I wouldn’t read this if I were you…
By Preston Ely (Somewhat Rated PG)
“Is life [really] so wretched? Is it not your hands which are too small and your vision which is muddied? You are the one who must grow up.” – Dan Hammarskjold, Some Swedish Dude (prime minister I think)
“Why do things have to be so hard?”
This was probably the most popular thought in the high school of my mind back in the day (which was a Wednesday, in case you didn’t know). In fact, this thought was so popular that all the other thoughts felt bad about themselves and had to see therapists.
It just didn’t seem fair. The world was rigged against me, or so it seemed. No matter what I did I couldn’t seem to get ahead.
Everything sucked.
Nothing but bad things ever happened. I was always and forever living week-to-week. Just scraping by. Waking up every day with a feeling of dread. Taking my anger out on other people (and smaller-type domestic animals).
I was living in hell.
I had no power whatsoever. I was at the mercy of circumstance. Subject to the whims of the world at large. A leafy leaf blown about by the wind and complaining every step of the way. Put a thousand of those leaves together, and they are no fun to rake; I can tell you that. (They’re always talking back.)
Leaf #1: Why is he doing this to us? This sucks.
Leaf #2: I hate my life. He keeps poking me with that thingy and moving me closer to that bag. Do you still have that gun? I’m going to kill him.
I was mad at God.
Mad at my parents.
Mad at everyone driving next to me on the road.
Mad at being so mad.
I felt like a victim. Totally helpless. An angry leaf.
Life is a trauma.
Can you relate to any of that? Maybe you can and maybe you can’t, but I do happen to know that my old thought – “Why do things have to be so hard?” – is popular not only in my mind, but also in quite a few other people’s minds as well. And for good reason.
Life is a trauma.
Just being dipped into this world for a month is stressful to the point of death. This fact is clearly evidenced by babies screaming the second they arrive here with us, as well as suicide ranking among the Top Ten Killers of American Males (one having absolutely nothing to do with the other).
The world is just too much to carry on our shoulders. It is simply overwhelming for the average human being.
And this is why we must fight with all our heart and soul and spirit to become above average.
We must fight for our very lives.
Are you ready to fight?
Look around. What do you have in your experience right now? Peace, or chaos? Stability, or instability? Riches, or poverty? Abundance, or scarcity? Happiness, or depression? Loving relationships, or a string of bad ones? (Admittedly that last one is a tough one for me…)
Whatever the case, look around at your life and examine it carefully. What do you see? Realize that it is all a mere reflection of – you.
I know that sounds a little harsh, but if you’ll take a while to think about it, it’s true. This is not to say that you aren’t a beloved child of God. It just means you haven’t realized it yet. Not fully, anyways.
You are not receiving what you’d like to be receiving in your life for one simple reason – you can’t handle it. If you could handle it, God would simply give it to you. People in trailer parks who win the lotto and lose it within a year do so because they are small people with large amounts of money. The two repel each other. If a rich person were ever stupid enough to play the lottery and happened to win, he would not lose a cent of it. He would probably double it in six months.
If you want to attract big things in your life, then you simply need to grow up (a.k.a. “become big”). For it is “your hands which are too small and your vision which is muddied.” It’s not life’s fault. It’s your fault. And to the degree you don’t see that, you must be suffering greatly.
The day I stopped complaining about life (realizing that it accomplished absolutely nothing) and started devoting myself to God and personal growth, amazing things started to happen. I grew up.
And so did my bank account. :-)
My Advice to You
My advice to you is to take responsibility for your life. You have in your life almost exactly what you want, whether you realize it or not. Your subconscious is at work bringing you everything you truly want in your heart of hearts.
Your job is to invite God in to change your heart of hearts. Realize that everything going on in your life is nearly all a direct result of who you are. And though you may not share my faith in the God of the Bible, I challenge you to consider to the reliability of a promise He make to both of us thousands of years ago:
“I will give you a new heart, and a new Spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 36:26)
Ask God to change that person inside you. Invite Him into your life.
Then get to work.
Examine – Examine your life carefully, and realize that your life is a reflection of your heart.
Fight – Intentionally fight against the status quo to become an above average human.
Take Charge – Take responsibility for your life, and invite God to help by changing your heart.
Preston Ely
is a real estate investor, serial entrepreneur, life coach, musician and philanthropist. CEO of Real Freedom, Inc, one of the most influential internet-based information publishers in the world, owns the largest Anytime Fitness Gym in the United States, is recording a music album with Atlantic Records, sits on the board of Advocates Of Love Orphanage, and has a non-profit charity assisting the poor and oppressed in Cuba with both their physical and spiritual needs.
With over 200,000 subscribers to his email newsletter, he is rapidly fulfilling his mission on earth, which is to glorify God by setting people physically, mentally, financially, and spiritually free through his music and his message of FREEDOM. Preston is 37 years old, lives in Tampa, FL with his wife Ashley, where he spends most of his time reading, writing, and practicing mixed martial arts.