ADVANCE CONFIDENTLY!
“Everyone has a story to tell, a lesson to teach, and wisdom to share… Life is a beautiful masterpiece bound together by your experiences. Open up and share your story; become an inspiration to others. You can make a difference because you matter. You were created with purpose. Live your life with intention, go out there and make a difference by being the difference.” ~Melanie Koulouris
We are surrounded by stories. They’re everywhere! They are the fabric of life as we know it. Words are the language we use to tell our stories even though they are completely inadequate to describe most of what we experience.
Different stories mean different things to different people. Some people actually believe their lives to be insignificant when viewed through their own eyes. However, when viewed through the eyes of another, what was once boring and insignificant becomes both interesting and inspirational.
If you have ever overcome anything, then you have a story to share. Sometimes even the most insignificant things have a story hidden within what otherwise might have gone completely unnoticed, if not for the details being filled in. The smallest act of kindness can have the most profound effect…
A man was asked to paint a boat. He brought his paint and brushes and began to paint the boat a bright red, as the owner asked him.
While painting, he noticed a small hole in the hull and quietly repaired it.
When he finished painting, he received his money and left.
The next day, the owner of the boat came to the painter and presented him with a nice check, much higher than the payment for painting.
The painter was surprised and said “You’ve already paid me for painting the boat Sir!”
“But this is not for the paint job. It’s for repairing the hole in the boat.”
“Ah! But it was such a small service… Certainly it’s not worth paying me such a high amount for something so insignificant.”
“My dear friend, you do not understand. Let me tell you what happened:
“When I asked you to paint the boat, I forgot to mention the hole.”
“When the boat dried, my kids took the boat and went on a fishing trip.
“They did not know that there was a hole. I was not home at that time.
“When I returned and notice they had taken the boat, I was desperate because I remembered that the boat had a hole.
“Imagine my relief and joy when I saw them returning from fishing.
“Then, I examined the boat and found that you had repaired the hole!
“You see, now, what you did? You saved the life of my children! I do not have enough money to pay your ‘small’ good deed.”
So no matter who, when or how, continue to help, sustain, wipe tears, listen attentively, and carefully repair all the ‘leaks’ you find. You never know when one is in need of us, or when God holds a pleasant surprise for us to be helpful and important to someone.
Along the way, you may have repaired numerous ‘boat holes’ for several people without realizing how many lives you saved.
Make a difference…
Red Boat Story pulled from: bamradionetwork.com by Rita Wirtz, June 19, 2021, who credited the story to: Sharing is Caring, Sweden.
The Red Boat story was shared with me by a friend who knows how much I enjoy both stories and writing. I shared it with a room of individuals who were all moved by the words and now, once again, I am sharing it here with all of you to demonstrate just how significant our insignificant little acts can be…
Never underestimate an act of kindness or generosity. There is no way to measure the effect your words will have on another human being…
One of the elements of my own life story that doesn’t seem overly significant to me now because of the accumulation of years, is my own sobriety story. However, every time someone finds out I’ve accumulated over 31 years of sobriety, one day at a time, they’re almost always in awe. When I explain the days are the natural result of commitment and simply represent the outcome of choosing not to drink one day at a time, they don’t seem any less impressed.
If I hadn’t found the courage to finally tell my story, there might still be people out there thinking that they have to quit drinking forever, and because that seems so overwhelming to them, they never even try. However, when they hear about how I broke it down day by day, particularly in the beginning when it was really hard, then they understand that their commitment is only, “just for today.”
This subtle little difference, this insignificant detail can make all the difference between somebody deciding to make a change in their life versus saying there is no way it’s not worth it, it’s too hard! There is a saying that by the inch it’s a cinch and by the yard it’s hard and that’s totally true. When we take the time to break things down into the smallest components possible, what might originally have seemed overwhelming, is suddenly no great challenge at all and just another story to be told…
If you’ve ever struggled with drugs and alcohol and think there’s no way you could ever quit, please understand that’s simply not the truth. But rather than believe me, I would ask you to think about all the other things that you’ve done that seemed really difficult in your lifetime and simply ask you to think about how you did those difficult things? Each of the difficult things that you’ve ever done have all been done, one day at a time. And before you were ever successful at doing whatever the difficult thing was, you decided first in your mind to do it. You made a commitment. When we make a commitment to ourselves and then keep our promise, all kinds of magical things happen.
One of the greatest benefits of keeping our promises to ourselves is the development of self-esteem. Every promise kept is one step closer to having the kind of self-esteem and self-confidence that would make you, UNSTOPPABLE! The way that we go from unsure to UNSTOPPABLE, is by keeping our promises to ourselves, not all at once, but one day at a time.
The key to life is to keep the promises you make to yourself, one day at a time. It’s impossible to keep the promise of whatever it is that you’ve said you’ll do tomorrow, today. But when tomorrow comes, you have to show up, and you have to do the hard work, and you have to stay the course. And when you do, you will have done whatever needed to be done that day, and you will have kept your promise to yourself, and you will have built another layer into the process of becoming absolutely, UNSTOPPABLE!
Self-confidence is a one day at a time game. We build our confidence one day at a time with each and every promise we keep to ourselves. Once we get good at keeping promises to ourselves, then we can slowly begin to make and keep promises to others as well. As we do, our self-esteem grows, and when it does, we begin to believe that we can do almost anything, one day at a time. Suddenly, we understand that the only thing we ever must do is what’s immediately in front of us.
When we live in the now, when we live in the present, we can do, be, or become almost anything we choose. All skills are learnable. Simply ask yourself what’s between where you are now and whatever it is you ultimately want. Then, get busy closing the gap that exists between where you are and whatever it is you desire by accumulating all the skills and abilities necessary to close the gap, not overnight, but by steady, persistent, commitment, one day at a time…
“One day at a time” is a philosophy for success. One day at a time is a philosophy for living in the present. When we live each day with intention, with purpose, with commitment, we give ourselves the best chance to be our best. We are always best when we are in the now, when we are present.
If you ever find yourself up against the wall and feeling like there’s no way you can get through whatever’s in front of you, just remember, as my friend Michael reminds me on a regular basis, you can always come back to your breath. When we breathe, when we slow down, when we think, we ground ourselves in the present moment which allows us to block out the past and keeps us from worrying about the future.
Every time you struggle, remember, just come back to your breath. When we remember to breathe, we find the energy we need to do whatever is in front of us, we find the energy to do hard things.
Hard things are done one breath at a time. Hard things are done “one day at a time!” We can do hard things when we remember to breathe!
What’s your story?
Advance Confidently is the title of my next book, you will have to wait to celebrate its release as I celebrate my 60th birthday. I have concluded the world doesn’t need another self-help book from me right now, so I am listening to my muse and will write a sci fi personal growth story of self-discovery instead. Hmmm? Almost sounds like a QUEST, right? I believe you will be INSPIRED with the story that chose me to write it! I never saw it coming but now that it’s here, I can’t wait to share it with all of YOU! I know it will be worth the wait because that’s my commitment to you, my readers. Thanks in advance for your trust and patience!
In the meantime, I released a special audio short story on Twitter to commemorate my Independence Day and my 31st year of sobriety. You can watch/listen to the story here ( https://youtu.be/9zP4kk5OTlo ). You can find me on Twitter @bobby_kountz
Keep Pedaling, Keep Going, Keep Growing!
Advance Confidently!
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In Gratitude,
Bobby Kountz, Author, Speaker, Sobriety Scholar, Inspirationalist!
PS. You can find out more about me here. You can find my book on Amazon.
