You wanna do what you feel you’re destined to do, but what price are you willing to pay to do it?
That’s the question that I struggle with a lot. I think many people are faced with this struggle in some form or another…
In life, we face a lot of challenges. There are some challenges that completely shape our lives.
The thing is that a lot of times, those challenges go unmentioned because we are ashamed of them. Today, I hope that you may find something that motivates you in my honest story about how I went from being homeless to an entrepreneur with a growing business.
It’s not often that I talk about this kind of stuff, but my hope is to motivate you to go after your destiny.
Scream
In a world of almost 8 billion people. You can get lost pretty quickly. Your struggles, your triumphs, they all get lost pretty quickly in the company of 7.8 billion. But if you want to be heard, rather than lost in the shuffle, you gotta speak up.
You gotta have your voice heard, but to have your voice heard, you better either have a good voice or a good story.
For a time I had neither and I wasn’t sure if I would ever have one. But I quickly learned that the only way to have a good voice was to practice and when you practice, you more often than not, create a good story.
Practice
I never really knew what I wanted to do except for help people make their lives better. It sounds altruistic, but it really comes from a dark place.
You see, my dad used to beat my mom in front of me and my sister. There’s no doubt that affected me in a strong way, but one thing it made me want to do is to help people. I figure it’s because there was nothing I could do for my mom and sister except yell, scream, and cry. So now, I feel empowered for every opportunity I have to help someone.
But when you don’t know what to do to help it can be frustrating. Especially, if you don’t come from a lot of money.
I quickly found after college that stuff costs money and it wasn’t long until I was homeless.
I lived in my car for awhile, while I tried to figure some things out and I got a job that I did NOT want to lose.
I got paid to do something that came relatively easily to me AND I got paid for time that I didn’t work because of some weird clause with my job description.
Set for life right?
Wrong…
You see, one thing you learn about getting everything you think you want is that it’s rarely what you want at all. What ends up happening is you keeping craving more and more until you realize you can’t get more and you get ultra disappointed. Even depressed and that’s what happened to me.
Change
Sometimes practice can be helpful in some interesting ways. I had quit my depressing job and I started on to something that I thought would offer me more fulfillment.
What was interesting was that I was quitting a guaranteed salary for something completely unknown. Most people wouldn’t do that, EVER! I kinda still think it was a little stupid, but what I did know is that I had no problem going back to being homeless because I had already done it before.
I wasn’t scared.
Change is just that, change. Nothing else, so if it meant going back to sleeping in my car, well then, so be it.
Turns out I didn’t sleep in my car, but I did rent out a basement in the hood for $104 a month.
Not exactly much of a step up. But I began to realize that even though I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do, I was getting closer. And in the process, I was eliminating what I didn’t want from my life. (hint: homelessness was one of those things)
More Practice
So we’re gonna fast forward to now. I now run a fitness studio in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in Pennsylvania if not, America. And I did it by believing in myself.
I believed that despite all the frustrations, I would find something that suited me. Something that made me feel fulfilled as well as pays my bills. It took over a decade, but I finally feel like my practice has made my story an inspiration to one very important person.
ME.
Become a Hero
We all look up to someone. Why not let it be you? Why not take the chances? Why not write your story your way, on your terms?
You deserve to have your voice heard.
I absolutely implore you, no matter how old or how young you are when you read this, to work to be your own hero. I never really had a hero growing up and it wasn’t until I looked back on my life recently that I realized I had tons of people showing me what I didn’t want from life, but no one showing me what I did want.
Look for the greats in history. Follow what they did. Not EXACTLY what they did, but follow their example. I used books as my mentors until I knew enough to where I could find real people to talk with me.
The road to your destiny is not easy. Just because it’s YOUR destiny it doesn’t mean everything will be easy. But if you enjoy the ride, stop to realize every once in awhile how lucky you are to even have the opportunity to do what you want every day, I think everything will turn out just fine.
As for me, I’m not stopping at growing a training studio. I’m working on creating a company that helps people to make decisions that help them to lead the most fulfilling life possible.
It never stops, your destiny will always be there and every action you take is just another step closer to or away from it. You make the choice every day to keep pursuing.
Jerry “next chapter” Washington
