Overcoming Adversity

Count money, man.

Money, man.

That gritch is fine.

I told him.

I'm a beast.

What's up gang?

Welcome back to another episode of The Grimecast.

Get ready.

It's a new day.

We're going to talk about overcoming some adversity.

Adversity is inevitable in life.

Okay, the only way you ain't going to have any adversity is if you don't live.

And the higher you try to climb, the more adversity that you're going to find on the

way.

It's really, excuse me, it's impossible to find somebody who has achieved greatness

and experienced no obstacles along the way.

So what I want you to do, what I want you to do is I want you to condition yourself

not to think negatively, but mentally to not be surprised if adversity comes your way

and accepted and embrace it as a part of the process.

So the analogy that comes in my mind for this is like boxing.

So the goal in boxing is to hit and not get hit, right?

But you're setting yourself up for failure if you don't mentally expect at some point

you might get hit.

Okay, we're going to try not to get hit.

We're going to try to avoid adversity as much as possible.

We're going to try to not cause ourselves to have the adversity on purpose because

enough is going to come its way on accident.

When it comes, if you're surprised by it to the point where you're not prepared because

you thought it was going to be a walk in the park, that's when you get knocked out the

worst.

When you get knocked out the worst is when you don't see, when you don't see it coming.

If you got a chance to brace yourself for it, that's when it doesn't hurt as bad.

So I want you to stay braced on the grind that there's going to be an injury.

Okay, we got to respond.

You're right hand person quit on you to said they're going to be with you forever.

Okay, we got to respond.

Girlfriend cheated on me.

Boyfriend cheated on me.

Okay, we got to respond.

We got there's just things that are going to happen along the way that you cannot allow

you to crush you, allow to crush you because there's the book, my Ryan holiday, the obstacle

is the way.

Right?

So so many times people that they avoid or they allow the obstacle to make them to retreat

like something's wrong because there's an obstacle there, but the obstacle is the way.

So you have to train your mind to be stronger than your feelings because at times you're not

going to feel like doing what's necessary when you get hit by the obstacle.

At times you're not going to feel good when you get hit by the obstacle.

People are going to say things.

You know, it man, it's like man, the old school words and things that are so simple proved

to be so true.

I remember the biggest piece of advice I got when I was new on how to make it and I'm waiting

for this guy that had all this experience and I wait all this time and to talk to him

and he said, I just didn't quit.

You just can't quit.

You're going to want to just can't quit.

And now I fast forward time, it almost 18 years in a game and I realize man, that was

one of the biggest and best pieces of advice that I could have gotten that is so true, but

it's not as like grandiose or it's not as complex so people don't appreciate it as

much.

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words, words that never hurt me.

You heard that as a kid, right?

And so you teach your kids that, you know, kids are going to say this, kids are going to say

that.

Well, I got news for you.

Adults are going to say this and adults are going to say that.

And the better you're doing, the more that people are going to talk and the more successful

that you are, the more people that are going to talk and say negative things about you.

And so you got to be able to control your mind and your mind has to be stronger than your

emotions and feelings because life is ups and downs, but your mind is what keeps you

even keel.

And so we got to learn how to control our mind, the most powerful experiences in life when

you look back on them are the times where you made it through adversity.

Like wherever you're sitting right now, wherever you're standing right now, wherever you're

walking right now, wherever you're listening to this right now, look back on things that

were hard to overcome or adversities that you had in your life that you have now overcome.

And even though you may want to reverse it, especially death, you know, it's like, man,

I wish I could take that back.

You can't deny that you're a stronger person today because of that, that you're better

today because of that, that you can help more people that that could only relate to you

because you went through that and made it through that.

It's made you a bigger beast and that's the old, that's another old saying is what don't

kill you.

Makes you stronger.

And so it's not just what don't kill you physically.

A lot of people allow things to kill them mentally.

And so what don't kill you makes you stronger, but it's not just living life physically.

So people think, well, yeah, what don't kill me makes me stronger.

I'm still living so I'm stronger.

Yeah, that is true.

That's part of it.

But it's more so mentally, I think mentally people stop and get killed through adversity

at 30, at 40, at 50, at 20, even though they're not dead physically, they're dead from what

they were chasing or the dreams they had or the vision they had because obstacles arose

and adversity came and it killed them.

And so it stopped them.

And so we can't let things kill us because if you don't and you grow through it and don't

just go through it, it's going to make you stronger.

Champions aren't defined by circumstances.

They're always, they're always defined by how they rose above that circumstance, right?

Look at Rocky, the movie.

They had so many Rockies, they couldn't get enough of Rocky.

They had to have Rocky 42 because people couldn't get enough because it's Rocky.

What happened with Rocky is he could take a beating, take a lick and then keep on ticking,

right?

That's what people love or the underdog or Tom Brady coming back from being down 27 to

nothing or the it's those are champions.

It's very few champions that always lead the whole game.

Never been down.

Never been, never had some obstacles or adversity happen.

And so we got to think differently in order to be great.

And so if you think differently in order to be great, understand that if you're thinking

bigger, you may be thinking only like champions think.

And so champions, how many people are champions out of 100?

You know, you may be thinking like only five people out of 100 think.

You may be thinking like only one person out of 100 think you may be thinking.

And so that means the other 90 people ain't going to feel you.

They ain't going to understand because you're thinking like a champion and they're not.

And so what while I'm thinking like a champion, I'm not thinking that I'm better than somebody

else.

I'm not judging other people.

I'm not looking down on those people, but I'm also not allowing my mind to be polluted

by average thinking when I'm thinking above all of that.

Now I think when you go through obstacles and adversity, your perspective is what is

key.

If you can view adversity as an opportunity to grow and to learn, you're going to get

a lot of growth through every adversity.

It's all about your perspective.

But if your perspective is poor me all the time, you're going to miss the opportunity to

be able to find what in there is a blessing in disguise and what in there is meant to help

you and not hurt you.

But if you're not looking for it, the same thing that was meant to bless you was going to

bury you.

But if you're looking for it, the same thing that was meant to bury you is going to

bless you.

And it's all about your perspective on how you view things.

People always got it worse.

People always got it worse.

So what are you telling yourself now that's poor me through whatever adversity you're

going through where you could think of somebody that has it worse than you?

Because it's not to be cold.

It's to thrive and survive.

So for example, you lost a loved one.

The person was 90 years old, 85 years old.

Are you looking at it or the person's 50 years old and they died too soon?

Are you looking at it as man I was blessed to have 50 years with this person?

Because I got friends of mine that lost their parents in eighth grade, seventh grade, cancer,

lost their mother.

It's going to be a sad day.

People don't live forever on earth.

They can live forever spiritually.

But it's going to be a sad day if my mother pre-deceases me.

One of the biggest fears I got in my life, my mom listens to this.

So she probably hearing this right now, biggest fear in my life.

But what I look at it as man, I'm blessed to have this unbelievable woman in my life for

however long the Lord gave me.

Because I got a good friend of mine that lost his mother in seventh grade due to cancer.

So I could just sit down and pour me, pour me, pour me, pour me.

The way that I look at that perspective, oh man, my grandmother, my grandfather lost

them at 75, lost them at 85, lost them at 90, whatever it is.

Like, oh, pour me.

They did everything for me and I'm going to get down and depressed for the next three

years of my life.

Or how blessed are you, some people never even met their grandparents?

There's some kid right now that lost their grandparents in a war somewhere.

Are you looking at it from that perspective or the pour me perspective?

Then the other piece too it is, I don't know about your grandparents but I could speak

for myself if I'm blessed enough on earth to live long enough to have grandchildren.

I don't want my grandchildren depressed or my kids depressed for a year or a month or

even a day over me going to be with the Lord.

Celebrate it because I know where I'm going.

In the way to honor that person's life, I would want somebody to honor my life by going

out and being more motivated.

I'm going to go out there and go harder because of this.

I'm going to go out there and help more people because of this.

Don't cry for me.

Use it as motivation and honor that person.

Those people that have done so much for you, honor that person by how you're about to

live your life because that person probably doesn't want you to sit there and mope for the

next three months or mope for the next three years.

That ain't what they would want.

The only thing that would bother me more if I couldn't be in my kids' life was not that

I couldn't be there, but that by me not being there, that they allowed it to affect them

negatively and I have to witness this.

So I know for this, I'm talking about death, but that's any freaking adversity.

It's your perspective on how you're viewing it.

All people are talking bad about me.

Right?

There's some people talking bad about me.

There's more people talking bad about President Trump.

Former President Trump.

There's more people talking bad about Joe Biden.

There's more people that we're talking bad about President Obama.

And there's going to be more people talking bad about the next President.

They hated Mother Teresa.

You can find negative things about Mother Teresa.

And so that's my perspective.

And so we got to be relentless and don't let current circumstances dictate your future

success.

Use it as fuel, not as an excuse to give up.

Focus on the things that you can control.

This is a huge one.

What have I learned by going through the fire?

What have I learned by going through adversity?

Is mentally the way to help yourself mentally is to control the controllables and let everything

else give it to God.

Please hear me on this one because I just want to help you, man.

We ain't making no money on the groundcast.

It's cost us money so we can...

you're pouring to you. Please hear me on this one because this is a big one. If you're

going through some adversity right now or some obstacles, ask yourself, what can I control

in this? And do the best you can to control those things. Outside of that, what things

are you trying to control that you can't control? What things are you allowing to stress

you out that you can't control? Like, all right, you got a divorce, you got a share

custody with the mother or the father or whatever. And the other person got the kid, you know,

for the next weekend or whatever it is. And you're all stressed out or whatever about

it's like, all right, is there anything in that that you can control right now? Because

if not, you're giving negative energy to your life, wasted energy to your life. And

it's going to make you a worse parent or worse at your job, which is going to affect

your family over some things that you cannot control. Can't control what this person's

going to say about me. I got to give it to God. Can't control what this person wants

to do to me, but I can give it to God. I don't know what the future holds, but I know who

holds the future. And so things that I can't control, I've just learned to keep tossing

up, keep tossing up the guy because I know he controls that future for us. I'm not perfect.

And I have, I've learned these things that I'm trying to give to you through sleepless

nights, through hard weeks, through hard months, through hard times, through hard things. But

I'm telling you to place a piece, control what you can control, ladies and gentlemen,

don't give the rest of this stuff no energy. Look at all the things that you've already

been through. And remember this too, shall pass. I remember some things that I went through

that were so stressful and so hurtful in my life. And now it's just a memory. Doesn't

cause me an ounce of stress. If, if it, if it isn't going to matter five years from

today, try not to give it more than five minutes of your life. You've already survived the

worst days of your life. Stay committed. Stay focused. That's the worst thing you could

do is cause outside circumstances to get you off your focus. Stay committed. Stay focused.

Remind yourself of what your vision is. Remind yourself of what your why is. And understand

that it's not always to get to that vision, to get to that why isn't going to be all sunshine

or rainbows. If I said, I want to change the world and nobody would vote for me. But let's

say, I'm the president of United States of America. Have we ever had a Venezuela president

of the United States of America? Maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe we think about this

when down the road. All right. We just would need a lot of smart people around me because

I can't, right? Y'all know that I could barely take care of myself over here. But hypothetically

speaking, want to change the world. Great intentions. I want to go serve the country somehow.

We convinced people to vote for me. And I'm, you know, what people are going to try to

kill me, assassinate me. That's why you got to have security and helicopters everywhere

as the president of United States of America. People are going to try to kill you. Imagine

signing up for that job. People are going to all some of the best. Most advanced technology

and people in the world with love to just kill you. And at least 40% of the country is going

to hate you and not like you. If you're Republican, the Democrats are going to hate you.

Democrat, Republicans are going to hate you. 50, 50. Let's say you swung the other man

of Republicans are sitting back looking at the Democrats. Hey, dude, ain't that damn bad

or vice versa. So maybe you got it 60, 40, 60% of people like you 40% of the people

hate you just because of your, which side you're on, what color it is like we're in the

bloods and crypts. What wing you're on? We're an American. That's what wing world. And,

but have the country going to hate you. So you got to remind yourself of the vision and

the why to where you're going. Because if you got big dreams, you got big devils coming.

You got small dreams. You got small devils. So those of you are with the big dreams out

there. You got them big ones coming after you right now. Or if it ain't right now, they're

going to come for you down the road. But don't worry. You've already overcome it. It's

all in your mind. You're in control. Just keep going. Don't quit. Focus on the things

that you can focus on control the things that you can control. Come back, respond from

whatever it is. Lean on the Lord. Keep on pushing. Graduate. Throw your cap in the air.

From the university of adversity and that's something that nobody can give you an honorary

doctorate for. You see, all this one went to Harvard. This one went to Yale. This one

went to this score. This one went to that school. That's all great. But what school did

they go to that's going to prepare them for when the world punches them, smacking their

mouth? Because it's coming. It's coming. I don't care if you graduated from Yale. You're

going to get punched in the mouth by life. Harvard, adversity, blast double through your

chest. That's when we're going to find out who the real champions are. They may have associates

degrees. They may have masters degrees. They may have no college degree. They may have a Harvard

degree. They may have only a high school diploma. They may have a double major master. They may

be a doctor. But the ones that are going to go to the next level and stay at the next level,

trust and belief. They may look clean. You may see them with a suit on and a tie or a dress.

They may look pretty. They may look like they have no scars on them. But trust inside of them,

they got invisible scars. They've been through war. They've been through attack. They've been

through fire. Those are the ones that are great. Those are the ones that have lasted. Those are

the ones that have went to the top. And so it ain't the ones at the top that don't understand. It's

the ones that never been to the top or they're on their way to the top that don't understand

what you got to walk through. And so I just want to encourage you on your journey

that wherever you're at, keep on pushing, keep on going, keep on grinding, control what you can

control one day at a time and realize how blessed we are that the Lord gave me and you another 24

hours. Thank you for spending the last 23, 24 minutes with us, man. You could have spent

that time anywhere. If you think this helped anybody or could help anybody, please share it

with family members, friends so we can impact more people out there. And as always, humble,

grateful that you would join us on another episode of the Grand Cascade. Get ready us a new day.