Man, it is such a unique time to be alive. It really is. There is just so much that is happening in the world, and so many people find themselves fighting something. We're fighting ourselves, we're fighting with other people. We're fighting a lot of things. We just find ourselves constantly in a fight. And I've used this analogy before, but you know, it really in a lot of ways does feel a lot like things changed for so many people with covid, with 2020, with isolation, with fear, with a whole bunch of stuff going on in our world that just has a lot of people tense and on edge.
I dunno about you, but I am a very jumpy person. Like, if you ever go watch a movie with me, and there's a scene that comes on and if something makes you jump or it's scary, or there's a loud noise, I'm very jumpy as a person. And I think there's a lot of people today that are very jumpy and, and very on edge and, it's challenging. It's a challenging time to be alive. And if there's one thing that I truly have dedicated a lot of this next half of my life to, it's being happy and helping other people to be the same. And I fully understand and know that happiness changes with time. What you want changes with time, and who you are can change with time. And that's certainly been the case with me. And I truly believe that the vast majority of people in the world today, if they really had to sit down and ask themselves, are you happy? There would not be an emphatic yes. If somebody asks you, are you happy? And the answer isn't hell yes, then you're probably not happy, at least in the sense of what life is supposed to be, because it truly is such a unique gift, right? The ability to be alive doesn't mean that we don't have tension. That doesn't mean that we don't have challenges and difficulties. If there's one thing that I know, and this might be the most anti-motivational thing you're ever gonna hear today, it's that none of us hearing this, and I mean none of us make it out of this alive. None of us. And you could feel incredibly defeated by that or incredibly encouraged to say, this is the one chance I have and I'm gonna do what I want to do and be who I want to be in order to live the most out of this life.
And I think one of the real reasons for this, and social media is a big culprit of this, is that people have been tense and challenged and carrying weight that they weren't supposed to and dealing with conflict ever since people have been people. And you know, social media just accelerates things. But I think if there's one thing that's true, it's that most people if they truly admit it, aren't happy, they're not truly enjoying life. I think the real common thing that most people have in common when they really break it down if you were to honestly assess that question, "am I happy right now?" in general, right? I'm sure that there's every, there's something that all of us could point to in our life that we wish that was better. "I wish I made more money". "I wish my relationship was different". "I wish I lived somewhere different". And so on.
I'm sure there's something that you could point to that would make life better. And let me just say, I know that money isn't always the answer, but I could pretty much guarantee that more money would make whatever you are dealing with easier. It doesn't make it go away. It just makes it easier. Financial challenge, just make things a lot more difficult to navigate. So that's one of the reasons I really try to live my life and help a lot of my clients and help a lot of people figure out ways to increase their income. I've learned in my life that, going through challenges is hard, but going through challenges when you're broke is really, really freaking hard. If you feel a sense of unhappiness in your direction of life, not if there's one thing you wish was better, but you just overall in general are not happy. I think there's a really simple reason why that is. And this is a lot why I am the way that I am. I think one thing that maybe has been apparent in how I come across and what I say is that I'm authentically who I am and I'm living that out and I'm on a journey and on a path to figuring out what that is. One of the main reasons why most people are not happy is they put way too much stock in how other people perceive their life to be. And they don't put enough stock in how much they value themselves. If you don't put enough value in yourself, you are constantly going to be seeking validation from something or someone else in order to give you that. It could be a belief system. It could be another person. Whatever it might be. We have told ourselves, if I had that, then I would be enough.
This has been one of the biggest challenges with even faith. And this is gonna rub some of you the wrong way. And I don't care because I know that for some people, this has been an incredibly helpful thing and for some, it's been an incredibly disruptive thing. But this concept that you were born not enough, that you were born not good enough, that you're never gonna be enough, that there was always going to be lack, always going to be shortcoming. And then it just kind of teaches this culture of shame. It teaches this culture of guilt. It teaches this idea of putting self last all the time. And it's really hard to love something you put last every single time. A lot of people have been taught just to kind of put yourself last. Self, last self, last, self last. And that is incredibly harmful.
So I think one of the biggest keys to us really being who we want to be and loving what we are, is accepting that not everybody is going to love that about you. That everybody is going to have an opinion about what you do. Because like it or not, we constantly are seeking the validation of others by putting ourself in this position of thinking that we are the authority, we are the right solution, we are the right answer to things. And someone else agreeing with that gives me more validation that I am right now, here's the thing, right? You know what I could be? I could be full of shit. Did you know that? I could be wrong?I don't consider myself the foremost authority on anything. I consider myself the foremost authority on one thing in this world. And that is what on what makes me happy. I don't consider myself the foremost authority on what truth is. I don't consider myself the foremost authority on the best way to lose weight, on the best way, to add muscle, on the best way to eat, on the best sports teams to root for. I don't consider myself the foremost authority on anything other than what makes Corey happy. Nobody else can answer that question. There's nobody on this planet that can answer that question for me, but me. So I have a responsibility to move forward in my life and to do the things that make me happy. Now is there trust involved with that? Is part of my life sacrifice? Is part of my life giving? Of course it is!
But I am going to specialize in the only thing that I truly believe that I can specialize in. Knowing myself, knowing my motivations, knowing what makes me happy, pursuing that, becoming that, and not letting anybody get into a place of, of them trying to convince me that what I'm doing doesn't make me happy. That what I am doing doesn't make me feel fulfilled. So this isn't about me. It's, it's really about you because I share this with people that find themselves maybe in this situation of conflict in your life, conflict in what you do. Just tension this feeling of uneasiness, of saying, listen, I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing, but I just know that something's off, something's not right. And the first thing that you gotta do is figure that out. "What makes me happy?" What is it? "What is it out there that makes me happy?" And this is what I know. There's, there's two different motivations. I'm either running away from something or I'm chasing something. That's how I usually know when I'm pursuing something for the right reason. Because I'm not running away from something because I'm afraid of it. I'm running towards something because I desire it. And what I desire is a life free of guilt and shame and judgment from other people in terms of the way that I should or should not live. And I'm chasing that. I'm chasing authenticity. I'm chasing genuine happiness. And that's what I'm chasing. I'm not running away from a system. I'm not running away from a belief structure. I am running towards an authentic life of happiness for myself. Fully understanding that not everybody celebrates that. Not everybody wants that, but that's okay. You are not the expert on what makes me happy. I am. So I think that's the first thing to understand is stop letting other people pretend to be the expert and know what makes you happy. Nobody does. Nobody does. Nobody can be 100% sure about what it is that's real and true about things that are unknowable. You can have faith, you can have opinions, but that's what it is. And that's fine. It is what it is. But I know for a rock bottom fact that nobody on this planet is the expert of what makes Corey happy, other than Corey.
So, I want to help you. I know that from being one of the best things that has helped me in this process is having people in my life to help me and give me permission to give myself permission to pursue what that looks like for me. Because even though we don't need it, having approval, having people or having allies to give you some validation, even though I know we shouldn't need it, we do, to give you some validation and encouragement that yes, I am okay and yes, I can pursue the things in life that make me happy. And yes, I can get unstuck. I know that there's a lot of people that right now feel like they're stuck, right? And you know what the great thing is about this? You can be reading this and think "that dude's full of shit". And maybe I am. But I think to some people I'm not. And I think to some people, they feel that somebody has put voice to an internal frustration that they've long felt, but did not know how to communicate.
I've got several things I can help you with. I have a free book. It's called Learning to Laugh. I don't think we laugh enough. I think people take things way too serious. I think people take themselves way too serious. You can go to my website, thecoreybaker.com and sign up from my mailing list and I'll send it to you automatically, for free. I've got work with me options. I've got personal coaching options. I've got coaching in health and wellness options. I've got opportunities that I have to be a part of your life and to be that cheerleader, that person that encourages you to figure out what it is that makes you happy and then walks alongside you as you pursue whatever that is that you want to go after. So anyway, that's it for today. Hope you enjoyed reading this. I enjoyed writing it. And, until next time, see ya!
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