“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” – Socrates
Your world and how you perceive it to be is going to be the fundamental driver of all your actions in this life.
That concept will govern everything you do. But I don’t want to talk about that as much as I want to talk about what to do when you are really struggling.
When you find yourself in a rut and you can’t get out of it.
When you feel bad about yourself, your life, and what you are doing with your time here on this earth. Is there a secret? Maybe.
But I want to share with you something that I have learned over the past few years and in writing many many times about the dark times.
Responsibility
What truly changed my entire life was realizing that I was indeed responsible for my own life. Of course there will be things in life that are completely out of your control.
You have no ability to see them coming and when they happen they completely pull the rug out from under you. Were things truly turned around for me was when I realized that I had the power to act…not react.
Action: the difference between movement and progress. I can tell you, there were moments that I thought I really wasn’t going to make it out. I would say to myself, “I don’t foresee any possible solution to this.
How is this going to turn around.” Well it did…but that only came with the realization that taking responsibility for my own life was the only answer. The only way I could get myself into a better position was to create it.
The only way to get to where I wanted to go was to build a foundation based off of my pride and determination. It’s in that moment when you bet on yourself when the script is flipped.
Tighten your belt and string up your boots.
I’m going to give you an analogy.
And here comes another baseball analogy. When you are reacting to life…you are standing at the plate, bat on your shoulder, watching the balls and strikes come in…and waiting to be walked or struck out.
You don’t swing…you just let the pitcher determine whether or not you are going to be successful that game. You are just watching and your reaction will be whatever the pitcher decides its going to be.
However, when you are in action, you are sitting on your pitch and adjusting your strategy as the at bat moves along. You are waiting for your moment, hands ready, and when that pitch comes you try to make the best contact you can.
Life works in a very similar way. If you wait for your pitch, and you are prepared to hit it, you increase your chances of doing something great.
But if you sit around and wait for things to happen, that is exactly what you are going to get: a lot of sitting around. I believe that whatever may be above us is watching to see what we do with what we have been given…what we can create…what we can make with our minds and our hands.
Because those are the two greatest tools that we will ever have. We have the infinite capacity to either love or hate.
We have the ability to send out incredible amounts of positive energy into this world…or choose to darken it…to dim the lights…to spread pain.
Life becomes a series of actions then…and with every action there is a result.
When you choose to text someone and tell them that you miss them and that you care about them…you are doing out of love. When you choose to help someone in need, or pick someone up when they are down, you are making a choice…a positive choice.
And that love and those choices have a ripple effect on the rest of the world. If we can all make those positive choices, starting with taking responsibility for our own lives and the things we decide to do – that is when this ship is going to truly set sail for a better place.
I choose, and I hope you will join me, to spread love every single day. I chose this path because that is what was done for me and brought me out of the worst.
If you make that choice…you will become infectious – and for the best reason in the world: love.
Evan Sanders
The Better Man Project
Reblogged this on Pi of LEADERSHIP and commented:
This is a powerful truth …I realized that I had the power to act…not react. Action: the difference between movement and progress. …
Fantastic illumination on the importance of realization and taking personal responsibility in life. Great post!! =)
You know when you hear certain things two or more times, it is meant for you. Well I have heard change more times this week than any other time, so I know this was definatly for me. This one is most powerful, especially about responsibility, for I have been struggling greatly inside. Your post is so inspiring. Thank you.
Thanks for this post. This tugs on my heart strings and is very similar to my own philosophies about life and positivity. Right now I am in a particularly new and challenging situation… the post is just what I needed.
Reblogged this on Temet Nosce.
Reblogged this on I GOT SOUL BUT I'M NOT A SOLDIER.
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great post. Inspiring .. Keep motivating ! 🙂
Really encouraging message, and such a great read. Thank you for sharing this! We really do need less judgment and more positivity in our world. It encourages me to know that there are awesome men like you who make a point to deliberately spread positivity, hope, and love. May you bear much good fruit from that decision and infect those around you! 🙂
Reblogged this on Nobody brings it like: Lola.
I love what you wrote here and I can totally identify with it. What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger and wiser and definitely more brave. Adversity sucks, but at the same time it is empowering when you overcome it….Ooooo, that may be the topic of my next blog 🙂
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Reblogged this on It's My Box and commented:
This is great! Must share this with my followers. Great post!
It’s what I strive for everyday.
Reblogged this on Maybelline Queen.
I really liked that posting. I am a Buddhist by way of faith, and the sect I belong to emphasizes cause and effect which you touched on with the baseball analogy: if your cause is to let others determine your reaction, then your effect will be what they want it to be. If your cause is to make a decision, and then act on that decision, your effect may not be quite you expected, but it will be the result of your action. Hopefully the action was positive in some way. It is possible to take what appears on the surface to be negative, but in the long run, is the most positive thing you could do in the situation.
Another basic tenet we live by is that everyone is worthy of love, respect and compassion regardless of societal status. Everyone is equal because we are all human, we are all fallible, and ultimately we are all forgivable. We try to spread the message of humanitarianism with our actions, thought, and words. In other words, do unto others as you would have done unto you. One by one, I think that as people act out of love, respect, and compassion for fellow humans, the world can become a better place for all to live. Maybe a grandiose hope, but my wish nonetheless.
Thanks for this! This is truly inspiring. Directly opposite to my initial posts. But I guess I am becoming more positive.
wow powerful quote!
Reblogged this on StateofCreative.
Very well written and so true! One has to take responsibility for one’s life, no matter what hand one has been dealt. I love your baseball analogy and I think I will show this post to my husband (he’s a great baseball fan) and perhaps he will feel slightly more empowered and motivated to take steps in his own life to make it into what he wants it to be..instead of waiting, bat in hand, to see what pitch he might receive.