Episode 147: You are the Gift You have been Waiting for

Welcome to the Soul of Innovation Podcast. I am Thomas Anglero, and I want to talk to you about a version of you that I refuse to allow to exist. I want to talk to you about a version of you that should not be alive. Let me tell you a story.

Recently, I was talking to someone and I asked him, what do you think is going to happen if Russia invades Ukraine?

At the time of this recording, this is 48 hours into the invasion. And my heart, my soul goes out to everybody in Ukraine. Please, I hope you're all well.

But this conversation happened a week before. And I asked this person, what do you think is going to happen? How is it going to affect you? I started going levels deep. How are you going to talk to your kids?

What happens with what you tell your kids and what they hear in the streets? How are you going to respond to that? I started going deeper and deeper about cause-effect. What you say, the implications that it has to the people you're talking to and to you. The result. And now what do you think about that? And then what do you think about that? And then what do you think about that?

He looked at me like I was absolutely out of my damn mind.

I've seen this look so many times before from people when I have a conversation with them.

And he looked at me, I swear to you, I thought he'd say, 'Are you a conspiracy theorist?' He didn't say it, but you could just see he wanted to word it, but he's being polite.

He goes, 'I don't think about those things.' And I was triggered.

I was pissed, but I try not to show it because I realized that in front of me is another person who's had this life of simplicity, that never anything goes up, never anything goes down, everything's a damn straight line. They haven't had a bump in the road. They haven't had to think about implications about anything in life. And that breaks me because Then you haven't questioned who you are. You're just who you are. Whatever you say to people, if it resonates, it doesn't resonate, you don't really care. But then who the freak are you? If you haven't had any adversity, if you haven't had love, if you haven't cried— even a child has cried because they fell down and they scraped their knee. That thing hurts. Don't you remember? I remember a big chunk of skin being cut from my knee. I was in a lot of damn pain. That was a moment, 'cause I still remember it and I got a scar from this day. I remember when my daughter was born and seeing her face. Holy crap. That was a whole new level. Forget about elation. I don't know what you call that. But I knew I had a purpose. But if you're just going through life and you're so happy that everything's okay, And you don't think about the implications of your existence, the implications of your words and how it affects others. And then how does that affect you? Don't you understand how powerful you are? That you've been given the gift, the opportunity to have your words, that vibration that comes out of your mouth changes everyone, how they think, how they move, how they even smell things. And you don't even use that power. You don't even use that gift that you were given. You just want everything to be a straight line.

Everything's okay. No, I don't think about those things. Let me tell you about another woman. Another one. Let me tell you another story about a woman.

She just had her last day of work. Let's say it was a Friday. I've seen her every day for months and months and months and months, and this past week I saw her every day, and just like every day for the last few months, whenever I saw her, her chin is on her chest. She's hiding. She looks broken. She— I just never understood why is this woman not ever happy? At least her outward appearance. She could be happy on the inside, but damn, she did not radiate it when she walked through the halls of life. I get an email, I see something on LinkedIn. Thank you very much, everyone. I've moved on to this other wonderful place. I see pictures of her being so damn happy now. And here's the epiphany, and the epiphany— I share this story because I don't want this to be you. How many of you go to a job and you expect the people in the job, the company, your boss, your colleagues to lift you up, to be exciting, to come with ideas, to come with after-work parties, to bring cake, to be da-da-da-da-da, and to lift your spirits. And you wonder, why does it work to give me any energy? How come nobody likes me? Because you're walking around with your chin on your chest, making no damn eye contact. Is that you? And then are you one of those people who post on LinkedIn, I have a new job, you have a picture at your new job, and you're smiling like you've never smiled before? Because you know what, I'm calling the bullshit right now. You know why you're doing that. You know why you're smiling and everything. You know what you've been looking for. You've been looking for a group of people who are more depressed than you are, looking for a group of people who got their stuff less together than you, that are more confused than you, that are just more out of it than you.

And you went into that group and you're like, oh yeah, I can be the star here. Oh yeah, let me, let me take this selfie with them and post this all over social media.

Look how cool I am now. I'm around bunch of losers, so now I'm the man, or I'm the woman. Is that you?

I'm calling you out now.

Go look through your social media.

Have you posted any of those pictures?

Go look through your social media and see how many people that you know posted those damn pictures. And then ask yourself, prior to them switching that job, prior to them getting married to that person— that's even worse when somebody's got a marriage and they're unhappy, then finally meet somebody and they're super happy. And you know, and you look at a guy like, how the hell would she be happy with him? Or he could be happy with her because they found someone who's worse, worse off than they are. Own your life. Own every damn moment. Don't bring, bring people down. Don't go and hunt for people to have it worse than you and more depressed than you so you could feel good.

Holy—

wow, is that you? Seriously, is that you? Are you on the hunt for people who are more down and out, more broke than you? Broke emotionally, broke financially, broke physically. People may be more ugly than you. I'm calling you out. Look around. Look at your past. That's the only thing I want you to look at. Look at your past. What groups did you end up with that you felt the most comfortable? I see these people all the time. I see people who haven't even experienced life yet.

And they're gray as hell, or they've lost all their hair, or they have a— what's it called? A daddy bod? A papa bod? I forget what this crap's called. Is that you? Have you even started living your life? Do you even realize how beautiful life's moments are? How the beauty and the dynamics of life and love, sorrow and crying, failure and success. The unknown, the moment before the known is known, that moment of unknown, that anticipation, that uncertainty, that excitement, that tension. That's life. Because once something is known, it's known. Not too special anymore. Are you chasing your unknowns? Are you looking into your life and saying, "I need more unknowns"? Or are you doing everything you can to keep everything known? There's so many people that need to know what every day is going to be like. They plan ahead. Everything has to be structured. I respect that, but I don't choose that. I need structure, but I demand chaos. It keeps me young. It keeps me smiling. It keeps me happy. It keeps me a little bit crazy. My heart beats. I sweat. I'm alive. When's the last time your heart beat? And don't tell me you went up a bunch of steps. I could care less. Nathan, you could care less too. When's the last time your heart beat because you weren't sure of something? When's the last time you broke a sweat because you had a thought that scared you so much? That was so intense. It's life. If you don't create moments that create moments to do that to you, if you don't create moments that have such chaos, such unknowns, such discomfort, Do you not live in— and let me tell you something, I'm not dead, at least not yet, but I am positive of one thing, and I know I'm not wrong, and I know that at the moment of my death, I know, and I'm not joking, I know at the moment of my death there will be no one there to give me a trophy or medal and say, hey, you did it. You had a life of nothing. Congratulations, throw me a high five.

It sounds stupid. Is that what you're doing? Or is it you existing so that in that last moment, in that last breath, you reflect back on your life?

Holy crap, wow, look at all the things I did.

I remember I played on that team. I remember I joined that project. I remember when that thing happened. I remember the moment before it happened. I remember that experience.

Or are you just laying there with your last breath going, I don't remember anything? You have an opportunity right now. To go forth and spread beauty and light, to go forth and make memories, not just for you but for others. You're given the gift of life and you can change and you will change everyone.

I mean, we right now in this internet world— and I say that in decades from now, people like, people talk about the internet? And we have the impact of saying something. You can send out an Instagram, you could do a tweet, you could snap, all these things, and the resonance, the wave of amplification that goes through all of society, through everyone's ears. You're changing everyone, and you choose nothing. The world is made for— to hear you. The world is made to amplify your existence. The world is made to stop in awe of your wisdom.

What are you doing to feed that? What are you doing to fulfill Your destiny. Stand up. Exist. Have flaws. Make mistakes. Smile, laugh, cry, bleed. Get stitches. Hold someone's hand. Look into someone's eyes. Look at someone, don't say anything, and at the same time you're saying everything. That's your life that you deserve. I'm Thomas Anglero. I love you. I believe in you. You exist. Let me hear your noise. Until the next time. Thank you for listening to that episode. If you want to contact me, you can contact me on my website at anglero.com, and you can also subscribe to the newsletter, or you can find me anywhere on social media with Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter. Thank you so much, and I hope to hear from you very soon.