You Won the Lottery

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. 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's 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. You know, I was driving to work this morning, and I was thinking about something. You know, I'm 41 years old.

And for a good part of my life, I have to say from, like, my teens all the way up to my mid twenties, I had this thought in my head that I think is really common around the veteran community. And that was that I didn't expect to live past age 25. Well, maybe a better word is I didn't plan to live past the age of twenty five. So, you know, what that means is that when I joined the Marine Corps, I had this thing in my head that I was gonna be a marine, and I was gonna serve, and that there was a good possibility that I would not be here to see my late twenties, my thirties, my forties. And from speaking to a lot of veterans, I know that's a common thought.

I know that's a common thing that a lot of us get into our heads. And, you know, part of it is is cool because while we're in, we're living in the day. Right? We're focusing on the mission. We're focusing on the job.

Right? But the other part of it is a lot of us just don't plan for our late twenties, our thirties, and our forties. Right? We don't think about that next part of our lives. Right?

And we never had any dreams about it. We never had a vision about it. And because we didn't have a vision about it, we didn't create goals. And because we didn't create goals, we didn't work to get to where we need to be at this stage in life. And I think it's a big reason why a lot of us have issues when we end up getting out because we frankly don't have a vision for our civilian lives.

We don't have a vision for how we wanna live, who we wanna be, what we wanna do, what we wanna accomplish, what impact we wanna have here on this earth beyond that contract we all signed. And it's a problem. It's a problem. It's something that I think also leads to depression. It's something that I think leads a lot of veterans to believe they have a lack of purpose in life once they get out.

And, you know, judging by the suicide rates and and all the other issues that we faced as a community, I think it's something that that needs to be addressed. And one of the things that I was thinking about on my way to work this morning is that maybe part of the issue is the mindset. Right? A lot of us, as we get into our older years, we have a lot of regret. Maybe you didn't live up to your full potential when you were in the military.

Maybe you feel like you didn't live up to your full potential. Maybe you didn't get everything out of your service that you wanted. Maybe you lost people. Maybe you feel like you being here is, you know, maybe you feel like you don't deserve to be here. Right?

That's that's a a a a big form of guilt that a lot of people in this community have. Maybe you feel like, you know, because you're here and and your friends aren't, you know, you're cursed in some way. And that's a a thought that came in my head. I used to tell myself, I had this story in my head that I was cursed. I was supposed to die, and I didn't.

And so now I'm cursed to live this life, this life of non purpose, this life of non meaning, and and all these different bullshit stories I was telling myself in my head because that's what it is. It's all bullshit. It's all freaking bullshit. A lot of us have created this reality where we don't have purpose. We've created this reality where we don't have meaning in our lives.

And the truth is that you can still create that meaning. You'd still create that purpose. You could still cast that vision for how you wanna live if you could think big enough. And I think it starts with a change in the mindset. So rather than thinking, you know, you're cursed in some way or or thinking or regretting the fact that you failed to plan, what I think you gotta start looking at it as is as if as if you won the lottery.

Right? As if you won the lottery. You're blessed with life. You're blessed with another thirty, forty, fifty, sixty years of life that you get to experience other things, that you get to have greater impact on in other areas, that that you get to have an impact on your loved ones, your families, your communities. You get to have an impact on maybe people you never met before or maybe people you'll come to meet.

Right? You get to experience amazing things. Maybe once this COVID COVID thing lets up, you'll still be able to travel. Right? Or you'll be able to travel again.

You'll be able to see amazing things. Maybe you could go on into business, create an amazing product, or create an amazing message, and help people in that way, and to have an impact on that way, and help the country that way, because God knows we need it. Right? We need more leaders like those who are in this community out there speaking to the masses. Right?

Maybe you've been blessed, and maybe you've been blessed to be in this time and place of opportunity where there's challenges everywhere on the home front. Right? Maybe you're blessed to to have that. I I hear so many people, I wish I was born in World War two. I wish I was born around World War two then.

Could've had a I I I could've seen some action. I could've could've been in that kind of combat. Right? Hear that all the time. Well, you're born now during the age of COVID nineteen, during an age where our country is facing significant divides.

You're born now in a time where, you know, our country needs leaders, and there's a lot of opportunity out there for you. There's so much. There's a world of opportunity, and you can't forget that. You owe it to yourself, but you also owe it to everybody we lost. We owe it to this country.

We owe it to the people who came before us to to serve this country and to lose their lives for this country. That's what this is all about. That's what America is all about. You go, you serve, you come back, and you enjoy the liberties and the freedoms that that America gives you. And you go out there and you make something out of yourself.

And that's the only way this thing works. It's on us. It's not on anybody else. Nobody's gonna do it for you. Nobody's gonna come along and say, hey.

This is your chance. This is about as much as you're gonna get. So take off those earbuds. Turn off your phone. Get out there.

Figure out what your vision is. Figure out what you wanna do with your life. Create your purpose. Find your purpose. Create that meaning.

Have an impact. And get out there and live your best lives while you can. This is Chris Albert with the Warrior Soul podcast, and I'm out.