Health Hope and Happiness

This lesson has been one of the hardest things for me to learn and every time I feel I’ve mastered it, it comes back to bite me.

As human beings, we like our comfort, and we like life to be easy, so we will always take the fastest and easiest route to what we want. This is how we come to most of our decisions in life…fast and easy. If it takes to long and it’s going to take some work, we won’t be on that road, at least I won’t be.

That’s why three out of four marriages in this country fail. 50% of small businesses that start-up will fail within the first five years, because nothing comes easy ladies and gentlemen.

Does this mean you don’t get married? Does this mean you don’t chase your dream of building a business and become financially free? Absolutely not!

I don’t care who you are or where you come from, or what kind of situation you are in, never let your current conditions dictate your future.

Dani Johnson was raised in an abusive home, where her parents lived on welfare and drugs. She had a step dad who constantly told her she was fat, ugly, stupid, and could never do anything right.

She was pregnant at age seventeen. Her family and church condemned her. By age twenty one she was homeless, had $2.03 to her name, desperate, scared, and confused, she had nowhere to go and no one to turn too.

Today she is a multimillionaire, running a couple of successful businesses, and speaks all around the world to organizations and companies. Read her book how her circumstances didn’t keep her from making good decisions based on her goals, visions, dreams, and opportunities.

Another very inspiring story of a man who was falsely accused of a crime he didn’t commit. He never gave up on his dream to be free and the truth of his innocence to be made known. Never did he let his circumstances or the conditions he had to endure, shape the way he looked at things or the dreams and the vision that he wanted to secure. Listen to his story below.

Dewey Bozella was awarded “The Arthur Ashe Award for Courage”, by ESPN for 2011, and is an inspiration to kids that are growing up in very difficult circumstances in the inner city today, and showing them that life is very valuable, and it’s not something that you just throw away because times get tough.

What keeps us from making these decisions based on circumstances rather than on opportunities?

There are a plethora of reasons and it would take so long to go into all of them, but fear is one I would like to bring out, because I think it’s one of the most common reasons we make decisions based on our circumstances and not on our opportunities.

Fear is one that I have always struggled with during my life. Much like Dani Johnson, I was raised in a negative home. I never felt like I could do anything right. I was always told that I was stupid and would never accomplish anything in my life.

I would ask myself often, “what if you fail? What if it doesn’t work? What will everyone think about you?” Fear dominated all my thoughts and actions.

One thing Dewey Bozella talked about in his acceptance speech at ESPN’s awards night, and something that I have learned in my own life is, “never let fear determine who you are, and never let where you come from determine where you’re going.”

Having no vision, no mapped out plan of action, and no real expectation to succeed, can be very detrimental to your success.

Do you play to lose? Do you let a fall or a trip up, keep you from getting back up and walking again? No, when you fall you get back up and start walking again.

The one character builder that runs through both, Dewey Bozella and Dani Johnson, and it grew from the circumstances that they both came from, and that is that they were both humbled by them.

They both talk about how their circumstances and conditions of their lives did not crush them down, or dictate the direction they would go, but it humbled them and they became teachable, and when you become teachable…you will learn, and you will grow, and you will become successful.

Are you where you want to be financially? Do you want to get back in shape and on the road to a healthy vibrant life again? Are you always just making excuses, or have you become teachable?

Sometimes the worst decision we can ever make in life, is to just stay where we are, and make no decision at all.

Listen to Dewey Bozella at the ESPN awards ceremony, as he accepts “The Arthur Ashe Award for Courage”. May it inspire you to take that step and follow your dreams and never let anyone or anything move you off your path. To your health.

Tags: circumstances, Dani Johnson, decision, decisions based, Dewey Bozella, excuses, fear, opportunities, plan of action, success, teachable, vision