Perseverance: Embracing The Journey Of Transformation

As I have shared all week on my stories, it's been a mind F oscillating between the excitement of the new and the "oh-wow I can't believe I actually did it, I feel like I might be sick."
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A friend of mine said to me yesterday, "You're brave." And I heard him. Then I thought about it. It's not bravery; it is perseverance. We all know what we want, and often we do begin in its direction, but things come up, and change is hard (trust me). The other side of any goal is not reached by being brave; it is reached by pushing through. Look at the words "breakdown" and "breakthrough." The breakdown is pure chaos. That's when your mind starts spinning because you are holding the old and the new. Suddenly you have who you were in your mind as well as who you are now. This is brainstorming. Your brain goes wild with overload, and as it sorts through the chaos of thoughts and categorizes them all, ultimately making peace and acceptance (AKA "overstanding") of what is happening, it calms. Just as a ship going through a storm, once you break through, the calm is on the other side.
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What happens is most people get to the chaos and say, "Oh well, this can't be it," and turn around, thinking it's going to be some golden path to what they want. I guarantee the grand demonstration of transformation you experience in your lifetime will put you right through hell and bring you back to the light. That is the game of life. Everyone wants to change, but where does the actual change occur? Change comes when you must face challenges and conquer them. As you conquer them, you grow in strength, ability, and self-assurance... You change. As I always say, "Do not pray for an easy life. Ask for the life you want and pray for the strength to make it there.”