I’ll tell you a short story.

Once upon a time there was boy who resented, regretted, and hated the things that had happened to him. Every day, he would moan, groan, and walk in the shadow of anger constantly plagued by the cloud over him. He began to hate people, to grow cold, and to find ways to destroy anything that he would touch.

It consumed him to the point of desperation, and only in a flash of ultimate resilience did things change.

He stopped focusing on the bad, and started focusing on the good. This didn’t come without learning. At first he was uncomfortable – because he only knew how to mutter in despair – but eventually, he found a new set of shoes and decided to wear those for a while. Never again did he focus on how muddy his shoes had become, but instead laughed thinking about all of the memories he had created wearing those shoes.

He promised himself that at the end of his life, he would wear those shoes down to the point of having nothing left, and in his last moments…smile that he had not only given the world himself, but flooded it with love…the type of love that could fill rivers and move mountains.

That boy was me.

Evan Sanders
The Better Man Project