms with who he was, and as I was listening, my internal light bulb came on. I, too, am coming to terms that faith has finally penetrated into my being. My firm belief is things do happen for a reason, and truly there are no such things as coincidences.
There are many times in my life where people around me had that faith gene and mine was, well, missing.
Taking this leap, I have learned that to really feel life is going to work out, I need to truly believe. This will create a sense of confidence, at the same time creating a positive energy in my view. Believing that taking your leap will one day change lives, but yes, you too need to have your own sense of faith.
Mine: my virtual body is going to land with a perfect score from all of the Olympic judges.
My first thought of today was realizing that this is my last week of the “day job.” Did I make the wrong decision, and should I have thought this all out better? Plus, Ann and I got into a HUGE fight the night before. WELCOME TO MONDAY!
My commute to work is a daily three-hour round trip. To help pass the time, I record my podcast. Today’s episode focused on what you are reading here and how I want to give you valuable content as I go through this change of quitting my job to pursue the creation of building my media empire.
During my workday, the stress was becoming very overwhelming. Thoughts of this being my last week kept creeping into my head. Then, panic would shove stress away. WHAT HAVE I DONE?!
This is where having a strong belief is so key. Trying to stay focused as well as VERY positive is where my energy needs to flow at the same time.
I have been pushed off the cliff, and all I can do is pray that even the Russian judge sees I deserve a “10” for the eventual landing on both feet.
Moving the clock up and now is the realization that come Monday I do not need it, or do I need to create it?
Originally, the plan was to take on a new training project, but even as I write this there is still no word if that is an option. As much as the day job was eating my soul, it was income. Am I now going through “buyer’s remorse”? Should I have stuck it out? Was I being selfish as to my own needs and not my family’s? Do I send out an email to most of my contacts to ask about knowing of any job openings?
OH GOD, WHAT HAVE I DONE??!!
Hold on. There is no need to panic, yet.
Let’s really get back to my point of this column: my leap of faith. In my heart I knew that my purpose on this planet is to serve others with the skills I have:
- My writing
- Speaking
- Podcast
- Coaching
Using these tools are part of my journey. If I go into “panic mode” then am I not taking this leap? Follow me here: If I stress out about this decision of quitting a job and virtually jumping off a cliff, then do I end up becoming a hypocrite looking for another “day job”?
I stumbled across a TED Talk that I had not seen in a while. I feel that this talk was essentially “pushed” onto me in order to help with my current life plan. Magnus Walker’s talk is very inspiring. Do not let his looks fool you. I am not going to give away the details other than the use of two phrases he used through the talk to weave his life story:
- “Go with your gut feeling”
- “Taking A Leap of Faith”
I am very much a realist and that is the understanding you have to put in the effort VS wishing your life will change.
WAITING VS. CREATING
During my time in high school, I never had a sense of believing in anything. This included not believing in myself. Have you had that issue? Looking back, maybe I spent too much time waiting for things to happen and not fully realizing my potential. For example, I was told by a tutor that I was “stupid.” That could be why even today I have a “wall” when it comes to dealing with numbers. The point here is to create your own destiny and not sit on the sidelines. Stop listening to negative people.
You have potential. Maybe in high school, we did not see ourselves as creative beings. I know I did not. However, as each new day happens, there are at times people see something special in you. I believe in you. Truly I do. Heck, I even pinky swear that I do.
My personal thought is that overall I am going to be successful because I did jump. My freefall to the unknown is a good thing in my view. Calling my time in high school a “prison” is not as harsh as it was. The true prison is the dis-beliefs we put in our heads. Telling ourselves that this is how it is always going to be is creating false hopes. Putting faith not only in a spiritual way but at the same believing that your mind can break out of its own prison to become a better you. That is what we were meant for as we “serve” others on earth.
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