Belief is Everything: Status Update

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

You know, one of the things I'm always saying is that if this country is gonna get better, if this country is gonna go on the right path, we have to step up as a community. Veterans are the sleeping giant in this country, and it is time for us to step up. That's why I wanna talk to you about The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina. Now you might have thought about The Citadel in the past as this corps of cadets, this military institution, but they have programs for veterans that don't involve you joining the corps of cadets, don't involve you wearing a uniform every day, and don't involve you living a military lifestyle. If you wanna do that, great.

But if that's not what you're up for right now after your military career, then you don't have to do that, and you can access some of the best programs in the world. The Citadel has some hot degrees in intelligence, tactical strength and conditioning, engineering, and project management. And there's five student type options for veterans. There's graduate college, there's evening undergraduate, there's active duty students, non cadet day program, returning cadet veterans, and online programs. The academic offerings include undergraduate, graduate, college transfer, graduate certificates, and online degrees.

Veterans have access to every single academic degree the college offers, and they have the most flexibility when it comes to their schedule. They can major in anything offered to the cadets and would take those classes during the day with the cadets. But then there's other programs offered in the evening or online and graduate programs to choose from too to make things so flexible for you. The US World and News report has named the Citadel the number one column for veterans in the South. And for veterans who choose to take classes on campus, they get to be a civilian student in a military environment.

They don't have to wear uniforms, like I said before. They don't have to join the military culture of the Corps of Cadets. The atmosphere is a really good transition environment from military to civilian life. There's an organic mentorship that comes from taking classes with the cadets. The cadets wanna talk to you guys.

They wanna hear your stories. They wanna know what it was actually like to be in the military. A lot of the... A lot of these men and women are gonna go on to serve as officers in the military, and they're gonna exact change. And they need to hear from you guys.

They... You also get access to The Citadel's alumni network. Like I said, this is one of the most illustrious institutions in the world. And when you join the Citadel and you graduate, you're part of their alumni network. That includes so many leaders.

It includes so many business leaders, so many leaders from the military, and so many leaders from the government. The college's core values of honor, duty, and respect align with veteran culture. They align with who you are, and it's something that you're not gonna get anywhere else in this country. There is tons of special assistance for veterans at The Citadel. And whether you're a veteran or active duty military personnel, you can take advantage of these programs.

You also get access to the veteran student success center, the career center, the academic success center, the student veteran association, and all campus clubs. If you wanna play rugby, you could do that. If you wanna you wanna lift weights, you could do that. You get access to everything that the students get. There's fellowship opportunities.

There's tons and tons of financial assistance. So if you're interested in getting a degree from The Citadel and building your life, head over to citadel.edu/veterans.

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

And we 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.

What is going on, ladies and gentlemen? Welcome to the Warrior Soul podcast. My name is Chris Albert, and this is where we deliver tools, tactics, strategies, and ideas to help The US military veteran community and anybody else willing to listen to live their absolute best lives. Today's episode is gonna be a little bit of an update about where I'm at, where the podcast is at. And I think it's important you guys understand this because, you know, this show has never been about me being some guru or me knowing any more than you guys.

It's always been about me being on the same journey as you. And over the last year, there's been a lot of changes, and there's been a lot of changes in my life, but also a lot of changes in the show. Like, you might have noticed there hasn't been as many interviews going on and that I haven't been bringing a lot of guests on the show. And part of that is because I always love getting back to how this show first started, which is just me with a microphone and a recording device and talking to you guys from the heart. I love that.

That's what turns me on about podcasting. I do love conversating with really interesting people. I do love talking with people who are a lot smarter than I am. But this show has always been about being from the heart, telling you where I'm at, telling you what's in my head. And I always tell people, you know, if you ever wanna find out what I'm truly thinking, listen to the show.

Right? That's people in my personal life who are like, you know, where are you at right now? What are you doing? If you ever wanna know what I'm thinking, listen to this show. Today, I kinda wanna go through the events of last year, what brought me to where I am today because I think it's kind of important it coincides with this larger story going on of COVID nineteen.

And it contains a bunch of lessons, I think, for for you guys that you can take with you. So let's rewind to last year around 01/20/2020. Right? So around that time, I was really trying to figure things out. So I had just been through a really, really bad ulcerative colitis flare up.

I had not been able to really work on my business a whole lot. I was really, really sick. I tried. I was still working, like, fifteen, sixteen hour days trying to figure this whole thing out, but, like, I really didn't have the energy. I'd wake up in the morning, spend, two, three hours in the bathroom.

I would try to get back to my computer. I would try to figure stuff out. You know, in in my my trade, I was a trainer. Right? So I started doing online training, and I was trying to write programs for people.

But, you know, when you're you're deathly ill and you lost 50 pounds and you look like death, it's really hard to sell yourself as a trainer. Right? So I had a couple of clients that stayed on. The rest of my clients had gone, and I did not have much in the way of making money. I was rapidly going through my savings, starting to worry about how I was gonna get rent covered, starting to worry about a whole lot.

And so what happened from there was a friend of mine reached out to me, and he was looking for a fitness plan. And so he'd been like an ice climber. He he, you know, was doing a lot of different things, so he's looking for kind of a specialized nutrition plan, and I put one together for him. And he got back to me. He's like, hey.

That's awesome. Great plan. What are you doing? And I kinda was upfront with him, told him the truth. I was like, you know, life hasn't been great to me.

I've been really, really sick, kind of, you know, in the dumps right now. And normally, wouldn't do that, but for some reason, I told him. And he came back to me like a day or two later and he said, hey, listen, I've got a part time position open with my company. You know, do you wanna come on and do some part time sales? Right?

This is a anchor manufacturing company. So came on and started working with them and, you know, really liked the business, started doing well with it. And, you know, over a month or two, things things went really well. And he came back to me, you know, a few weeks later, and he said, hey. Listen.

Do you wanna come on full time? And, you know, at the time, I was like, I was still like, man, I wanted to make this business happen. I wanna make... I was still treating this podcast like a business. And I was still, you know, kind of in that mindset, but I said, you know what?

I don't have much else choice right now. So I came on full time, did really well. You know, sales went up, things like that. And, you know, eventually, he came to me and and COVID nineteen was starting to happen, and he said, hey. Listen.

You know, California looks like it's it's gonna get pretty bad right now. So do you want to move out to Florida? And, you know, my, my lady, she's from California. She never left California. I didn't know if that would fly with her, but I said, hey.

Let me check with her. And so I checked with her, and she said, yes. And then from there, we started the process of of moving out here. I became director of marketing for this company. We drove across country in July and then, you know, ended up coming out here, staying in Airbnbs.

I took up the position. And, you know, one thing led to another, and, you know, I... The the business continued to do really well. And, you know, today, I am here, and I am running the company. You know?

And it's it's it's a crazy, crazy story. Right? Things are good now for me. In that time, I bought a house, the VA loan. I am looking at buying a second house, put money into savings.

I've gotten myself out of all my credit card debt. I have a great job, and I'm still continuing to do this podcast. And what I had to do in my head was was there was a couple of things that were were coming down on me that that I had to change. The... And the first one was this.

You know, I believed that I was trapped. I believed back a year ago that I was trapped, and I believed that there was no way I was gonna get out of it. And I was starting to make plans. I wasn't like... And and I'm being really upfront and honest with you guys right now.

I wasn't like suicidal. I've I've never been suicidal. But I was so sick that I was starting to plan my death. And I was starting to to try to get things into a position where if I went, you know, things were were not gonna be too disruptive for people. You know, my disease, I got on this medication on January first of last year, Remicade, and it...

It's done so much for me in terms of putting me into remission that I feel much healthier now. I put on 30 pounds, and and my mind is okay. But at that point, I was so, like, down and out and felt trapped that I was I was basically just planning to give up and planning to, you know, kind of die. And again, that's not suicide. That's not anything like that.

It was just planning to die. And, well, I guess, at the end of the day, they can become... They can be the same thing in a way if you give up. But... So what...

I guess what I'm trying to say here is this. A year later, things are remarkably different. My life is so much better, and I've been in this position before. You know, I... As you guys know the story, you know, seven years ago, was living out of my car, and I hit rock bottom and and quickly turned it around and and, you know, built a business that was...

That got me out of my my rut. And, you know, this second time hitting rock bottom it seemed a lot harder, it seemed a lot more deadly, but I still knew what I needed to do. I needed to change my base beliefs about what was possible. Right? I needed to change my base beliefs about what was possible.

And I had to get my mind from, you know, hey, you're pathetic and you are never gonna be anything to a realm where, hey, if you just try this one thing, if you just give this one thing a chance, you have a chance to turn it all around. And I know a lot of you out there, you're in that position where you feel like you don't have anything, and you feel like there's no possibility in front of you. And the thing is this, there's one thing that you're not doing right now that you need to do that'll turn it all around. Maybe it's reaching out to help... For help from somebody.

Right? Maybe it's actually talking with somebody and explaining what you're going through. Maybe it's, you know, changing your job, or maybe it's it's finding a new job. Maybe it's moving to a new place. Maybe it's getting the right people in your life.

But there's one thing in your life that's holding you down that if you change it, it'll it'll change everything else. It'll change your mindset. And the mindset is the real thing. Right? When you're in a position where you don't believe that you have any way out, you're not gonna have a way out.

Right? It's just as simple as that. The belief is everything. Belief forms reality. Right?

And you need to change those beliefs. Right? We we all have a choice in changing our beliefs about what's possible. You need to change those, and it is very possible for you to change your belief systems if you tell yourself the right information or you learn the right information. So, you know, I'm not the best at explaining these things.

I'm I'm kinda trying to give you this from my experience, but I want you guys to all know and understand that at the end of the day, if you're trapped, you're not really trapped. There there there is one thing you can change that will change everything else. You know, with the show, what I'm trying to do here is I'm trying to keep this alive because, obviously, things have changed as far as my life's obligations. Right? So I don't get to go work out at at noon anymore, right, which is something I did back when I was running my business, you know, and then come back and work the rest of the day.

I've gotta I've gotta go training, you know, at night, and and I've been doing that. And with this podcast, I don't get to record whenever I want to anymore. Right? I have to record in the early morning before work starts. Right?

I'm recording right now at 05:30AM. So what... But but but I still have that dream alive. Right? I still believe that this is one of the most important things I do.

I still believe that this podcast is a huge factor in who I am. It's a big factor in my identity, and it's a big factor of of what I'm doing with my life here. And because of that, I've made it important, and I continue to do it despite everything else I got going on right now, where now I'm in a position where I have, you know, 20 somewhat employees, I've got a factory that depends on me, I've got, you know, a lot of different things going on. So just some different things from from my story that you could take with you. Again, I don't know where you're at or what you're doing.

I can't give you some cookie cutter advice that's gonna apply to every one of you. But I can say is that belief is everything. Believing what's possible is everything. And that one thing that if you find it and you change it and you turn it around, it'll turn everything around. So that's what I got for today, guys.

I'll talk to you guys soon. I'll be back at you later on this week with some more content. This is Chris Albert with the Warrior Soul podcast, and I am out.