Good Thursday to you. This has been a week of going through tough times for me. I have had just a few obstacles this week. But there is one obstacle that has really altered my life. I have told this before, but today we are going to bring it up again. In 1992 I went to work one day, excited that it was good weather and I got to ride my motorcycle to work. I was working towards some goals in my life at that time. Out of the blue, an obstacle of my health would come up. I didn’t get to ride my motorcycle home that day. I was taken from work in an ambulance. It was my first seizure. I now had a form of epilepsy, and that goal of owning and driving my own truck was over. I could never drive a truck again; I could never fly a plane. I had all kinds of restrictions placed on my life.
So put yourself in the shoes of someone with a health problem. Imagine that you now have the obstacle of health to deal with. You may have to change your plans, you may have to alter
or come at your goals from a different angle. Some of you right now are saying “But why me?” I’m afraid the answer is this: life is not always fair. Life is you doing the best with what you have been given, not getting better circumstances to work with. And in life you will be given things like health problems.
I am reminded of the book that came out in 2000 called The Prayer of Jabez. It talks of one man in the Bible who prayed a simple prayer and God heard him and answered the prayer. The first time I ever heard of that prayer was from a man who considered himself blessed and living a much larger life than he ever had. The tough thing was he was diagnosed with cancer. His life was totally altered and when he died he considered his life had been wonderful. Many times since then, I have met people who have been given health trials.
There has been a similar story playing out recently not far from where I live. Matt Chandler is a popular local preacher who feels he has been very blessed in this life. Each step he took made his life better. He had a small church and made it grow. He went from being assistant pastor at a small church to building a large church with three campuses. Then one day he was told he has a brain tumor. What was his reaction? He said he was glad God gave him this chance to find another place to serve.
So no matter what health challenge you have been given, what are you going to do to make your life better? How are you going to pick up and change your life now that health obstacles have been put into your way? No matter what it is, you will either learn how to adjust your life and make it better, or you will give up and watch not only your health, but fear take a stronger grip in you.
Even after I read yesterday’s post again, I think about my own life and how many times I have wanted to give up. Having to deal with being told that I would not drive a truck again because of a health issue was a very tough thing to take when that was what I planned to do with my life. No, at first I did not jump up and say “This is no problem.” I was mad and tried to force myself back in. I tried to place blame, I tried to change my plight. But it was after fighting it for a long time that one day I had a boss who gave me a talk about taking care of my health. That day I stood up and decided to change my life. I started to chase another dream, and since then have started, or been partner in starting or rebuilding businesses for over 10 years.
So today I’m going to leave you with a three-step challenge if you are facing health problems you feel are more than you can handle at this time.
- Grab hope. No matter what life looks like, you must first grab hope. If you do not hope in a better tomorrow, your health challenge will pull you down. If you are not dealing with any health challenges now then keep hope alive so no matter how bad the obstacles become in life you have a building point.
- Find a better dream. If you are like me and had to change your plans entirely, then make your new dream an even better one. Each time I get to work with someone who is starting over, I ask them if they want to be a RockStar in their new life. Make it a bigger and better dream. If you feel like you have nothing, then you have nothing to lose by trying, by finding a better dream. Become the best.
- Use this health issue as something to help others. As you learn to make your life better, you have now given yourself the gift of life and hope. Spread it so others who might be facing that same challenge can grab hope for themselves. The greatest stories are the kind where a cancer survivor spends hours each month in clinics giving other cancer patients hope and helping them with the challenges they are facing.
So take this challenge you have been given and use it to make your life better. Life can be better for you if you just grab the hope and take the steps to make it better.
I’m Tim Gillette the Rocker Life Coach. It’s time for you to Live the life you always wanted, Love what you do and those you get to spend life with. Call us if you need help to become a RockStar in your world.
