December 18, 2022 Darron Rowley

How to get Freedom in My Life

The other day I saw an interesting video.

I don’t believe the speaker was sharing an actual conversation, but rather trying to teach a principle. Either way, I think the point behind his words is valid - and I’d like to share it with you here.

The speaker said:

My grandfather, he walked to work 10 miles every day,

My father, he walked to work 5 miles every day,

I drive a Cadillac to work,

My boy will drive a Ferrari,

And his boy, well, his boy will walk to work.

He then went on to share this quote – which I am sure you have heard:

Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.

How Strong and I?

This idea I something I think about often!

I wonder to myself, how strong am I?

We often think of strength in terms of physicality, but it’s also where we are mentally, emotionally, spiritually, financially, etc.

This question of “how strong am I?” still comes to my mind regularly – actually daily - and I still feel like I am a long way away from where I want to be.

It is such an important principle to me that I developed a shirt - it's called Lion Strong - around the idea of building and conquering ourselves.

I do believe that good times soften us in many regards - or at least make us complacent - and I worry about what that means for all of us in the coming years.

I don’t want to find out that I am not strong enough in one of these keys areas, especially after the difficulty has already hit – that is why I am trying to prepare for it now.

But even if the difficulty has hit, that doesn’t mean we can’t get to work on those areas now.

We Can Only Control Ourselves!

There is really nothing we can do to control the trajectory of societies, economies, politics, etc.

But what we can control is the trajectory of ourselves and our family – and hopefully influence these other areas.

Even on a micro level - meaning our own lives - chances are that we will see this cycle repeat itself many times.

That is because strength is a journey not a destination. Just because we are strong today (or weak) there is no guarantee that that will be true for tomorrow. It takes continual work.

So, the question remains, what should we be doing today to get ourselves stronger in each of these areas?

Determine Your Strenghts

It all starts with what I think is the most difficult area for most of us: INTERNAL REFLECTION

For some reason, looking deep down into our own souls is extremely hard to do.

Maybe we are worried about what we will find, or that we will be more accountable to make change if we acknowledge it; whatever the reason, this is our origination point - this is where it all starts.

Until we do this, we really can’t come to a clear understanding of how strong we really are.

As we head into a new year, what better time to do this reflection – and not just surface level, get really deep.

I want to encourage each of us to really examine the strength of these core areas: physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, financial, personal relationships, etc.

Find the areas of strength and apply that to the weak areas.

Come up with a plan of how you can build where you are weak and get to work.

We don’t want struggle to expose weak areas, because it will be that much harder. Do the reflection now and make whatever changes are needed.

There is little doubt in my mind that the coming years will be challenging, so the question remains: Will I do what is needed today to strengthen myself?

It is absolutely liberating when we take our weak areas and turn them into strength. It is empowering.