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Coronavirus is ruining the world. At least that's what it feels like. In this episode though, we will talk about how it is not ruining the world, but rather the way we are all choosing to see it and act is what's making this all so crazy. Let's do it.
Welcome to Chasing the Awesome Life, your weekly guide to making life a little bit more awesome. Because we all have goals and dreams, but yet the struggle is oh so real. So take a little time to equip yourself with the tools and the inspiration to be just a little bit more awesome in every aspect of your life.
There's no topic I won't cover in this podcast. From kids to college to the joys and the struggles, it's all awesome if you choose to chase it. So get ready to take some notes and take a little more awesome action. This is Chasing the Awesome Life.
Okay friends, so let's chat about this coronavirus. And I know that everyone has opinions and it's all anyone seems to be talking about right now. And rightfully so, it's impacting all of our lives in some way, shape, or form. Whether schools are closed, an event's been canceled, you're working from home. The list goes on and it's impacted everyone in some way, shape, or form. Some more so than others.
and honestly i don't see anything wrong with someone saying exactly what i said in my intro today that you know coronavirus is ruining the world it is absolutely impacting the world but i think we can all be a little more intentional when it comes to the words that we choose and our perspective on all of this and that that takes practice it's something that
is required of leaders to slow down and be intentional in the way we feel about something and the way we respond to something. I put a post out there on my Instagram, which if you're not following me, you should go check out at Chasing the Awesome Life. And I put it out there the other day that I think is something many people don't do or don't want to do or even struggle to do. And that is whether this is the coronavirus or some other virus
crappy circumstance life has handed you because we all deal with shit. It's just a different stench for each of us and the way we feel about whatever life has handed us. It's always an opportunity. Now when I say that, I think a lot of times people look at me and think that I see the world in, you know, rose-colored glasses. And I think there's a difference between rose-colored glasses and rose-tinted glasses. And what I mean by that is
You know, I don't believe that bad stuff doesn't happen. I am someone who has dealt with my own fair share of shitty things that have happened in my life. You know, for example, I don't think a lot of people realize this, but something that happened to me my senior year of high school, or not high school, of college, you know, I found out my dad was going to have to have
quadruple bypass, and then 30 minutes later found out that my mom had freaked out so much that she needed to have, well, she didn't need to have, but she had a heart attack. And I'm not making that up, that literally happened. But that was an opportunity. It was an opportunity for me to get closer to my family. It was an opportunity for me to be a better brother, an opportunity for me to really, when I slow down and think about it,
to love more and to lead more. I was a senior in college and I wasn't ready for that. And I didn't do a good job, but it was an opportunity to set my career path. That's really truly when I look back on it, what set me down this path of wanting to impact others' lives, both mentally, physically, emotionally. It's part of the reason why I have a business, Chasing the Awesome Life, because that happened to me. So,
I don't believe that shit doesn't happen to us. It obviously happens to all of us and the coronavirus is a great example of that. It's impacting every single one of us. Megan and I were supposed to go see a Broadway show on April 11th. You know when Broadway was scheduled to reopen now that it's shut down? April 12th. That sucks. Literally a day after we're supposed to go, it's going to reopen? Yeah.
That's not cool. And that's what they said originally, but it still might not even reopen then. So, shit happens to all of us. The way you view it is what makes a difference. That's why I say rose-tinted glasses, because you can have something crappy happen to you, and if you're looking through rose-tinted glasses, not rose-colored, because everything is not rosy and golden and wonderful.
Stuff happens. But the question is, can you slow down and ask yourself, what is this teaching me? What's the opportunity here?
Is coronavirus an opportunity for you to be closer to your family, for you to shut off, for you to connect with others? There's a meme going around, you know, a lot of stuff about the fact that there's no sports. And there's one that I saw recently that just it's hysterical, but it's also so true. You know, it's from NFL memes and it says something along the lines of,
Day five without sports, I found this woman sitting on my couch. Apparently she's my wife. She's actually pretty nice. And, you know, there's comedy in that. But at the same time, there's also some truth in that. And then we all get wrapped up and invested in so many things. And we aren't always present. And whether you are self-quarantining or you have actually been mandated to quarantine, whatever the case may be, wherever you're listening to this,
It really truly can be an opportunity if you choose to make it that way. But again, that's your choice. That's the beauty of perspective. Something happens, you get to choose how you see it, how you feel about it, and how you respond to it.
And, you know, we actually as humans, a lot of people forget this, right? It's 2020. We as humans still, even though it's 2020, default to responding or reacting the way that our ancestors. And when I say our ancestors, I mean the people who lived in caves, right?
way back at the beginning of times, we still react like them most of the time because you see our brains work one of two ways. We either think about things or we feel about things. So, coronavirus happens. What do we do? We feel about it. We're pissed off. We're angry. We're frustrated. All these emotions and feelings happen because coronavirus has impacted you in some way, shape, or form negatively.
And that's the reality. That's true. We can't pretend that that's not the case. We're all living that out right now. I'm not going to pretend that that is not the case. However, your brain, when it was in its ancestors,
felt about things in a way that was good for them. And I'm not saying feelings are bad for us. Feelings are absolutely a very good thing. But sometimes we need to be able to think before we feel. And that takes practice. Again, it takes intentionality. So it was good for our ancestors because our ancestors...
would feel afraid when the saber-toothed tiger or you know whatever giant t-rex animal whatever it was was chasing them they felt afraid for their life and they ran away that was a good thing for them their brain needed to feel it they sat there and thought about well I could run away or I could fight back or maybe I could go get some other people to help me fight back they didn't have time to think they felt and they acted in 2020 we have time to think
We have all the information, all the data. We have all of the resources at our fingertips literally to say, whoa, slow down. I should stop feeling about this and I should start thinking about how I can respond rather than react.
And I will tell you, I am absolutely in my life. This is something I'm working on in my life. I am a ready, shoot, aim type of a person. I'll say that again. Most of the time, I'm a ready, shoot, aim, not a ready, aim, shoot. Okay, we're ready, aim, fire. Because I am at times not rational. I get quick tempered. I get frustrated. I am prone to being emotional.
But I recognize too that when something shitty happens, even though I might feel a certain way, I need to slow down, pause, wind the clock and ask myself, what is this teaching me? What's the opportunity here? So I ask you, however coronavirus is impacting you, what's the opportunity? What are you going to get out of this? It doesn't have to be a bad thing. The choice is yours. Keep chasing the awesome life, friends. I'll see you in the next episode.