“What’s done is done. What’s gone is gone. One of life’s lessons is always moving on. It’s okay to look back to see how far you’ve come but keep moving forward.” ―
Keep Moving Forward, One Step at a Time
August 8th, 1999. This is when my life stopped. For a while. And not because I had a heart attack. But because I had just lost my chance to live my dream.
The 3 years prior to that day were filled with focus.
Training hard.
Missing family reunions.
Healing injuries.
Strengthening my body.
Getting mentally prepared.
As a member of the Canadian Handball Team, I was training a minimum of 25 hours per week. Plus, I was a full-time physical therapy student.
Every day, from 1996 until 1999, I would picture August 8th perfectly. Handball Court. Pan Am Games. GOLD medal.
Unfortunately, we got silver.
You might think that I’m being silly thinking that the silver medal was a curse. But to me, it meant no trip to Sydney for the 2000 Olympics. (That was actually my closest chance to be an Olympian.)
After that loss, I had to go back to school to finish my degree. And I really thought about giving up. But for some reason, the universe had a great mentor on my path, who really allowed me to continue at my own pace and graduate.
When you experience a huge disappointment, especially when you are young and you only have one focus, when it does not happen, you feel suddenly lost.
You ask yourself deep questions about your purpose. About your mistakes. You review the lost game. What else could I have done better? Did I really give my all? You doubt yourself for everything. Because your confidence level drops from really high to extremely low.
But somewhere, there was a little light. A glimpse of hope. A low level of strength. That allowed me to keep moving forward in life.
2 years later, I was offered a spot on a Danish team, in Copenhagen. At that time, Denmark was in the top countries in my sport. The opportunity to improve my technical skills was huge!
So I left my family.
My job.
And jumped in a plane to a country where I knew no one and couldn’t speak the language.
I remember crying the whole flight to Denmark, wondering why I chose to leave what I knew for the unknown. Well, it ended up to be one of the best self-growth adventures of my life!
Stepping out of my comfort zone forced me to stand out for myself (I was alone).
At the time, I was shy – but that experience forced me to speak to others and develop and nurture relationships.
I went to school and learned to speak Danish. And, each time a challenge came my way, I had no choice but to attack it and solve the problem.
That trip made me realize that I had many hidden qualities that I never thought I had! It gave me more self-confidence.
And most of all, it allowed me to be able to overcome any obstacles and become solution-oriented in life.
I’m not saying I had it easy when I came back home after living for 2 years in Denmark. What I’m saying is that when you face and overcome the unknown, you feel powerful.
Eventually, I met my business and life partner and soon, we were on the entrepreneurial path.
Another roller coaster of emotions and challenges.
Self-limiting beliefs, fears, procrastination at its finest, financial setbacks.
I think that the reason why today I can say that I’m at a good place in business and in life is that I was always able to seek out for the right help when I needed it.
And that I trust myself to constantly become a better version of myself.
Today, I help gifted and talented high-achievers who are also experts that build and grow their dream business, so they can live their purpose and make money out of it.
And I couldn’t be happier.
Just because one day, I decided to keep going forward despite the pain.
Seriously, I’m grateful for that pain.
Because it led me to ongoing self-growth.
It forced me to develop my resilience.
The best part about experimenting with something that hurts to your core is that you do your best to never put yourself in that kind of situation again.
You crank up your skills – you adjust – you level up your mindset.
And when you look back and realize how successfully you dealt with another life challenge, you smile.
With pride.
Because you finally found the glory behind the pain.
photo source | adobe
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