Something to Die For

Hi, guys. My name is Donny Rouse, and you are listening to the podcast One Life. Something to Die For. Is there a purpose or cause that you believe in so much that you're willing to die for? I was reading through some quotes on purpose and to kind of like, give you. Like, to summarize it, it said something along the lines of, when you operate from purpose, you are focused, but when you don't, when you lack purpose, you're easily. You drift, you're easily pulled by different, you know, anything that comes your way. I don't even know what the quote was. So bad recap right there. But the. The inspiration from this post actually came from a manga that I was watching. Yes, I love manga. I love Japanese culture. So the manga was called One Piece. And in this. In this manga, the protagonist, Luffy, was talking to a aspiring Navy admiral, this kid named Kobe. So they were caught, and they were held hostage in a pirate's boat. And he's told, kobe's talking to Luffy, the main character, and he's asking about what his desires are. And Luffy goes on to say, well, I'm going to become King of the Pirates. So to give you a little bit of a background, the King of the Pirates is the person who obtains everything. So think of, like, wealth, riches, happiness, experiences, adventure, whatever it may be, the person who obtains that title, literally, it's like conquering the world. And his main inspiration for wanting this was because he knows that in order, if he has this title, the person with that title is the most free in the world to do and go as they please. Colby was taken aback by his aspiration. He goes, you know what? I have aspirations for becoming a Navy admiral. Do you think I can do it? And Louvy laughed it off. He said, well, how am I supposed to know? And he laughed at him a while. Because Colby represents a lot of us, right? Because we know what we want, but sometimes we're afraid to step forward. Luffy says something along the lines of, like, you know what if I die in the process of trying to obtain to be the King of Pirates, it would be well worth it. I thought about that from my own life. I was like, well, what is it that I'm committed to? What is it that I want that I would stake my. Put my life, you know, in attainment? Like, even if I didn't obtain it, just the pursuit would be worth it. One of the main aspirations I have is to literally, I want to travel every single country in the world. I want to experience. I Want to live abroad. I want to inspire people. And mainly I want to inspire people through my life. Because by experiencing life to the fullest and sharing those experiences with people so that they see that it is possible and that maybe I just sparked that, that. That curiosity. They see me doing something like, you know what I want to do, that he did it, I can do it. I think sometimes we, you know, when we think of a cause that we want to devote ourselves to, it's very easy to kind of like, get into this altruistic mindset. Mother Teresa was a big. A big icon of mine growing up. So much so that I used to think that I had to literally, like, give the shirt off my back because I felt like, well, that is how Mother Teresa would have done, you know, like she would literally had given everything. She lived with the poor. And I thought that that is what it meant to live that purpose, right? That I had to be like, something like this, something that extreme in order for it to be worthwhile. That's not true. The truth is that, like, you know, worthwhile, like just having a goal, maybe traveling every country in the world, maybe you want to have. You know, I always say the pasta in Italy because if you haven't tried it, it's amazing. But maybe that is what your goal is, right? Maybe your goal is you want to live in Italy. And if you were to do that, it would be like the icing on the cake. You could die happy, right? There's nothing that's saying that, like, downplaying, like, the importance of that goal, if it's important to you. And what I want to say is that it is the pursuit of that goal that makes it worthwhile. I had done a physique contest in the past, and when I was setting the goal, like, the goal was to get on stage and to compete, I had. It was my first time doing it, so I didn't. I think going back to a second time, I would literally have, like, I know what it. The experience is. So I would aim for, like, the first place trophy. But at that point, not feeling really confident and never having done it before, like, my goal was to stick, you know, stay with the regimen, transform my body, and just literally just to make it onto the stage. Because that was at the time that was. I was nervous by that, right? Standing on stage, you know, flexing, posing, which it was extreme. It looks easy, but it's extremely tough. I could practice it for hours, but when I was on stage, I couldn't hold those poses for more than like 10 minutes. And you know, so the purpose was just to, you know, was for me to get on that stage. Everything, all the pain that I endured as a result was all beneficial, was all moving me towards that. My father used to watch all the prep that I would do and he's like, what are you doing that for? Why are you putting yourself through all that trouble? Because to someone from the outside it seems illogical. Like, why are you going through all that trouble just to go on stage compete? But you have your reasons for what you do, you know why you're doing it. So what I, you know, I guess the main point I'm trying to make is that, that whatever that reason may be, that purpose that you're willing to stake your life on, it doesn't have to be like this all encompassing vision to make the world a better place. Although that would be awesome if you could. But it could literally just be maybe making sure that your kids are taken care of. They go to college and you're giving them the values that are going to take them further in life, whatever it may be, and you're willing to work and do all the things to make sure that they have what you didn't have. Maybe they're the first ones to go to college, I don't know. But it is through having that goal where you're willing to stake everything that you're willing to give up everything as well. And it is with that single goal, that purpose, that it gives focus and drive towards something meaningful to you. So recap. I feel like I, at least I may not have. It may not seem that way, but I feel like I'm like, in my mind, I'm like thinking all these different, all these like different examples and I feel like a little bit scattered. So let's bring it back down together again. What is a purpose that you would put your life on, that if you just in its pursuit, it would be worth dedicating your life Next. How would it feel to accomplish this? If you were to get the end and you were to accomplish it, how would it feel? What do you like? Everything we're after, we're after an experience. We're after a feeling, right? If you wanted something but you knew when you got there it was going to feel lousy, why would you do it in the first place? Everything we're choosing to do, we're doing it because we're chasing a feeling that we're going to get as a result of obtaining it. What is that? What are those feelings? And after you have those feelings, I want you now look at everything that you're going to go through, right? Like if you try to anticipate and look at like all the things you're going to have to do to get to that place. Would it be worth it? Speaking from my own experience, when I look at like again the, the weightlifting competition that I did and even my experience, coffee roasting and becoming a coffee professional, oh man, when I look back, it was the coffee thing especially it was a lot of pain because doing things wrong and having to constantly learn, which is great because as a result of doing all these other things wrong, now I know exactly when something goes off, I know exactly how to fix it. It's because that experience, it was not a pleasant experience for the most part. But in the weightlifting too, when I did the workouts, I mean sometimes I would be at exhaustion after workout, I would fall asleep on the gym mat. I would stretch after my workout and then I would fall asleep because my body literally couldn't move. I would do it again 100 times over. 100 times over. It was literally one of the best experiences of my life. And I tell that to everyone who's considering even the people who were unconsidering competing in physique or bodybuilding competition. So I hope you enjoyed this episode guys. If you did, please give it a share. Leave some feedback on it. I would greatly appreciate that. You could do itunes or you can do it, I mean Apple podcasts or Spotify, but that is all I got for you guys today. Hope you enjoyed this podcast. God bless and I will see you again soon.