Be Present: Stop Wishing You Were Somewhere Else

Chris Albert 00:00:00 (link to this point)

This is Chris Albert, and I'm here to remind you of one thing. Someday, you're going to die. Now that's not some morbid statement or scary idea. It's solid fact. Your time here on this earth is limited.

And you need to be reminded of this as much as possible for one simple reason, to live your best life while you can. This is the Warrior Soul Podcast.

You know, when I think back to my days in the United States Marine Corps, I look back and I think of a time when I was young. I think of a time when I had a lot going on for me. I had a leadership position. I had friends. I had a mission.

And thinking back on that time, everything seems like it was good. But then when I think harder about it, I remember what my thoughts were at the time. I remember feeling like I didn't want to be there. I remember feeling like everything I was doing seemed really dumb. And I remember just wishing that I could be somewhere else.

What I want to talk about today is this idea that so many of us go through our day to day lives not present in what we're doing. We go through wishing that we were somewhere else, daydreaming, thinking that if we can only wish harder, that new time, that new place, that'll come a little bit quicker. It's a big mistake in my opinion, and I'm gonna talk about it. First, I wanna tell you a little bit about who I am and what we do here. My name is Chris Albert, and this is the Warrior Soul podcast if you haven't been here before.

The reason why I do this podcast is because over the past decade and a half in our situation where we've been at war on two fronts, there have been extremely high rates of suicide. There's been extremely high rates of veteran homelessness, and there's been extremely high rates of chronic disease. And while there's been a lot of people out there talking about the situation, well, there hasn't been a lot of action done. And the point of this podcast is not to raise awareness. It's not to talk about veteran suicide or any of these problems.

It's to deliver solutions. And each week, you'll find interviews with awesome people who have amazing stories, who will inspire and advise you on living your best life. On Wednesdays, we publish our fitness notes, and these are episodes that cover the do's and don'ts of living a healthy lifestyle. And then on Friday, we publish Warrior Notes, and that's what this episode is. Warrior Notes are episodes that go through mental, mindset, and strength tips.

And if you're not a veteran, stick around. Everything we go through here can apply to anyone. We just focus on the veteran community because that's where I come from, and that's where we've been experiencing a lot of these issues and these problems. Before we get into the conversation, I just wanna mention quickly that this podcast would not be possible without our good friends at f bomb nutrition. They make awesome, delicious packets of fats.

I'm a huge fan of their macadamia nut butters. They mix them up with chocolate, with sea salt, with pecan butter, with coconut butter. They're so good, and there's no sugar in them. And they're a great company. They've been sending boxes of this stuff overseas to the troops on the front lines so that they can supplement their MREs with a healthy and nutritious snack.

If you're looking to try these amazing macadamia nut butters, you can head over to www.dropanfbomb.com and use the code Warrior Soul at checkout. Now let's get into this. This idea that so many of us go through our day to day lives not present in our current situation, not being right there, right now, so that we can learn the lessons that life has to offer. Right? And that's the major problem.

You know, so many of us, when we go through hard or difficult times, we try to put our mind somewhere else. Sometimes sometimes that's a good thing. You know, if you're doing a really hard workout, if you're experiencing physical pain, if you are, you know, going on a really hard run, or if you're going through a really hard training session, sometimes it's good to to try to put your mind somewhere else to leave your body for a second. Right? But the problem is that when we do this in life, when we put our minds somewhere else, we don't focus on the situation at hand.

We don't focus on the problem we're currently facing. We're mentally running away from it. We're mentally trying to get out of the situation by putting it off. And that's a really, really big mistake. Why is it a big mistake?

Because regardless of what you're going through right now in life, there's a lesson to be learned. There is an opportunity for you to grow, an opportunity for you to get better, an opportunity for you to take advantage of that situation, learn new skills, learn new mindsets, learn new things that could help you down the line in life. And here's the other part of it. Years later, after looking back at those pictures, in my photo album, in my phone, on my Facebook, looking back at a time when I was young, when I had so much opportunity, when I was part of an organization that meant something to me. I cherish those pictures so much, because I wish I was back there in that moment.

I wish I was back there in that situation. I wish I was back there in that position, where I could have done so much to put myself into a better place now. And I could have done so much more to serve. The problem is that hindsight is always twenty twenty. You know, when you have perspective, you're able to look at your situation, and you're able to see all the opportunities that you had.

But in the moment, it's really hard to do that. Why is it hard for us to do that? It's because of something I talked about last week, and that is that most of us are stuck in the to me mindset. We're stuck in a mental position where we think that the world is happening to us. Everything bad in the world happens to us.

When something goes wrong, it's happening to us. That's a huge problem. Because when you think of something as happening to you, you're giving up control in the situation. Instead, if you start to see the world it's happening for you. Right?

It's it's all these bad things happening for you so that you can learn lessons. All these these obstacles getting in your way for you, so that you gain the opportunity to grow, so that you gain the opportunity to learn those new skills, so that you gain the opportunity to be become stronger, then you start to see the world as a set of opportunities. So this is gonna be a really quick one, guys. But but what I want you to do, you're going through a rough time right now. You're going through a rough situation.

Every time you face that situation and you're trying to put your mind somewhere else, take a deep breath. Bring yourself back to the present, and make yourself understand that right here, right now, in this moment, this is your opportunity to do something. This is your opportunity to find a solution. This is your opportunity to make your life better. And I promise you, if you do that, if you train your mind to start to see the world as if it's happening for you, all those obstacles you're going to face in your life, and trust me, you are going to face many if you're trying to do big things, and you're trying to grow.

All the times that you face those obstacles, you're gonna grow every single time. And with everything you overcome, you're gonna get better, you're gonna get stronger, and you are going to be in a position to live your best life. That's what this is all about, guys. This is about living your best life. We have to stop being in the survival mindset.

We have to stop putting ourselves in the position where we're just plotting along in life. We need to start thriving. And in order to start thriving, we all need to grow. We all need to get better. And that's all I got for this week, guys.

This is a real quick one. Let me know your thoughts. Let me know what you think about this. Are you stuck in a to me mindset? Are you starting to see the world for the lessons and and the opportunities that it has for you to grow?

Are you getting to the point where you could start to see the world in a for me mindset? Let me know. I want to hear from you. If you guys are looking to communicate, you can head over to our Facebook group, our private Facebook group over at the Warrior Soul Fitness Academy, and there is nothing you have to buy to join or anything like that. You can just join.

I just really want to hear from you guys. I want to communicate communicate with you guys and want to help you along in this journey we call life. I'll be back at you next week with another awesome interview. We got sergeant major Max Garcia coming on to the podcast on Monday. And then the week after, we got Dave Bray USA coming on.

So talking to you guys soon. More great things coming up.