Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 169 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom.

5 Trails to Hike to Get Over Yourself #1

Thank you for joining us for our 7 days a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 169 of our Trek, and yesterday we explored verses 15-23 of Proverbs Chapter 5. Today we are heading back out to the trails as we look for the 5 trails to getting over yourself so we can trek on in life. We will hike on trails 1-3 today. If you miss any of our Wisdom-Trek episodes, please go to Wisdom-Trek.com to listen to them and read the daily journal.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at Home2 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Last week seemed to zip by too quickly, but we did have a great time with Kip on Saturday picking out materials for his quilt that Granny will be making for him. On Sunday, we had a good time of fellowship and worship at our local church. This is the first time we have been in Charlotte for the weekend for nearly two months, so it was a great time to be back.

5 Trails Hiked to Getting Over Yourself So You Can Trek On With Your Life

Have you ever noticed that life just happens? It just does. And yet we spend so much time trying to control what happens in our lives, micro-managing how it happens, and then telling everyone else what they should do to control and manage their lives that we often miss the point of what we are actually experiencing in ours.

The question is why do we expend so much energy trying to control things we really have no control over. At the end of the day, isn’t it just exhausting?

Life is actually quite simple. We have two choices in any given situation, circumstance, or event. We can be a victim and believe that things are happening to us that we have no control over our situation and blame others for the injury we have suffered. Or, we can start taking responsibility for our own lives, our own thoughts, our own words, and our own actions and decide that regardless of the injury, we are going to choose to live life on our own terms, powerfully.

In our society, we are supported, encouraged, and even rewarded for being victims. And yet, does being a victim ever feel good? Not usually. Being a victim tends to make us feel weak, vulnerable, and powerless. And these feelings in turn can lead to depression, frustration, and uncertainty.

The difference between taking responsibility for ourselves when life throws us a curve ball versus being a victim of a situation is that we become far better equipped spiritually, mentally, emotionally and many times even physically. We stop allowing energy vampires to suck the life out of us, and rather than feeling powerless, depressed, and frustrated, we are able to experience our situation as an opportunity to test our superpowers of strength, positivity, clarity, and focus.

If you are sick and tired of feeling frustrated, drained, like you just can’t get a break, and are ready to get over yourself and on with your life, here are a few guidelines for living life on your own terms.

1. Stop blaming everyone else.

Seriously, stop it. Stop giving your power away and blaming others for what is, or is not, happening in your life. Your life is not anybody else’s fault, and people are not doing anything to you. This reminds me of the old Bob Newhart episode clip where his diagnoses for all his patient issues was “Stop It.” You can view the clip here if you wish to watch it.

What you are experiencing is not somebody else’s fault. They may have had a hand in creating an uncomfortable experience, but YOU are the one who gets to decide how it goes from there.

Something better than Bob Newhart’s treatment though can be found in Colossians 3:13,