You have the choice - what will it be?
Good morning. It's week four. Where is this time's flying, guys. I don't know what's going on. But it's week four already.
Speaker 1:I did to see a post on the group saying, well, someone hasn't even started yet, and a few other people have said that as well. But there's no need to panic at this stage because if you've seen so if we see this three full weeks being completed, right, and you see all the posts about how people have already changed their mindset massively, how all these things have happened in just three weeks, and you think, I haven't started yet and I'm panicking. Well, there's still, right, seven full weeks to go. So if people have done what's happened in three weeks, there's still seven weeks to go. So if you're thinking, it's a little late.
Speaker 1:Get involved now and in three weeks time you're gonna be feeling just like others are feeling full of momentum, happy, shaft learning, and then there's still more time to go. So there's no need to panic about the fact that time that the, you know, the challenge times end in seven weeks. That doesn't mean this entire journey ends. We're doing it now to start kicking the gears into place and we keep going on forever with this new kind of lifestyle thing. Anyway, maybe this will help you.
Speaker 1:So there's a book called The Choice by Edith Eger. This is the what's it this is what the book this is what it's explained as. In 1944, a 16 year old ballerina Edith Eger is sent to Auschwitz Separated from her parents on arrival, she endures unimaginable experiences, including being made to dance for the infamous Joseph Mengele. When the camp is finally liberated, she's pulled from a pile of bodies barely alive. The horrors of the Holocaust didn't break Edith.
Speaker 1:In fact, they helped her learn to live again with a life affirming strength and a truly remarkable resilience. The choice is an unforgettable story. It shows that hope can flower in the most unlikely places. And that's a few quotes from the start of the book to get you and, you know, maybe maybe help your mindset today and get your, you know, get your ass into gear, basically. So here's a few quotes from the book.
Speaker 1:The day I met captain Fuller, more than thirty years had passed since I've been liberated from the concentration camp of the holocaust. Today more than seventy years have passed. What happened can never be forgotten and can never be changed but over time I learned that I can choose how to respond to the past. I can be miserable or I can be hopeful. I can be depressed or I can be happy.
Speaker 1:We always have that choice, that opportunity for control. I'm here, this is now. I have learned to tell myself over and over until the panicky feeling begins to ease. Same for your weekend. Same if you haven't done anything for three weeks.
Speaker 1:I'm here right now. What am I gonna do next is what I'm asking. What am I gonna do today? What am I gonna do today? What's my one big thing?
Speaker 1:What what am I gonna go left or right? Am I gonna go and build today? I'm feel sorry for myself. Go ahead. Haven't started for three weeks.
Speaker 1:Oh my god. I'm terrible. Or just get on with it and build momentum today. And really, it's as simple as that. And that's what she's saying here.
Speaker 1:So have a think about how you wanna respond to your weekend or not being able to the challenge yet. It's about deciding what to do today. And even if it's the smallest thing, track one meal. Get steps in. Listen to a podcast.
Speaker 1:Listen to one of the sessions about nutrition. Just anything to get started. That's all it takes. And read Tiny Habits as well. Get that book.
Speaker 1:Here's a few more guys. Okay. Freedom lies in learning to embrace what happened. Freedom means we muster the courage to dismantle the prison brick by brick. You might have created this prison yourself.
Speaker 1:I've bought this challenge. I've yet to start. I know I'm frozen, can't do anything about it. Well, you're the only person that can unleash yourself from that prison you've built and that starts with action today. Bad things, I am afraid, happen to everyone.
Speaker 1:This we can't change. If you look up your birth certificate does it say life will be easy? It does not. I love that quote, so true. Here's another one, Even the dullest moments of our lives are opportunities to experience hope, happiness.
Speaker 1:Mundane life is life too. Damn right there is Edith. Damn right there is. Okay, you're more. If you asked me for the most common diagnosis amongst the people I treat I wouldn't say depression or post traumatic stress disorder although these conditions are all too common among those I've known, loved and guided to freedom.
Speaker 1:No, I would say hunger. We are hungry. We are hungry for approval, attention, affection. We are hungry for the freedom to embrace life and to really know and be ourselves. My own search for freedom and my years of experience as a licensed clinical psychologist have taught me that suffering is universal but victimhood is optional.
Speaker 1:There is a difference between victimization and victimhood. We are all likely to be victimized in some way in the course of our lives. At some point we will suffer some kind of affliction or calamity or a boost caused by circumstances or people or institutions over which we have little or no control. This is life and this is victimization. It comes from the outside.
Speaker 1:It's the neighborhood bully, the boss who rages, the spouse who hits, the lover who cheats, the the discriminant discriminatory laws, the accident that lands you in hospital. In contrast, victimhood comes from the inside. No one can make you a victim but you. We become victims not because of what happens to us, but when we choose to hold on to our victimization. We develop a victim's mind, a way of thinking and being that is rigid, blaming, pessimistic, stuck in the past, unforgiving, punitive, and without healthy limits or boundaries.
Speaker 1:We become our own jailers when we choose the confines of the victim's mind. Think about this now. Are you being a victim because you've messed the weekend up or you haven't started the challenge yet? Come on. Come on.
Speaker 1:We can do better than this. We can keep we can go. We can move. We we're free to do that. I also want to say that there is no hierarchy of suffering.
Speaker 1:There's nothing that makes my pain worse or better than yours. No graph on which we can plot the relative importance of one sorrow versus another. People say to me, things in my life are pretty hard right now but I have no right to complain. It's not Auschwitz. This kind of comparison can lead to us to minimize or diminish our own feelings.
Speaker 1:Being a survivor, being a thriver requires absolute acceptance of what was and what is. If we discount our pain or punish ourselves for feeling lost or isolated or scared about the challenges in our lives, however insignificant these challenges may seem to someone else and they were still choosing to be victims. We're not seeing our choices. We're judging ourselves. I don't want you to hear I don't want you to hear my story and say my own suffering is less significant.
Speaker 1:I want you to hear my story and say if she can do it, so can I? And that is the introduction basically to that book. And hopefully, it's given you a bit of a glimpse into what is possible with a human mind even at the depths of hell. Edith Eger, a fantastic person, and I recommend you read a book if you wanna go more into it. Same as A Man's Search for Meaning, two very similar books in regards to, you know, what happens when we put a human being through the worst scenario potentially possible ever and how do we look at their lives.
Speaker 1:You know, some people obviously crumbled and didn't come back from it. But what she's saying is hope even in the worst scenarios. And she's not to compare to her and say, mine sucks. It's just she's just saying we have got a choice, guys. She had a choice even in those circumstances.
Speaker 1:You've got a choice whether your weekend now defines you. You've got a choice whether the last three weeks defines you if you haven't done the most of it. You've got a choice today, basically, and you can change whatever you want to do today. So please get on with it. Get going.
Speaker 1:Min small steps and salt, you know, salt it. I think that's all we need to do. Brick by brick, one day at a time, all this stuff. You might start, you know, not listening to it. You might think, oh, so simple one day at time, whatever.
Speaker 1:But that is literally it. The secret is one day, one break, one choice at a time. So what's your next choice today? Really after this podcast, like what's your choice today? It might be anything to do with your life to be honest.
Speaker 1:It's not just about health and fitness like what's the choice you go next? Is your choice? You're going to sulk into work, is one day here at work? Is your choice going to go? Yeah, I've got a chance to work today.
Speaker 1:I got opportunity to work, I'm to put a smile on my face. Maybe the workouts, you're behind in workouts, is your choice to like, I'm too behind now or you try to say, you know what, I'm gonna just do the next workout that's on my list. Is your choice gonna be, haven't tracked to what's the point going well, I'll have to Everyone who's already on a tracking spree has to track at the at day one. Day one is day one is there for everyone. You can't get to what everyone is if you haven't done day done day one.
Speaker 1:You know, all these top athletes, everyone in the world starts from where you are right now. Think about how crazy I is. The greatest talent of all time, the greatest people who've done the biggest things. I'm saying you have to go for them. We all start at the same place.
Speaker 1:That little tiny little start that means that looks like it means nothing, but it will do everything. So that's it for today, guys. The choice is yours. Will you make the most of today? Will you start today?
Speaker 1:Will you restart today? And will you keep going today with a smile on your face? Or like she says, will you let victimhood take grip and use the day to just drain your energy, you know, conflict in your own mind, and end up paralyzing yourself with inaction, which can cause negative momentum, and you'll be going the other way. So hopefully, that gives you kick up the ass. But guys, let me know how the weekend went.
Speaker 1:I wanna know how people are dealing with them. Any any any tips and advice piece post in the group. Hopefully, we see you on turtle radio. I'm gonna me and Dean, you know, we're just gonna chop each other for an hour, basically. At the end of it, me me me and Dean have a hell of scrap probably.
Speaker 1:So the choices is if you want to see me if you if you want to me in the ring, we'll do it, guys. Let me know if you want to on the end of challenge event. And I hope you all had a really nice weekend. And, yeah, I just, yeah, I just take take me telling you now as a as a as a reset no matter what happened. And then your next choice, let's make it a good one.
Speaker 1:So see you at Turtle Radio. I wish you all the best of days. And, yeah, speak to you later.
