@VanceE@FlowBlend Fail prior or just grind it out? 10 years deep (gum/pouches - never smoked or chewed) but haven’t sustained past 60 days. Any advice?
@eptwts Bookmarked, started to read then I un-bookmarked once I read through the first paragraph.
I usually bookmark if trusted/interesting then scan depending on time. I go back through bookmarks when I have undisrupted time.
@TheVanrim @DejaRu22 I’ve enjoyed it the past 18 months but nicotine seems to counteract the benefits. Kicked nicotine sporadically but not sustainably.
I was a community college drop out and worked 36 hours a week at $16.50 when I bought my first house as 23.
Bought a FSBO in upstate NY without a realtor myself. Used seller concession and talked to my boss about forgoing an annual raise for a $3000 check to help with my down payment.
Bought and sold that and two others before 30.
Relocated to Michigan and in a house 5.5x the value of my first at age 35.
To your original point, it can be done!
As you progress in life, it takes courage to follow your path of alignment and meaningful growth. As we accumulate creature comforts, they equally tether us to the desire to forgo charging valiantly into the unknown, choosing instead to remain in a reality that satiates the soul just enough to lull it into conformity - enabling the mind to rationalise and form reasons why staying is a great idea. But the spirit feels the dissonance, it senses the subtle unrest and seeks to feed the internal tension - one that is textured like a void.
Growth is uncomfortable. It demands leaps that can shatter the scaffolding and infrastructure you've spent most of your life building. It demands courage - to feel your heart thrash downward on a great trampoline and trust that you will land on your feet after being propelled into the air. In this way, the courage to face the unknown with no nets other than the ones you've grown and earned within yourself is true spiritual strength.
Ascension towards higher consciousness and truth shifts you in a direction that no longer worships all that is tangible. It walks hand in hand with being misunderstood. In becoming more aligned with your soul and the deeper truths of the world, you paradoxically become more detached from the world in its current incarnation. Compassionate detachment at its finest.
You are a taker, not a maker. All you’ve done your whole life is take from the makers of the world.
The zero-sum mindset you have is at the root of so much evil. Once you realize that civilization is not zero-sum and that it is about making far more than one consumes, then it becomes obvious that the path to prosperity for all is just let the makers make.
Regarding Tesla, the reality is that I have been given nothing.
However, if I lead Tesla to become the most valuable company in the world by far and it stays that way for 5 years, shareholders voted to award me 12% of what is built. Anyone who wants to come along for the ride can buy Tesla stock.
If Tesla “merely” becomes a $1.999 trillion dollar company, I get nothing. This is a great deal for shareholders, which is why they voted so overwhelmingly to approve this, for which I am immensely grateful.
And they did so by a margin far more than you won your political seat.