#010 Why You Should NEVER Wish To Trade Places

Never wish for someone else’s life.

“Accept that all your heroes are full of shit.” - Jason Pargin

Tiger Woods – arguably the greatest golfer of all time and fabulously wealthy. Completely flopped as a husband, had an incredibly difficult childhood, and at some point, likely developed a pill habit.

Martin Luther King Jr. – the greatest civil rights leader in American history, who also happened to have a string of mistresses as well as some other alleged misbehavior in his past. 

Elvis Presley – GOAT musician from his era, who had a reputation for mistreating women and liking underage girls.

James Joyce – One of the greatest authors of the 20th century (author of the great novel Ulysses) who had an enormous series of graphically detailed fart fetish letters to his wife. I actually didn’t believe this until I read a couple of them, and they are unreal.

And the list goes on, and on, and on.

But the opposite of this is actually true as well. Many times people we expect to be a certain way are nothing like we originally thought. 

About 10 years ago, after I stopped playing soccer I tried my hand at MMA. 

I’m a bigger guy (6’5” and about 240lbs) and had been working as a bouncer on the weekends. I thought I would have no problem moving into a new sport and easily be able to handle myself. 

I started going to a local MMA gym and I quickly realized that I was getting twisted into knots by guys a fraction of my size. 

If you ever tried jiu jitsu for the first time you know it’s an incredibly humbling experience. 

I was frustrated and it was showing. 

After getting beat up for the 100th time that day, one of the guys in the gym came over and asked if he could give me some pointers. 

He was about my size and went out of his way to come show me some basic things that helped a ton. 

I didn’t think much of it, but he spent a few minutes helping a complete stranger, who he likely saw was frustrated, for no reason other than he wanted to help. 

Come to find out that guy was Stipe Miocic. 

If you don’t know who that is, he is a multiple time UFC heavyweight champion and the longest reigning heavyweight champion…of all time. 

Arguably, one of the greatest MMA fighters ever. 

I say this because in the world I was familiar with – professional soccer – almost every high profile player I knew would never have done anything like that. 

So what’s the point?

We live in a world where people are obsessed with portraying their life like a highlight reel.

It’s fake.

And while you may see the highlights of someone’s life, you have no idea of the misery and suffering that may be lurking behind the charade.

It’s worth reminding ourselves that all people, including our heroes, are just people, and they’re likely your hero because they excelled in one specific area. 

Accept people for their faults, and judge people as individuals.

Reject the idolization of others – take the good, leave the bad and follow the vision you have laid out for yourself.

Question:

Is there someone in your life that you have put on a pedestal? 

Take the good, leave the bad and realize you too are capable of excelling in your chosen field. 

You got this.