In the Blink of An Eye Everything Changed

If you've ever gone through some hard times that have left you feeling worried, anxious, maybe even fearful for what lies ahead, then this is the episode for you.

Welcome to episode number two of the podcast.

At the time of this episode, the world is still battling against the global pandemic known as the coronavirus or COVID-19.

I'm not going to bore you to tears with all the information you already hear all the time on the news, anyways.

Instead, I'm going to look at it from a different angle.

I want to talk to you today about how important it is for you to not allow feelings of fear and worry to rob you of your life and to steal away your hopes and dreams for the future.

When we are inundated with round the clock coverage of only the worst situations, it's easy to allow the doom and gloom to affect your outlook on life.

Now, trust me when I say I understand, easier said than done.

It's easy for me to tell you not to worry or not to be fearful for the future.

But when so many simply overnight lost all that they ever knew, it's very hard, isn't it?

Some people lost jobs, some people lost loved ones.

So please don't get me wrong with what I'm trying to say.

I never like to compare my life to anyone else's, because in fact each of us are living out our own unique life story.

But I would like to share something with you in the hopes that it might help you with what you are dealing with right now, whether it's related to the coronavirus or something totally different.

In the fall of 2003, I was a junior in high school.

Life was good.

I had just celebrated my 17th birthday, where my dad had surprised me with a new four wheeler.

For the first time in my life, I didn't despise school.

I had an awesome group of friends, and life even outside of school was great.

At that time, the weekends were spent boating with my family or out in the woods mudding in my truck with my buddies.

I'm going to assume it's safe to say that at the beginning of this year, the beginning of 2020, you probably felt the same way.

Life was good, the economy was booming, businesses big and small were doing amazing, and everyone was gearing up for what was to be one of the best years in history.

But then, in the blink of an eye, literally overnight, you probably woke up to a world you didn't even recognize anymore.

I know that's the case for myself.

Well, I'd like you to know that I've been here before, not in the same situation, but one very similar.

See, at the same time when everything was going great back in 2003, I got hit with the unbelievable news.

I had a brain tumor.

It was large.

The doctor compared it to the size of a plum, right in the center of my brain.

Thankfully it was not cancerous, but it had to be removed as soon as possible because it was pressing on my carotid artery.

The doctor gave me at most six months to live if it was not removed.

But as bad as all of that sounds, everything was going to be okay.

The doctor assured us, I'd go into surgery, I'd be out of school for maybe three weeks, giving myself time to heal, and then life would be pretty much back to normal.

But like so many things in life, it didn't quite go as planned.

I came out of surgery with so many medical complications that none of us were ready to deal with.

And amongst those was the realization that I couldn't see.

I was left completely blind in both eyes.

No shapes, nor shadows, no light, nor dark, just black, all black.

Like a blackness I'd never seen before.

It wasn't supposed to have happened like this.

I went into surgery to better my life, to save my life, not this.

When you woke up earlier this year and you saw the stock market had crashed, when you woke up to find out that you didn't have a job to go to, when you woke up and realized that you had to make the call to tell your employees not to come into work that day.

When you woke up and realized you were in a world you had never seen before, I would imagine you felt like you were drowning.

You were trying with all your might to get to the top of the surface of the water, to break free, to get that breath of air, but you couldn't get it.

I know, because I was there.

I can remember much too clearly the countless nights spent sobbing into my pillow, crying, pleading, screaming, begging God to let me see again.

I felt so helpless, so afraid, trapped in this world that I did not choose to be in.

I also know that many of you had to deal with the realization that your plans for the near and distant future were going to be altered.

Birthday parties, graduation ceremonies, vacations, so many different things that all of us have taken for granted, gatherings of people, traveling all over the world, all of that was going to be put on hold.

Isn't it ironic?

How in the blink of an eye, plans that you've had for your entire life, dreams that you've been dreaming for what seems like forever, can be wiped away in an instant.

I know.

I understand.

I've been there.

Trust me.

Becoming blind didn't mean that I just lost my ability to see.

I lost everything that made me me.

Every hobby I enjoyed was taken from me.

Every possible dream I had for the future was erased.

Every possible career I imagined having was to be no more.

But you know what?

Even in my darkest days, somehow I never gave up hope.

I never gave up on my faith that God would see me through it.

And that's what I want you to remember.

No matter what you are going through, you will get through it.

I promise.

Those plans that you think have been forever changed, they haven't been.

They're just going to end up a little bit different than before, and they might even be better than they were going to be.

Even though it's hard to see it while you're in the midst of it, all things are always working out for your good.

I encourage you to never stop looking forward, never stop dreaming for tomorrow, never stop planning.

Your future depends on it.

This season we are in right now, it shall pass, I promise you.

And what lies in the future will be better.

I know it.

Right now is the ideal time for you to sit down and decide what is it you really want out of life?

To decide on the plans that you had had, were those indeed the best things for you?

Maybe they were, and that's okay.

You can still make them happen.

They just may happen at a different time period, and that's okay.

Or maybe this is a time for you to rethink, readjust.

I think we all had a reality check on life during all of this, and we realize how precious every single moment in this life truly is.

Because tomorrow is never guaranteed.

And here's the thing I want you to remember more than anything else I've said.

If when tomorrow comes and it's not like you had originally planned it to be, remind yourself that even though it may not be like you had hoped, doesn't mean it still can't be great.

SPEAKER_00: And that's the lowdown on life and travel.

If you enjoyed today's episode, please leave a review and don't forget to subscribe for more.

Want to hear more from Kevin Lowe?

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Just visit betterdaystravel.com.

That's betterdaystravel.com to sign up.

And until next time, just keep living and enjoying life like it was meant to be.