Merry Christmas from the Warrior Soul Podcast

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 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 everybody? Welcome to what's going to be a very short but very important, I think Christmas episode of the Warrior Soul Podcast. Today, I want to talk to you obviously about the Christmas season. This holiday, I want to wish you a Merry Christmas. But above all, what I want to talk to you about is life.

You see, running this podcast, I run into a lot of people from different walks of life, because it's what our military is. Right? People come from all walks of life. We've got rich serving, we've got poor serving, we've got people of all races, cultures, serving in our military. And that's part of what makes the military great.

And within the veteran community, we've got a lot of different perspectives. We've got some veterans out there who've gone on to do amazing things. And then we've got other veterans out there who are struggling, who are dealing with their own demons. And obviously, I also have people from outside of the veteran community listening. And likewise, we get a lot of those who are either excelling in life or struggling, trying to find their way.

A few weeks ago, I ran into somebody who was dealing with his own demons. And he asked me because he knows that I'm a religious person, he knows that I'm a practicing Christian, he knows that I am a believer. And he asked me, well, looking out at the world, seeing all the bad in the world, seeing all the weakness in the world, seeing all the evil in the world, How could you believe in a God that would create all that? A God that would create poverty, a God that would create people who could commit murder, a God who could put people through so much suffering. And why in the world would you want to celebrate something like Christmas?

And I think unfortunately, there's a lot of people who are thinking that way these days. You know, when you look out there at the news media, or you look out there at social media, or you look out there at the way people are interacting with each other, I mean, you don't see things like peace on earth and goodwill toward men. And a lot of people don't think they have a reason to want to practice things like that. A lot of people don't think they have a reason to to believe in a God that would create something like that. And, you know, I can say this, I am by no means the wisest man in the world.

There's a lot I don't know. There's so much I don't know. But I've lived some life. You know, I'm 40 years old, which isn't too old. But I've been through a bunch of different things.

I've had that same negative mentality at different points in my life. I've suffered from chronic disease, as you guys have seen from my journey with ulcerative colitis. I've suffered from depression. I've lived as a very poor man, and I've lived as a very well off man. And what I can tell you is this.

What I found is that the reason why you need to hold yourself to a higher standard, The reason why you need to hold on to ideals, whether that be your religion or whether that be your internal belief or your code. The reason why we need to hold things like Christmas dear to us is because the world is an imperfect place. Right? The world is an imperfect place. And when you look out at the world and you look at things like poverty, and when you look at things like murder, and when you look at things like evil, the reason why they exist is not because of some unseen force, it's not because of some supernatural thing, it's because of us.

Because we as human beings, we have the capability to be evil. We have the capability to be lethargic. We have the capability to be slothful. Right? And I'm not coming at you with a fire and brimstone service.

I'm not telling you anything you don't know. Right? You know that human beings are highly imperfect. So it's incumbent on us, particularly those of us who come from that warrior class, those of us who served, who know beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is evil in this world. It's incumbent upon us to hold ourselves to a higher standard, to bring our values to the way we live.

And in times like the Christmas and holiday season, to hold our families close, to express the desires for goodwill toward everybody, and peace on earth, and to bring those ideals front and center for a little while. Why? Well, because it's so easy to forget. It's so easy to forget. And it's like I always say, if you want to go out there and you want to find evil in this world, it's not that hard.

It's not that difficult. If you want to find conflict in this world, it's not that difficult, especially in today's day and age. But it takes a little bit more. A little bit more to say, I'm not gonna be a contributor to the horrible environment out there. Takes a little more to say, I'm not gonna contribute to the hate.

It takes a little more to say, I'm not going to make this world a worse off place. And it takes a whole lot more to say, I'm gonna do everything I can to make this world a better place. And so my message to you, during this holiday, whether you are celebrating Christmas, whether you're celebrating another holiday, or whether you aren't celebrating anything at all, is that my prayer for you is that you are able to find some sort of meaning in your life. Some sort of ability to dedicate yourself to a cause greater than you, or to a person other than yourself. And that's something I learned from a book that I'm constantly mentioning these days because it's had such an influence on me.

But it's Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl, survivor three years in a Nazi concentration camp. And I hope that every single one of you gets a chance to read that book and to find your own meaning in this life. Because here's the thing the other thing that I've discovered. If you can have success in this world, right, you can have all the riches in this world, But if you don't have meaning attached to that success, don't have meaning attached to those riches, then you can still be empty. You can still be depressed.

You can still feel like you're alone in this world. I've also discovered that, you know, we put ourselves in position to where we're not truly living. Right? We're not truly present in our lives. We're constantly wishing we were somewhere else.

And I'll leave you with this. You know, you might think that this world is a horrible place. You might think that society is going downhill. But take a good reading of history. Take a look at what the world was before.

And you'll find that we live better than kings and queens did even 150 ago, most of us do. And of course, because of that, there is a disparity in this world. There is a certain percentage of people out there who are still suffering, who still don't have running water running sewage, who are still dealing with combat zones outside of their back doors. And for us to sit here on our high thrones and think of this life and this world as as being horrible, then that's just the epitome of ingratitude. Alright?

It's the epitome of ingratitude. When you think about the fact that of all the billions of people who've ever existed on this planet, we get to live here and now. We get to carry around technology in our pocket that is more advanced than what it took to put a man on the moon, that we don't have to walk for just to get a snack, right? I go to my refrigerator right now and pull something out. The fact that we get to do that, well, we're lucky.

We're really lucky to be here. And I hope you realize that. Because if you're listening to this podcast right now, on a phone that has more technology than it took to put a man on the moon, you're who I'm talking about. And so, remember that. Remember there's people in this world who are suffering more than you.

And remember that it's only through other human beings and their actions that we're going to be able to reduce their suffering. Remember that there are people out there who don't have friends, who don't have family, who are suffering right now. And it's only through a smile, a phone call, a gesture of goodwill, that those people are going to be put in better spirits. And if you're one of those people, who's spending this holiday alone, who doesn't have friends or family around you, remember that you have a future. Remember that this life is something that you can change.

Your trajectory, where you're going, and the way you can change it is by taking the focus off off of yourself, dedicating yourself to a purpose higher than yourself, and then working for that purpose and finding meaning there. And as with anything, I know this stuff is hard. It's difficult. There's probably a good percentage of you that this stuff is going right over your heads. But it's the most important thing in the world.

It truly is. So I'm always here to talk. If you want to start up a conversation, send me a message. That's why I'm here. And I hope that this community, this podcast, this tribe has helped you to find your way, and I hope that we continue to do so.

So with that, I want to wish you a Merry Christmas. I don't have any announcements today. And I'll be talking to you again really soon. Thank you so much for listening. Have a happy holiday.

Take care.