You ever have those nights where you just can’t fall asleep because you can’t stop thinking?
This is what it’s like for me every single night. It’s both a blessing and a curse.
I’m sitting here listening to Bob Dylan and Beatles songs and I just can’t even fathom how unbelievable my life is. The opportunities embracing entrepreneurship has brought me. I can’t believe what has happened.
You wouldn’t believe how emotional I am as I write this post. You can already tell it’s not one of my normal pieces. But really, I have no idea if I want to laugh, cry, or faint right now. I invite you to join me on this emotional roller coaster as I reflect on how starting my first blog all those years ago changed things beyond my wildest imagination.
Come Gather ‘Round People Wherever You Roam…
Before I continue I want to share with you somethingย amazing that just happened only a few moments ago.
If you visit here often, you know Jordan. She’s probably the most important person in my life, and I love her like she is my own daughter.
Anyhow, I was holding herย in my arms and rubbing her back and we were talking about our lives and our futures, talking about the places we’ll go and the things we’ll do. Then I said, “hey can I ask you a question?”
And she nodded her head. I said do you believe in God? And she nodded her head again. Then I said I do too, do you know why? She shook her head. Then I said “I know God is real because I’ve only ever asked him for two things. I asked him for there to be a way to move up here after you visited all those years agoย and we had so much fun.
Then when I was gone and I wasn’t able to see you for a few months I asked him to bring me back to you, and now we are here. That is why I believe in God.”
Then she cuddled up closer to me and I said “That is why I like to think of you as my gift from God. Because both times I asked for you and both times he gave you back to me.”
Shortlyย after I said that, I noticed she had fallen asleep in my arms.
I immediately realized that I just experienced one of the most precious moments of my life.ย
…And now I’m here blogging about it. And she is still laying right here next to me.
Why is this important? Because it goes against everything I ever thought about how I’d turn out.
How Did This Happen?
I wish you could’ve seen how different I was when I was 13 years old. It’s amazing to think that it really wasn’t long ago.
The truth is,ย I was the last person you would’ve expected to become ‘successful.’
When I was 13, you could’ve found a picture of me next to ‘loser’ in the dictionary. I spent 8 hours a day playing MMO games on my computer. I was overweight. Nerdy. Had few friends. People used to comment on how annoying I was. I was not necessarily bullied, but nobody really liked me.
I was failing classes. Not because I couldn’t do the work, but because I didn’t care to try. I went in and out of depression. I was about to attemptย suicide and was fortunately stopped by my parents moments before it happened.
I think back to this period of my life and it just blows my mind. 6 short years later and I own 3 companies, I’ve sold millions of dollars of product, and most importantly, I have someone so important to me that I am motivated to unbelievable levels to continue achieving success.
But I still can’t figure out how this happened. I started blogging for business at 14. I don’t know how things took off. It all happened too fast for me to process it. Don’t get me wrong, it took years. But the idea that 5 years later I’d be making a full-time living online, connecting with more than 1000 new people each day through all my various web ventures, and sharing this special bond with a child is just unfathomable.
I really don’t think I’m all that special, just insanely different. And honestly, it scares me sometimes. I used to occasionally wish I would wake up from this dream and things would be normal. But then as I look over at Jordan sleeping right next to me, I shed a tear and realize that I wouldn’t trade this for the world. Never in my life have I felt such pure happiness and contentment overall. I wish I could put into human words what I have felt this past year in particular. I’d like to thinkย we will all experience it at some point in our lives.
All I know is that if I had never decided to jump head first into entrepreneurship, my life would beย completelyย different. I would be working some sort of traditional job, forced to go somewhere I don’t want to go each day. I would not have had the opportunity to connect with and take in Jordan. And not that it matters, but I’d still probably be a loser in the minds of my local community.
I did not go into this expecting things to turn out this way. I would’ve been happy living an ‘average’ life so long as I could’ve worked from home. Relative to other people in my age group, I feel disconnected. ย I just can’t relate to anything else going on, and it’s very strange.
My friends spent today working, then going home and relaxing.
I spent the day watchingย The Lion Kingย 4 times… singing and dancing to all the songs. Running around the house. Letting Jordan give me a face mask… whatever the heck that is. Now that she’s asleep, I’m ‘working.’
According to my Facebook news feed, my friends worried today about whether or not they should drink or go to bed early, whether they should watch this show or that show, whether they should go shopping or pay bills first.
Today I worried about how I’m going to scale one of my other companies and how I can help provide the best possible life for Jordan. Right now I’m worried that she’s going to wake up scared or confused as she often does. Big difference.
We Do This To Ourselves
Why did things change? How do we become so different than everyone else?
It’s easy. We do things other people don’t do.
Starting a business is huge, and succeeding with it is even bigger. You have to make tremendous sacrifices. You no longer have time to worry about silly things that ultimately don’t matter. You have to force yourself to adapt without the structure a traditional life provides for you.
I was willing to sacrifice everything I knew, and by doing so, I allowed myself to transform my life in such a monumental way that led it to where it is now.
Obviously, not all of us can throw ourselves 100% into everything. There are aspects of our current lives we can’t give up. But we can do what we can to make changes.
When we throw ourselves into the unknown, anything can happen. This has proven itself to be true with myself and countless other individuals.
But you really have to throw yourself at it and take massive levels of action.
I could’ve grown up, went to college, got a decent job, had kids, and retired at 65.
I threw myself into entrepreneurship and now own 3 companies, will be able to retire whenever I want, and chose to sort of take in a child now.
And I’m so happy.
This Isn’t About Me
Are you happy with your life?
I did not mean to talk so much about myself in this post, but I really do think the changes I’ve gone through personally are drastic enough to illustrate this vital point:
If you are not happy with the current state of your life, you need to take a risk and throw yourself into something that has the potential to change it.ย
This can be a new job, a new partner, a new location, something. Only you know what it is. But I’ll tell you what, if you keep doing what you keep doing, your situation is never going to change.
Only you know what you want. But if you want to live a life other people can’t, you have to be willing to do things other people won’t. If what you’re doing right now isn’t helping you achieve the sort of life you want, than quit wasting your time and start focusing it on where it matters.
And hey, why not start right now by identifying what it is you want and what you’re going to do to go get it. Take a moment to leave a comment and share this moment with us.
This can be the beginning of a new chapter if you allow it to be!
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