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I received an email today from Brad M. from Australia, he has taken a new turn in life as before he was always depressed and thinking his life was bad.
I thought my life was bad too for a long time as a younger fellow. I could not see anyway out of my life at that point which held little hope for living the life that I wanted. But I always went to the gym, deep down I knew this was one way for me to take a small step forward everyday, even though I did not know where it would lead.
Read on, and read the incredible story of a man who cannot walk, talk or move 90% of his body yet he is one of the greatest men of all time. He is a living example of inspiration for the rest of us. Makes me feel like a fool for complaining when I was younger...
Here is the email from Bradley;
Hi Conan,
BradM here, 23 and a fellow Australian. Just want to give a big thanks for the insperation you have given me to make changes in my life.
You see, since I left school i have been sitting on my butt doing nothing, lounging about feeling sorry for myself, the typical "why me, why is my life so unlucky". Then one day while searching the web for australian wrestling I luckily managed to stumble upon this site.
After reading through most of your articles and blogs I've come to see that it's no use sitting around and life is what you make it. So after just 2 months of visiting your site i have already changed the way I think about things and have boosted my confidence by starting lifting weights, gaining a few kilos and even thinking about going to NSW and joining the AWF School of Wrestling sometime in the future.
Thanks mate and best wishes for your future projects.
Good on you Brad! Go for it.
I was the same as you for a long time, thinking why is my life so bad, why me, why do I have so much bad luck. Then one day I was introduced to the Amway Corporation. They got me listening to positive stories, reading personal development books and going to lectures to meet successful people and listen to them speak.
Now you do not have to join Amway but you should follow their principles - as you are - every thing I learned is initially due to them, and now you learn from me.
Keep learning, keep an open mind - you may not agree with some writings but look at the concepts behind what the authors words. Read books, listen to audio tapes, look in your newspaper for lectures on self improvement - go to them regularly. Choose to be around positive people who are moving ahead in life. Read websites such as www.UniverseOfSuccess.com. Keep adding new information into your life - over time it changes the way you think.
Look for the positives in life, rather than think "why is my life so bad?" You should look for "what are the benefits in this?"
During my time I was sidelined due to my nerve injury in my back I was forced to learn new skills. I opened a computer store right before the start of a huge price war between Dell, HP, IBM and Compaq. I could have cried fowl, I could have given up. Instead I took on the challenge and I then learned marketing, copywriting and direct response advertising, which I then turned into a business itself after I realised the computer market was not going to make me happy longterm (does 7% margins make anyone happy?).
Again once my injury had healed to the point where I could train again and I am back. 5 years down the drain... or did that time off force me to learn something, to become a different and better person?
In the time leading up to my injury I had become a very physical person to the point that I had forgotten about improving my intellect. After the injury I was forced to not be so physical and in response I ended up starting my intellectual studies again.
I will not lie and say it was easy, it was not. I was crushed physically and emotionally but now I am back and can continue my dreams.
How many people would have given up on their dreams and quit? For me that would have meant getting a regular job and taking the security of a regular paycheck. Not me, it is not what I want from life.
We all have problems in life, the problems vary. My problems are nothing compared to what other people have been through - it all comes down to how you handle them. Never is life so bad that you cannot get back up and continue your life.
Stephen Hawking is an great example of this. If you do not know Stephen Hawking is one of the greatest physicists that has ever lived - he also has an incurable degenerative disease - he is dying slowly.
Unable to walk, talk or move his arms he hasn't given up on life
He lives in a wheelchair, he has written his greatest works by typing one letter at a time with his a simple hand clicker as he has lost the use of his arms and legs. This is what he wrote regarding his condition:
The realisation that I had an incurable disease, that was likely to
kill me in a few years, was a bit of a shock. How could something like
that happen to me? Why should I be cut off like this? However, while I
had been in hospital, I had seen a boy I vaguely knew die of leukaemia,
in the bed opposite me. It had not been a pretty sight. Clearly there
were people who were worse off than me. At least my condition didn't
make me feel sick. Whenever I feel inclined to be sorry for myself I
remember that boy.
But he didn't give up, things got worse for him;
I wrote scientific papers by
dictating to a secretary, and I gave seminars through an interpreter,
who repeated my words more clearly. However, the tracheotomy operation
removed my ability to speak altogether. For a time, the only way I
could communicate was to spell out words letter by letter, by raising
my eyebrows when someone pointed to the right letter on a spelling
card. It is pretty difficult to carry on a conversation like that, let
alone write a scientific paper. However, a computer expert in
California, called Walt Woltosz, heard of my plight. He sent me a
computer program he had written, called Equalizer. This allowed me to
select words from a series of menus on the screen, by pressing a switch
in my hand. The program could also be controlled by a switch, operated
by head or eye movement. When I have built up what I want to say, I can
send it to a speech synthesizer.
And here is his outlook on life;
I have had motor neurone disease for practically all my adult life. Yet
it has not prevented me from having a very attractive family, and being
successful in my work. This is thanks to the help I have received from
Jane, my children, and a large number of other people and
organisations. I have been lucky, that my condition has progressed more
slowly than is often the case. But it shows that one need not lose hope.
There we go, and I thought my life was bad when I had my nerve injury.
Never give up on your life or your dreams, forge ahead and attain what you really want.
If you were given only 3 months to live what would you do?
Why aren't you doing it now? No really. I want you to think about it. Why are you not doing it now? The first three things that come to mind are excuses you have talked yourself into.
JUST GET OUT THERE AND BLOODY WELL DO IT - NOW!
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