Change Starts With You

“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself” - Leo Tolstoy

For four long years I dreamed about it, I talked about it, I longed for it. I told myself, "Just hold on, it won't be long - 18 will be here soon. Then you will graduate from high school, move out of home school, and go to college. Once you go to university you don't have to go back

home.” I guess I was lucky because my wish came true two years before my 18th birthday. There was only one problem; I left home with nowhere to go. What a celebration of my independence it should have been turned out to be a nightmare. How could I have been so stupid?

 I literally slammed the door and walked out of a four-bedroom, two and a half bath, fully furnished, stocked refrigerator, 2,700 square foot home, and ran through the horrible emptiness of sleepless nights, begging for food, and eating from garbage. Wisdom calls for one to compare what he is giving up with what he is gaining. In my case, I gained absolutely nothing.Mabda'a Principle

 1: Don't make it a habit to choose what's good for you over what's really good for you.

When I stormed out of the house that day my father looked me in my face and said, “Eric, you better think about what you're about to do because if you walk out of this house right now, if you walk out of that door, you're telling me you're a big man. So let me be clear, if you go out, you will

never come back to this house. Do I make myself clear?” I was so fed up with him and the way he treated me without even touching his face. I'll be the first to admit that when things don't go my way

I reacted out of anger and emotion. Because of that I landed myself in an awful situation. Let's do an exercise. If I told you I would pay you 10 million dollars to jump out of a Boeing 757 aircraft with no parachute, what would you say?

If you answered no, I am not mad at you. I would have given the same answers once. "Although I could really use $10 million right now,

it does me no good if I’m dead.” But for those of you who answered no, you would be very disappointed

when you found out that the aircraft was not 30,000 feet above sea level. That's right, the monstrous machine never leaves the ground, the jump will be about 6 feet. Consider all the factors before making a decision, ask a lot of questions about the situation. I learned over the years that

the higher the level of emotion, the lower the level of reasoning. For example, if your emotions are at the

highest level of 10, your ability to reason is at a 0. If it’s a 9 then your reasoning is a 1. I am not suggesting that emotions don’t have their place, but taking actions based purely on emotions is dangerous and could cost you everything