454: More Money, a Better Job, or Losing Weight Isn't What You Really Want (Summer Shift Week 7)

Kevin Lowe: Or I don't know. Is it the 250th birthday? I don't know. We'll stick with the anniversary.

Kevin Lowe: So we celebrated 250 years of freedom.

Kevin Lowe: And my friend, that word got me thinking. Freedom.

Kevin Lowe: What does freedom mean? Not to America, not to everybody else, but to me.

Kevin Lowe: And I guess most importantly, is what does freedom mean to you?

Kevin Lowe: Because if we're honest, there's a lot of things that we say we want in life, that we're pursuing, we're going after.

Kevin Lowe: But that specific thing, honestly, is really just a means to achieving some type of freedom.

Kevin Lowe: And that's what we're talking about today. We're shifting a mindset, thinking that freedom is for a nation, and then realizing that freedom is for each one of us individually.

Kevin Lowe: So today, that is the shift we are making.

Kevin Lowe: When we say that we want more money, what does that really mean?

Kevin Lowe: It probably means that we want the freedom to be able to buy what we want.

Kevin Lowe: We want the freedom to choose what we want.

Kevin Lowe: Or what about when we say we want a different job, a better job?

Kevin Lowe: But maybe that really just means we're just looking for more freedom in our life.

Kevin Lowe: We want freedom to do what we want.

Kevin Lowe: Maybe we want the freedom to get out from under the boss who we've been working under, who's quietly, silently just killing us.

Kevin Lowe: And here's something. We say we want to lose weight.

Kevin Lowe: But what do we really want? We want the freedom that comes with losing weight.

Kevin Lowe: We want the freedom to go to the beach and not be embarrassed.

Kevin Lowe: All of these things come back to freedom. The freedom to belong.

Kevin Lowe: The freedom to believe. The freedom to choose.

Kevin Lowe: And I guess what I need to ask you at this point is specifically, what does freedom mean to you?

Kevin Lowe: Because if we never actually take the time to identify, to clearly spell it out, then how do we ever know if we get there?

Kevin Lowe: How do we know if we've ever achieved freedom if we don't actually get clear on what freedom even is, what it even means?

Kevin Lowe: For me, when I went blind, now, gosh, coming up on, I think, 23 years this October, I learned a lot about freedom and I guess more specifically, the loss of freedom.

Kevin Lowe: And what I mean is, is going blind, it took more than just my ability to see.

Kevin Lowe: It took my freedom to choose, my freedom of movement.

Kevin Lowe: For example, I can't just decide to go somewhere and grab the keys off the counter, jump in the car, and take off. No.

Kevin Lowe: Even something as simple and something that has become perfectly evident here lately in these beautiful summer months is getting to the neighborhood swimming pool.

Kevin Lowe: Everybody else in my neighborhood, they just take the car.

Kevin Lowe: They have the freedom to choose that, hey, on a whim, I want to go to the swimming pool.

Kevin Lowe: And they jump in their car and they head down to the swimming pool.

Kevin Lowe: Or maybe even say they decide to walk.

Kevin Lowe: And so they have the freedom to just decide, hey, I'm going to walk down to the swimming pool.

Kevin Lowe: That's not so easy for me. Obviously, I don't have the freedom to jump in a car and drive to the swimming pool.

Kevin Lowe: But I also don't have the ease, the freedom to just say, I'm going to walk to the swimming pool.

Kevin Lowe: Because, yes, I can walk. That is checked off the list.

Kevin Lowe: Yes, do I have some tools that can get me there, like my cane, like my iPhone with today's AI technology? I do.

Kevin Lowe: But it takes more than just that. It's understanding which way to go.

Kevin Lowe: And unfortunately, in my neighborhood, to get to the swimming pool, you got to walk down a busy street with no sidewalk.

Kevin Lowe: And my friend, I don't know if you've ever gone walking on a street with no sidewalk and your eyes closed, but it can get a little sketchy.

Kevin Lowe: And so what I mean is there's a loss of freedom by being blind.

Kevin Lowe: There's also the loss of freedom of choice.

Kevin Lowe: I have to rely on other people a lot for simple things, like telling me the simple idea of, hey, the outfit I just put on, does it look okay?

Kevin Lowe: Now, yeah, of course, I got a method. I've got a system for knowing what color my clothes are.

Kevin Lowe: But if you really want to get down to it, I'm still having to put my trust in other people's opinion of if they think those colors look good together.

Kevin Lowe: I don't get that freedom. Now, I'm not saying this to make you feel sorry for me or to create some kind of pity party.

Kevin Lowe: Instead, I'm just being honest. I'm just speaking from truth.

Kevin Lowe: And to make a shift here is even with the stuff that blindness did take away, it didn't take everything.

Kevin Lowe: And you could quite honestly say that the freedoms that did not go anywhere are the most important because I still get the freedom to choose how I show up every day.

Kevin Lowe: I get the freedom to choose if I'm going to be happy or if I'm going to be a grump, if I'm going to allow those loss of some freedoms to ruin my day.

Kevin Lowe: I get that choice.

Kevin Lowe: It didn't take away my freedom to create.

Kevin Lowe: Lo and behold, here I am on this podcast, 454 episodes later.

Kevin Lowe: I get the freedom to create. I also get the freedom to believe, obviously, to believe in God, but also the freedom to believe in a better tomorrow.

Kevin Lowe: Something that honestly is the thing that keeps me pushing forward.

Kevin Lowe: Despite all the challenges that I have to deal with in my life, from health challenges to blindness to just life in general, I get the freedom, though, to believe that there is still something better waiting for me.

Kevin Lowe: And this is what I want you to hear, is that your situation may be completely different from mine.

Kevin Lowe: But quite possibly, you have your own things keeping you trapped, keeping you from experiencing the freedom that you so desire.

Kevin Lowe: I'm talking about things like debt, financial troubles. I'm talking about relationships, strains in those relationships.

Kevin Lowe: Maybe it's fear, worry, anxiety.

Kevin Lowe: What about a job that you feel stuck in, that you want to do something different, but you don't know what else to do, and you keep showing up, and before you know it, another year's gone.

Kevin Lowe: More opportunities have disappeared.

Kevin Lowe: And the truth is, is that no, me and you, we can't always change everything.

Kevin Lowe: And even the things that we can change, it doesn't mean that we have the ability, the freedom, to just change them in the spur of the moment.

Kevin Lowe: To just say, ooh, today, this is going to be different.

Kevin Lowe: But you do have the freedom to begin. You do have the freedom to start.

Kevin Lowe: And you have this freedom, not when everything is perfect.

Kevin Lowe: But rather, you have the freedom to make a decision, to make a choice, to start dreaming, to start planning, to start believing, even when your circumstances say otherwise.

Kevin Lowe: And that, my friend, is when you can begin to take the next step towards the freedom you desire.

Kevin Lowe: So, say it's that job situation. It's that horrible boss. It's a job that's sucking the life out of you.

Kevin Lowe: Well, maybe you can't quit the job today, but what can you do?

Kevin Lowe: Well, you could look at updating your resume.

Kevin Lowe: Maybe it's debt, financial struggles.

Kevin Lowe: You've got credit card bills, too many bills, too many credit cards.

Kevin Lowe: And no, probably by Friday, you're not magically going to have the money to pay it all off. But what can you do?

Kevin Lowe: Well, you can begin to make a plan. You can begin to look at your monthly expenses and determine what is truly necessary and what things can I eliminate.

Kevin Lowe: And, my friend, we're always looking to get in shape to lose a little weight.

Kevin Lowe: And, no, I can tell you, we don't have the freedom to just decide that, you know what, today I'm dropping two sizes. No, we don't.

Kevin Lowe: But what can we do? Well, we have the freedom to go for a walk.

Kevin Lowe: We have the freedom to order the salad instead of the greasy hamburger.

Kevin Lowe: We have that choice. We have that freedom. So let's take advantage of it.

Kevin Lowe: And my last example is maybe you can't snap your fingers and your marriage be all better.

Kevin Lowe: You can't snap your fingers and have that friendship renewed. But what can you do?

Kevin Lowe: You can have just a conversation. You can send just a text message to say, hello, I was thinking of you.

Kevin Lowe: You can send a text message just to simply say, hey, let the person know you were thinking of them.

Kevin Lowe: There's all these little ways that we can start. And my friend, that's all it takes.

Kevin Lowe: Because the hardest thing that any of us do in life is to take the first step.

Kevin Lowe: The first step is always the hardest.

Kevin Lowe: Now, the trick is, is after you take the first step, is to build on that first step and take the second step and allow the second step to turn into the third step.

Kevin Lowe: And before you know it, the momentum is building. The ball is rolling.

Kevin Lowe: The snowball is cruising down the hill and getting bigger and bigger.

Kevin Lowe: But it all starts with the first step.

Kevin Lowe: And again, my friend, it comes back to the whole topic that we're speaking about today.

Kevin Lowe: The shift we are making in week number seven of the summer shift series.

Kevin Lowe: Freedom is not always a finish line. Instead, freedom oftentimes is a choice to start the race.

Kevin Lowe: It doesn't have to be big. Sometimes it's very small. Sometimes it's quiet, seemingly insignificant.

Kevin Lowe: But in the big picture, it's everything.

Kevin Lowe: So to end today's episode, I want you to ask yourself one question.

Kevin Lowe: What does freedom mean to me?

Kevin Lowe: Now, again, I'm not asking what freedom means in general. I'm not asking what freedom means to everyone else.

Kevin Lowe: I mean to you on just a personal level. What does freedom mean to you?

Kevin Lowe: And once you have that question clear, I want you to ask yourself one more question.

Kevin Lowe: What is one step I can take this week to create a little bit more of that freedom in my life?

Kevin Lowe: If I know what freedom is and I want more freedom in my life, well, what needs to change?

Kevin Lowe: What needs to happen? What decisions need to be made?

Kevin Lowe: What steps need to be taken to achieve that freedom?

Kevin Lowe: My friend, here in America, we just celebrated 250 years of freedom. them.

Kevin Lowe: My friend, I don't want you to have to live another day trapped in your own life, trapped in your own prison when there's a way out.

Kevin Lowe: And I get it. Life is hard. There's certain situations that, quite honestly, they're tough.

Kevin Lowe: They suck. Let's be honest. Let's be true. They suck.

Kevin Lowe: But there's always a way around it. And this is coming from a guy who's gone completely blind, who has health issues.

Kevin Lowe: And my friend, I'm here to tell you that there's always a way around it.

Kevin Lowe: Sometimes we just got to think and sometimes we just have to truly understand, what it is that we ultimately want.

Kevin Lowe: And therefore, we can then begin to figure out how to achieve it.

Kevin Lowe: My friend, my name is Kevin Lowe. This, of course, is Grit, Grace, and Inspiration, a podcast with a mission to inspire you, to empower you, to encourage you to never give up on life, even when it may feel like life is giving up on you.

Kevin Lowe: Until next week, I hope you get out there and enjoy this beautiful time of year here in the month of July in the midst of the beautiful summer season.

Kevin Lowe: Again, tune in next week for week number eight of the Summer Shift series.

Kevin Lowe: See you then. And hey, don't forget, sunscreen prevents the sunburn. Highly recommended.

Podcast Outro: Music by K-Lowe Music