By David Tepera, May 23, 2018
Recently, a close friend asked me to speak to his son, whom I’ll call Jim, because he keeps expressing feelings about “lack of worthiness.” I know Jim well, so I asked him to completely describe himself to me.
His description contained these words and more: lost, depressed, worthless, financially broke and no future.
I told him, it’s not only common to feel that way as a young man, but people of all ages will have this battle throughout life. But, just know, it’s more common of people out of high school and early 20s.
For the past 18 years of your life, your future was already set as you went through 12 years of school, including kindergarten. Now, your future is undetermined and finding your way into society with a destiny will take time.
My first topic of conversation was to reply to Jim’s statement of worthlessness and being broke.
So, I asked Jim, “If someone offered you a million dollars for one of your legs, would you do it? If someone offered you five million for both legs, would you? How about 10 million for both arms?”
Well, you guessed it, Jim, like all of us, replied “no way.” I then led Jim to a mirror and told him to stare at that handsome, brilliant and lucky man to have all his body parts. Guess what my friend, “You’re already a multimillionaire, so let’s start the process to find your passion.”
Jim understood my point, so we went through a list of all his good qualities like being kind, loving, dependable, and even a sports fanatic.
I told Jim, “Do you know there’s a shortage of volunteer youth coaches, referees and umpires? I promise, since you’re a former star athlete, these young kids will learn a lot from you. Your sense of worthiness will soar knowing how you not only impact young athletes, but their families as well. You have an opportunity to change lives.”
At this moment, I know there’s plenty of people reading my column today sharing the same feelings as Jim. Believe me, I’ve been there several times in my life, too.
Almost all of us are surrounded by people who unconditionally love us. They accept our faults, and will continue to cheer us on, as long as we keep fighting the battle of life. I promise, your determination will lead you to destiny
I understand, we all want a better version of ourselves, but also recognize, loving yourself first is more important than loving others.
Now it’s your turn, go look in the mirror and see that multimillionaire staring back and blow a big kiss.