I haven’t written a blog in a while and as I sat here trying to figure out what to write about I thought it would be great to talk about how far I have come in the last six years of my life.
I want to talk about this, not to brag, but in hopes that it will inspire you to do the work that it takes to make a change in your life too.
I want to start by saying that it won’t be easy, but it will be 100% worth the effort, sacrifice, and hard work. Your future self will thank you.
Six years ago I had no idea what I was going to do with my life. I had never been so lost before. A few months before this I had walked away from a high-risk lifestyle that I had been living for the previous ten years.
I was fortunate to be able to walk away as many others that walked the same path weren’t as lucky. I walked away with nothing. Physically that is. I did walk away with my life and a clear conscience.
This began a new chapter in my life. One that I did not know what it would be called or where it would lead. I started working for a man that taught me a lot about how our society works. He challenged me to think and act differently than I had been doing.
To this day I tell people that he was one of the smartest people I ever met. A walking encyclopedia is how I would describe him. I ended up walking away from this relationship too as it wasn’t the direction I wanted my life to go. For as smart as he was, he was equally negative and was focused on fighting the system.
I was done with fighting. I did not want that to be a part of my life anymore. I didn’t know what I wanted, but I knew what I didn’t want.
This is when I found myself enrolled in a personal development course called The Gift in March 2013. Little did I know then that I would never be the same again.
I really had no clue what this course was about or what to expect. My friend had been telling me about it for almost a year, and I finally had time to enroll.
This course taught me about personal accountability, belief systems, and we worked on several key areas of our lives. I was shown how what we believe about ourselves creates the world around us.
This course was exactly what I needed at the perfect time. Most importantly, I learned that nothing in this world just happens to us. It all happens through us and for us. We are actively creating our reality whether we are aware of it or not.
This had a very profound impact on me and my journey. I will not go into too much detail here as it could fill a book, and in fact has, with the complexity of the subject.
I just wanted to convey the fact that this course changed me. It changed how I looked at the world, it changed how I looked at myself, and it changed how I interacted with the people in my life.
If we fast forward five years, my life looks entirely different than it was when I walked away from that high-risk lifestyle.
I am now an author of the “Life Balance” book. I am currently a Certified Life Coach that helps people make changes and move forward in their lives. I also work with Integrity Seminars, the same company that delivers The Gift program.
That is how much that program, among their other programs, helped me change my life. I believe in it so much that when the opportunity opened up for me in the spring of 2017 to work there, I jumped all over it.
This summer, 2018, I received a Pardon for my criminal record and am no longer considered a criminal by the government of this country. This was a massive day for me and was almost surreal to believe that it happened.
Receiving this pardon has allowed me to step into a big dream of mine. That dream is to be able to work with youth that are in similar situations as I was when I was younger.
Single parent families with no father figure around. Maybe getting into some trouble and not sure what life is about or how to be in a society that keeps sending us mixed messages.
I can say that I am working with a local organization in Edmonton to help support children that are considered at-risk. This is a passion of mine because I feel that had I had the proper support when I was younger that my life would have been very different.
I would not have been exposed to the risks and dangers that came with the high-risk lifestyle I chose to lead.
I was able to walk away, and now I want to work to keep kids from walking down that path in the first place. If I can save one child from making the same mistakes I did, then it will all have been worth it.
Everything I have learned in the past six years has impacted my day to day life too. It is now more natural for me to control my emotions and to have authentic relationships with myself and others.
I have more self-esteem and confidence. I am able to be clear about what I want, and I have the tools to get me there too. I have a fantastic community for support when I need it.
This did not happen over a weekend in The Gift. This happened by dedicating myself to do the work that it takes no matter what.
This required a lot of sacrifices, work, determination, and perseverance. I changed the people I spent my time with. I changed what I did with my time and what I allowed into my life. I became very selective with what I allowed to influence me.
It wasn’t easy. It’s not supposed to be. Living a more conscious life is only for the select few that pass the test.
What is the test? The test is commitment and determination to yourself and others. It is easy to go back to our old ways and live life on auto-pilot. It is easy to go through life thinking that it happens to us and take whatever comes our way.
Choosing what we want and doing the work it takes to get it is only for the strong and determined. If you have read this far, I have a feeling that you are one of those that have what it takes.
If you want to know more about The Gift, click here.
If you want to purchase my book, click here. Available as a hard copy and on the Kindle.
If you want to learn how we can work together 1 on 1 to get you different results in life, click here to view my coaching packages and details. Feel free to email me at rodolfo@wordpress-253025-1247277.cloudwaysapps.com
Thank you!!