The day John hit me in the head with the proverbial 2×4, he took a big risk that he said he had never taken with anyone prior. I was giving him all of the business about all of the crap in the world that happened to me. I told him about how I was great and all but had yet to land the big deal or whatever. I tried to sell him on the fact that my personal breakthrough was just a matter of time. It was just around the corner, and I had just been unlucky up to this point.
He saw right through my fecal façade. He had heard the same BS before from hundreds of people in my shoes. Thank God he did not let me get away with it. His response to my claims was that I was in the situation that I was in due to poor choices. If I continued to make the same choices and do the same things, I would not stay the same, I would get worse. We like to think that if we do the same thing we will continue to get the same result. The world does not really work that way. People who try to tread water for hours on end, tend to get tired and eventually drown. I thought if I continued down the same path, my ship would eventually come in and I would finally appear to be the hero that I thought myself to be.
John was caring enough to hit me with a hard truth. You are where you are because of your choices. And you make the choices that you do, because you are afraid of being told no. Your biggest fear is rejection, and until you make a choice to act differently, your life will become even more bleak than it is now. Ouch!! This conversation was the catalyst for me to Jump Afraid.