growNman
growNman
I am growNman 74
There's strength to be mined from the depths of despair, and in this episode, I lay bare the resilience that's been forged from my battle with depression. Revealing the scaffolding of support and the tools necessary to rise above life's hurdles, I share how adversity has prepped me for the unexpected twists of fate. We challenge the notion that rock bottom is a prerequisite for appreciation of life, instead lighting the way for daily growth and proactive strides towards excellence. Join me in this motivational narrative as we pledge to be great on purpose, inspiring each other to elevate our lives and those around us.
what up, though, and welcome back to. I'm growing man. It's your man, john d, in the building? Uh, not for sure. This is my first video of the new camera, but decided to upgrade, getting a lot of feedback and I want to make sure that the quality of the video doesn't chase people away, but wanted to get on here and just just talk about my intentions again. I want to create the best version of myself at all turns. Uh, I think this journey taught me if you want something, you got to go get it.
Speaker 1:And prior to me changing my diet, I reflect and look back at my life. It was just like I was in a hamster wheel. Different parts of my life, different things, had me just missing what was right in front of me, and it's another reason why I'm on here. I want to, like, just create a different outlet for me and to feel like it's got to be more than just what I'm doing, and I'm not saying I have all the answers, but I have the mindset to look for as many as I can, you know, and I think that mindset has literally changed everything for me. You know, I think a lot of the conversations I have with people are more intentional. Now it's not just you know, shoot me shit, you know it's, it's literally how are you doing? You know what are you doing? Is there anything I can do to help Vice versa, like if we're going to be friends, we're supposed to help each other elevate, and I think I get the most value out of life with becoming the best version of myself through being a better father, a better husband, a better teacher, a better friend, you know, a better man.
Speaker 1:This it's, I don't know. It's more fulfilling. You know, I don't know if people understand that. You know you can chase something and just be like what is it? What am I missing? I'm telling, telling you, this is even for, like, professional athletes, uh, actors and actresses, anybody like people that you would think got it together, because they have things that you desire. But there's an empty feeling we all have and it's like how can we feel it? And I'm telling you it's just improving literally every single part of your life, because there's no such thing as perfect, but there is a such thing as a perfect mindset. A perfect mindset it's the mindset to always believe it can get better, like there's no ceiling to it. And if you know that it's no ceiling. You're constantly becoming a better version of yourself because you know that you don't have the final answer. And another reason why I focus on communication so much because if I could ever put together like a set of words where everybody, no matter what language I mean what, like what country or different languages people speak, if it was said in these set of words that it would ignite an effort in everybody to just want to get better, because it's just, it's more exciting, it's fulfillment. Because this is the thing, once you create a routine that makes you better and you see that first fruit that you didn't even know that you was working on you.
Speaker 1:Looking at your whole life, I'm talking about what have I been doing? You know like I'm closer to being a half a century than I am to being 40. And that's when my life changed. Like I can't believe it took 40 years of my life to mature enough to believe I could get better in like every aspect of my life and it's been the best thing ever. My wife got a better husband, my kids got a better father, the world got a better version of me. And what's so crazy is that I scared people off because the things that I was interested in at one time was no longer interesting because I realized it was a distraction keeping me away from becoming a better version of me. I know that's crazy. Like distractions are real.
Speaker 1:If you can look at yourself and feel like you're completely fulfilled, you're supposed to show other people how to do it, because nobody wants to walk through life unfulfilled. You know you can. You can chase and acquire as much money as you want but if you're not doing it in a way that you can be like I'm glad I did it that way in your head, like I know, like I learned a lot of bad behaviors and a lot of bad things. Like I know, like I learned a lot of bad behaviors and a lot of bad things. Like if it's okay to do it, if somebody else did it or you know whatever to get to the top. And then I realized, like who wants that story? Like if you actually get to where you want to get, I'm straight.
Speaker 1:So every day I'm so intentional with just being more purposeful in the way that I view life. Like right now, looking at this camera, and I'm like are you satisfied with what you're giving to the world? I'm thinking in my head like this is the best version the world has ever seen to this day, and my kids and my wife. They get to interact with me and make me feel like I'm doing the right thing, like that's all that matters. Right, if that's all that matters, why do we have to find ways to like, hurt others, to get to the top? You have to do that self-reflection at some point and hopefully you get the story you want. I'm creating the story I want. I want to just find ways to improve and as I get closer to the mastery of communication, at some point other people will realize how important they are are. If you really thought you were important, would you compromise others so you can win, like if you were important? You know that it's going to come to the light at some point and you got to be able to answer those questions. Remove the distractions and focus on finding ways to get better. When you create that routine to find ways to get better, I'm going to share something.
Speaker 1:Like my wife, she was describing church what it meant to her when she was younger, into her young adulthood. She couldn't put it into words because I hadn't experienced it before I've been to church before but she used to say what she was describing. It was like it gives her this energy. She knew the people that she was looking at, she knew like the people that was around her and when they sang, it gave her this energy that she can't describe. And you know, she says she's gone to churches to try to find this energy and she has been unsuccessful.
Speaker 1:And what it made me think was I don't even know that feeling, but I understand, I want whatever that is, understand, I want whatever that is and I don't want to go to church to find it, because I don't believe in religion as much as it divides people. You know, like I think it divides more than brings people together. So I don't want to go that route to get that energy, because my intent is to help any and every. You know, I don't know anybody who wants to fail on purpose and if they do, they're seeking attention. Right, that's what everybody says. So if they're seeking attention, that means they were compromised at a young age and they don't have the help to find that peace. So if we can find the best version of ourselves, we'll have more patience to help other people. We have more patience to help other people. We have more energy to say hello, smile, like they say. Smiles is contagious and smiles are contagious and I don't know like I'd prefer to smile all the time and I feel this way and I'm just. Hopefully this energy I have can like can make you reconsider how important you are.
Speaker 1:Cal Newport said when you're good enough, they'll find you. You got to know what you're looking for before anybody finds you. If you don't understand what that means, sometimes we're looking for something that doesn't even exist. The pursuit of happiness is through materials versus just finding the best version of yourself. If you get distracted in getting in a race that you never wanted to be a part of, the only person that it breaks the depression.
Speaker 1:Because and I'm not saying that depression is not necessary, I don't think everybody, I think too much of it can hurt you. But I do believe that depression can create a strength in you if you can overcome it. Create a strength in you if you can overcome it, and sometimes you just need to know what the resources look like to overcome it. But to not be able to experience that and overcome it, it gives a mental strength within you. Just imagine you get over that mental setback, you figure it out and it's probably your largest obstacle in life. You overcome it and then you don't ever have an obstacle that big again because you already know how to get over it. And then, if you don't do the next one, if you don't get over it, you know what it took to get over to the other one, so you will get over this one a lot faster.
Speaker 1:You have to believe in yourself, though. I don't feel like you don't have to hit rock bottom to appreciate life, but a lot of times the messaging is so bad. People have to hit the rock bottom to be able to appreciate life, and, depending on when you hit rock bottom, you may not even get the message and you look around and wonder how you got there. You were compromised. But listen to this If you're at rock bottom, whose story better than yours?
Speaker 1:Once you overcome it all, you have to believe that everybody has their story. The only reason why your story is not like that? Because you haven't had a reason to polish it, to say what it would, what it felt like, to describe a pain that others haven't even experienced. Once we master communication, we'll be able to understand an unlimited like amount of emotions, because we're just babies in this thing, and as we evolve into better people, we'll be able to appreciate life a little more. Y'all, make today better than yesterday. Don't worry about anything you can't control. G-a-t-a Get after that action or that action will get after you. Be great on purpose. Bye.