A Quick Look Into The Past Can Help You Boost Your Present
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
From the beginning of this year, I’ve decided to redirect my writing and life in general.
The guide of my compass is towards the purpose of my life.
I won’t recommend dwelling in the past, but a single glance to realize how far I have come since the day I recognized how low I had fallen in life—turns on the jet engines of my motivation and gives me the momentum to continue ascending.
I have the desire and interest to lift anyone who feels down, who believes that a bad situation no longer has a solution.
Because I was there, and I know what it feels like “to be a total failure.”
So, to begin, I decided to take a walk through the places where I used to hide from society, drinking my loneliness, sadness, and anguish until dawn.
I realized how lonely that place is now. Most of the people I met in that dirty place are no longer alive, and whoever was left, perhaps, is not in his right mind. In that place, I lost all sense of responsibility and dignity.
However, sometimes I conclude that what degraded me to such an extreme ignited the spark that made me start to get up from the bottom — the desperation to survive.
Like when you’re drowning, and someone throws a lifesaver at you, but it falls only a few feet away. Even if you don’t know how to swim, your sense of survival will make you draw strength to save your life and reach that lifesaver.
But, how can a person define that moment that makes him reflect and start swimming against the current that is dragging him down?
Unfortunately for someone like me, who did not reach the cliff’s edge but fell to the bottom, it was the only way to shake the foundations of my life to bounce back.
I feel that my own life had to pass through a computer defragmenter. Analyze what was worth keeping and discard the rest that had me out of control. But to get to where I am sitting now, I had to make a great effort and sacrifice.
Many of those efforts were painful. My body didn’t want to let go of the addiction.
That’s one of the problems, perhaps the greatest of all. We want everything ready and served without having to make any effort.
My biggest challenge was to give up drinking for at least a day. Today it sounds so ridiculous to me, but it was those small, slow steps that would move me forward — one day at a time.
A slight change in my daily habits led me to a different destination.
Just like when you are building a wall, and you place the level horizontally. With only a small degree of unevenness, you will end up with an uneven wall.
Many of our lives’ failures do not begin with a catastrophic event but with the accumulation of small daily bad habits that eventually led our life to collapse.
James clear wrote in his book: “Atomic Habits.”
When we repeat 1 percent errors, day after day, by replicating poor decisions, duplicating tiny mistakes, and rationalizing little excuses, our small choices compound into toxic results. It’s the accumulation of many missteps — a 1 percent decline here and there — that eventually leads to a problem.
Just by getting sober for a couple of weeks, I was able to see the options (with a sober mind) that could get me out of that situation. The tricky thing was that they all required effort.
If you want to see a change in your life, are you willing to make the sacrifice and the effort that goes with it?
Somewhere I read this story:
There was a little fish that lived in a small pond. He lived happily in his habitat, but one day he noticed a windmill that drew water up. With curiosity, he got on, and it took him up to a beautiful lake.
The little fish was so happy and began to discover new places and make friends, but soon realized that a big river came out of the lake that followed an unknown path.
Excited, with all that his curiosity had taken him, he swam down the river until he reached an immense sea.
The little fish was amazed and realized how much he was missing by living pleased in the small pond.
Dare to make an effort to change your life in a different direction. Don’t let the troubles of this life, addictions or unnoticed bad habits keep you locked in a small pond.
There is an immense sea of possibilities and opportunities that you may be missing in this life.
Don’t forget to extend your hand to lift someone who might be bent by the side of the road, lost and without direction.
Live your best life now.
Thanks for reading.
Together we can learn better.
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