The title of my speech in Stockholm this year was “Becoming a Stronger Person”. In it I detailed what I saw as 4 key elements to becoming a stronger person – a focus on the process, not the end result, which differs from individual to individual.
One of the elements I identified was “be willing to sacrifice everything for something you believe in”, which in my case, is The 21 Convention.
Emphasis is added both here and in the speech on “willing”.
Why?
Well, the purpose of this post is much more than detailing that emphasis, but for our purposes, it is a demonstration of just how far you are willing to go to back up your words, with action.
It is an ANNOUNCEMENT to the world of your intentions, and more often than not, from my experience, that’s all that is necessary to achieve what you set out to do. Case in point, I sacrificed a lot to pull off Sweden, mentally, emotionally, and physically.
But I still have a bed. A nice place to live. An Xbox360 and Nintendo Wii, and a bunch of guns with accompanying ammunition.
What I want to get into in today’s post however is not “sacrificing” anything, but isolating out exactly what I believe in when I say “I believe in The 21 Convention” – because I now realize, what I truly believe in is myself, and the other individuals involved in The 21 Convention.
That, is ultimately, in a nutshell, what I learned in Europe.
I learned that by believing in something “greater than myself”, I was merely expressing belief in my own self, my own work ethic, and my own fortitude to get shit done.
Not some pie in the sky collective concept - but myself.
This may sound like semantics, but I assure you this is the single greatest realization I could and will ever have as a direct result of The 21 Convention – self awareness through brutally hard work on a specific and defined event/project.
At the same time, I now appreciate more than ever the individuals involved with The 21 Convention, as I believe in them, not the collective expression of them which is The 21 Convention.
I’ll still use the expression of course, that I believe in The 21 Convention, but at the end of the day, that’s merely a short handed way of saying
I believe in Jonas Sandstrom
I believe in Doug McGuff
I believe Mark Sisson
I believe in Steve Mayeda
I believe in Tim
in Patrick
in Drew
in Bill
in Peter
in Dj Fuji
in Dodger
and on, and on, and on.
The individual has been shit all over for the past few decades by relentless propaganda, but never the less, individuals standing up for what they believe is right, is exactly what this world needs right now, more than ever.
Governments, corporations, and other collective organizations don’t change the world, individuals do, and the ideas they advance. The field is entirely irrelevant, from nutrition and exercise, to politics and war, it comes down to the individual every, single, time.
After a soul purging tour of Europe, I finally believe in my self, and my own abilities. Do you? Serious question, because you can.
-Anthony ‘Dream’ Johnson
President, CEO & Founder: The 21 Convention
