If you're reading this, it's probably because life sucks.
A lot.
You're not wrong.
I'm sure you're down in the dumps for a reason, and I'm not going to invalidate that.
Maybe your girlfriend dumped you.
You lost your dream job.
You lost your family.
Maybe you never had one.
Maybe worse.
I'm sorry to hear that.
I've been hit pretty hard myself before. Heartbreak, suicidal thoughts, deep episodes of wanting to just give up and quit.
But I'm not here to talk about all of that.
What I do wanna share, though, is how I managed to climb out of that pit.
Forever.
And hopefully, my perspective on things and on life that I found is going to help you find the motivation yourself to persist and stay determined.
And if you're still reading this, there's a good chance you wanna stick around too. Or at least, part of you does.
I won't let you down.
Let me tell you a true story that you're gonna love.
"I'm nothing. Let me be nothing."
Back in 1917, there was this troubled kid.
Born to Italian immigrant parents, he grew up in Torrance, California and he got into all kinds of trouble.
He was 8 years old when he began smoking. 10 when he started drinking alcohol, which he poured into milk bottles so adults wouldn't suspect anything.
He got into fights. Ran from the police.
His parents were afraid he was going to end up in jail.
But.
He had a brother named Pete.
And he told Pete, one day:
"I'm nothing. Let me be nothing."
This troubled kid didn't believe in himself at all. He thought himself doomed to a meaningless, worthless life.
But Pete believed in him anyway.
Pete saw how fast his little brother ran from the cops. And guess what he did?
He got him signed up for track.
He refused to give up on him.
And he told him:
Pete trained him, kept him accountable, and essentially saved him from a criminal life.
The Rollercoaster of Life
And this once troubled kid, who felt like he had no purpose, got really damn good at running.
So good, in fact, that he ran for the U.S. in the 1936 Berlin Olympics at age 19.
The youngest runner on the track team.
He placed 8th, but ran the fastest final lap ever recorded at the time.
Even Hitler asked to meet him, impressed by his finishing surge.
You'd think this is a remarkable enough story, but it gets even better.
Not long after, the world entered World War 2.
And this track all-star enlisted as a bombardier in the Army Air Corps (the U.S. Air Force at the time).
In 1943, his B-24 plane crashed into the Pacific.
Everyone on the plane died in the crash except for him and two others.
He was lost at sea, drifting about for 47 days.
He survived:
- Shark attacks
- Starvation
- Japanese strafing
- Dehydration
- Hallucinations
Historians confirm this is one of the longest recorded instances of survival adrift.
He and one other guy, Phil, survived. The 3rd crew member died on day 33.
And it was after 47 days that they were captured by the Japanese.
The Strength of an Unbroken Spirit
Barely alive, our hero was thrown into several Japanese detention camps.
He was tortured, beaten, and interrogated.
Forced into hard labor and humiliated.
And this went on for over 2 years, until liberation in 1945 when the war ended.
To no surprise, he suffered severe PTSD after the war and became an alcoholic.
His marriage almost collapsed.
And yet...
He persisted.
He found his turnaround.
His marriage recovered and remained strong for 54 years.
He even went on to forgive his Japanese captors and the guards who tortured him and treated him so cruelly.
And he passed away due to old age at 97.
I know, you've probably been waiting on the edge of your seat.
This is the true story of a man named Louis Zamperini.
And I think he's one of the most remarkable people to have ever lived.
Coming from humble beginnings to running in the Olympics is wildly impressive enough, but to go on to serve in a World War and endure torture and come out on the other side alive and forgive your captors afterwards?
It really shows the indomitability of the human spirit.
And his name will go down in history forever.
I wanted to share this story for two reasons.
For one, this is basically the peak example of what kind of greatness one can achieve when they don't give up.
I don't think any of us will ever be quite like Zamperini, but he had every opportunity and reason to throw in the towel, and he didn't.
Remember, even when he was little, he thought nothing of himself and didn't think he'd amount to anything.
And here we are, reading about his life and talking about him years after his passing.
Here's the second reason I'm sharing his story.
The Unknown Future
I only found out about Zamperini like a month or two ago, and I was deeply moved by his story.
The story of his life is one of the greatest I've ever known, and I'm glad I had the opportunity to hear and read about it.
And I never would've come across it if I quit life myself, at any point in the past.
And if you were also moved by his story and you appreciate it yourself, I hope you understand that feeling of awe and appreciation that you had the chance to hear about it too.
But you had to be here to hear about it.
Here, and alive.
Not down and out.
The thing about being alive is that it's your gateway to appreciating an unknown future.
Take a moment and think about your entire life for a second.
Have you ever :
- discovered a song you really liked and had on repeat for days on end?
- taken a bite of a dish so delicious that you scarfed it down and wanted more?
- watched a movie so great that you told your friends about it and quietly rewatched it in your bed over and over again?
- met someone so amazing that you instantly became best friends and shared laughs and made memories together?
- read a book so well-written that it earned a permanent spot on your bookshelf, and picked it up again to read later?
- picked up a hobby so fun that you couldn't imagine your life without it?
And if so, ask yourself one more thing for me.
That song, that dish, that movie, that friend, that book, that hobby...
Did you know it was going to walk into your life before you knew about it?
Of course you didn't.
At some point, you had to discover it, and then fall in love with it.
And the only way you could've done that was if you were alive.
The only way you could've done that was if you were here.
And I have news for you:
If you stick around, it's gonna happen again.
You think you found your favorite song of all time, but you're probably wrong.
You think you found your favorite restaurant, but again – probably wrong.
You think that's the greatest movie of all time? Watch a few more, then let me know.
Don't get me wrong.
The future isn't all sunshine and rainbows.
You're gonna trip and fall.
You're gonna stumble.
You will make mistakes and there will be days where you'll hurt.
But the unknown future isn't just riddled with hurt.
Just like you have your lows, you're gonna have your highs too.
And what makes life exciting is you don't know exactly when they come.
You could wander down a new street for the first time and find this hole-in-the-wall restaurant that makes the best dumplings you've ever had.
You could get lost in the countryside and find a really cool treasure that sells for thousands of dollars.
You could go to a spin class and end up taking a seat next to your new best friend for life.
And you might think you know what your life is going to look like in the next 5 years, but I just gave you some examples of how much your life could change in just a single day.
And it's the excitement at the thought of what could be that's convinced me to stick around.
I don't know what's ahead of me, but I know what's possible.
There's no way around it: the good will come with the bad, but that's part of the game of life.
Think of any game you could play – you can't win without risking losing. That's just how it works.
But if you want to feel the highs with those wins,
if part of you is still holding out for that love of your life,
if a piece of you is still dying to go try out that restaurant in New York,
or if you're on the edge of your seat waiting for that movie to come out in theaters,
stay.
I want you to feel that rush, that excitement, that win.
And I hope you do too.
After everything you've been through,
You deserve it.
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