As a creator I found that my lust for my passion had faded. It was apparent. It wasn’t because I didn’t still believe that I had something to contribute to the conversation, I just lost my drive. I let it die.

Between running a full-time successful business, being married, having social responsibilities, and all the “normal” stuff I become burnt out. It happens.

The Background

It’s Mother’s Day around the corner. My mom is 92. This could be her last Mother’s Day. Me being the good son, I arranged for my siblings and some of the grandkids and great grandkids to fly out to Florida for the celebration of her lifetime (at least in my mind anyway). It all went as best it could with all the moving parts involved and overall, she really enjoyed it.

Just before the trip I started to notice sharp pains in my stomach. It felt like someone was pinching me, constantly. Just enough to annoy me but not stop me from doing things.

But I knew something was wrong!

Being an ex-Ironman Triathlon Series of Events participant I had lived a pretty much healthy lifestyle, so I was used to pain. Triathlon isn’t about will I experience pain during the training. It’s about how much pain and how do I manage it so I can keep training.

This was different.

One endoscopy later, and they discovered a tumor. One CT scan and a blood test and it was confirmed.

I had cancer.

Everything in the room stops when you hear those words. Everything you know isn’t real anymore.

I remember the doctor was talking, explaining to me what the diagnosis meant but I couldn’t hear him. All I could see was his lips moving and the room was blurry behind him.

Two weeks later and I am in the operating room having my entire stomach removed. It’s June.

In September I started my chemotherapy.

Not my favorite experience. You feel like a test rat. Always being poked and prodded, tested, and analyzed, and the blood tests. After a while you start to look like a drug addict with all the bruises on your veins.

Not to mention the weight loss. I lost fifty pounds. That’s an entirely new subject. A new wardrobe.

Now you may think that I would have every excuse justifiable under the sun to fall into a deep dark nasty hole with no bottom to it. But I didn’t.

Being this close to a life altering experience has given me a new lease on life. I do believe with all my being that I will survive and thrive from this experience. It’s in my DNA as a warrior. But now my passion has been revitalized and reignited.

I have always said that we are not promised anything and everything in life is temporary, including us. Now its larger to me. I feel it’s my passion and calling to remind everyone how important it is not to wait to experience life.

Far too many of us put off things today in hopes of fulfilling their dreams tomorrow, but tomorrow may not ever come. We bury ourselves in our work in hopes of a brighter future because that’s what we are taught by those we revere and respect. But did they do the same thing? Gamble that tomorrow will even come? Roll the dice in hopes of the rainbow at the end?

Way too many people die without ever achieving or accomplishing their dreams, let alone ever have the chance to see it come to life. Will you be one of them?

Here is my suggestion on how to avoid that.

• Don’t wait. If you are thinking about accomplishing something great, and I hope you are, don’t wait for the “perfect” time. The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The second-best time is now.
• Don’t over think it. If it makes sense to you, and it’s your DREAM just jump. There is plenty of time to correct your course as you go. That’s half the fun.
• Don’t surrender to fear. Your friends and possibly loved ones will tell you not to do it only because they don’t want to see you get hurt. But the truth is possibly they are too scared to try themselves and don’t want to see you succeed.
• If something tells you to stop, don’t listen. Far too many people stopped just short of their dream simply because they didn’t believe it was possible. Don’t be one of them.
• Choose to believe in yourself enough. One small dose of belief will carry you to the finish line EVERY time. If you believe you can, or can’t, you are right. Choose to believe you can.

In closing my last thought for you is this. You are here for a reason. We would not be the same without you. You have a specific reason you were born and are here in this place right now.

Don’t waste the opportunity. And just plain don’t wait, for ANYTHING. Jump!

We’re all waiting for you.

Blessings.

Joseph

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In Order to Quench Your Thirst for Life You Must First Drink from The Well of Passion

We all thirst for the bounty of a well-lived life. It’s what drives us. But we cannot achieve a well-lived life without passion. Which is why I say In Order to Quench Your Thirst for Life You Must First Drink from The Well of Passion.

When we think of passion, two different forms come to mind, sex, and a calling. Sex will fade, but a calling will last a lifetime. Passion fuels a calling. Passion gives you the ability to follow your dreams despite the fear, indecision, and procrastination in times of uncertainty.

A passionless life lived is a wasted life. Settling in to the nine to five routine and living it up on the weekends is not a passionate life. Michelangelo once said, “The great tragedy of life is not that people set their sights too high and cannot achieve their goals, but they set their sights too low—and do.”[1]

Your passion is your vision for life. We base it on our core values, strengths, skills, interests, and talents. We can derive our passion from both pain and suffering, which can create a desire for justice in a certain situation or area.

Mother Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu, commonly known as Mother Teresa, knew at age 18 that she had a calling to follow God. During her life she cared for the poorest of poor in India and throughout the world.

Mother Teresa took a vow of poverty and choose to live in the poorest regions in order to help those who needed her. What drove her to become who she was, was her passion for what she felt God called her to do. Her passion drove her to break boundaries previously thought to be impossible.

Passion is a natural human force that will inspire a call to action. It fuels you to make changes for the better. In your life and in others. But we cannot find passion while sitting on a couch. We find passion outside of your comfort zone.

We discover our passion by taking risks and choosing a purposeful action in the hopes of a positive result.
We realize our passion by making mistakes, mistakes that create the “Ah Ha” moment born from experience and fostered out of endurance.

Passion creates clarity in life knowing that you are living your best life with no fear or anxiety. Not that you won’t be afraid or anxious. It’s your passion and you’re knowing your life’s purpose that brings clarity to life and self-confidence to your life.

Clarity is having the sink or swim feeling in your stomach and choosing to swim.  

Passion is a life skill that we must be proactively pursue. You must confront anything that blocks it or stands in the way of you achieving it. Resisting the thought of quitting makes life more satisfying.

“The fish don’t come to the boat. The fisherman must go to the fish. “

―Joseph Binning

So how do we discover our passions so we can live our best lives? Here are a few suggestions:

• Start a passion journal. Write down what excites you. Anything that you can’t stop thinking about. Things that automatically make you smile when they come to mind. Don’t think, just write.
• Ask your friends, with no expectations, what you are good at. It will surprise you at what you will hear. Write it down.
• Ask yourself what you are good at, what drives you and does not seem like work. Write it down again, don’t think, just wright.
• Ask yourself what makes you feel good, both about yourself and life. Doing what you Love will never seem like work. Especially when you are working hard. Write it down.
• Ask yourself the question “if I could have any job in the world that I Love doing without the risk of failing at it, what would it be,”? Chances are that’s what you should be doing. Write down the answers.
• Make a list of small steps that will lead you into action and review it daily. Watching one less television show is a good start. The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. Not a gigantic leap, one small step followed by another and another and another.
• Do an assessment of who you associate with. Are they asleep or are they actively working towards their passion in life? Show me your friends and I will show you who you will be in five years. Like attracts like.

Your passion will define you. You will become so intertwined in it you won’t be able to tell where it starts, and you end or vice versa. you will eat, sleep, drink, and breathe your passion and life will never be the same.

You might also like this:  DON’T WAIT TO FIND OUT YOU ARE DYING BEFORE YOU START LIVING

And this one: WHAT I LEARNED FROM BEING STUCK AND FROZEN

If you have enjoyed this article, please visit me at www.JosephBinning.com for more helpful tips and articles.

You can also get more helpful information in my book You Matter, even if you don’t think so which you can purchase on Amazon here Amazon You Matter, even if you don’t think so

For my free report Happiness Is A Choice click here: Happiness Is A Choice Free Report

Remember: Happiness is a choice, so be happy.

[1] Michelangelo Quotes/quotefancy.com/accessed 01/19/2021/ https://quotefancy.com/quote/18464/Michelangelo-The-greater-danger-for-most-of-us-lies-not-in-setting-our-aim-too-high-and

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