Khalil Rafati has a story that would make almost anyone's jaw drop. A now-recovered heroin and cocaine addict, he hit rock bottom at the age of 33 when he was unable to stand up from a pool of his own vomit, weighing only 109 pounds and residing on Los Angeles' notorious Skid Row. He now owns SunLife Organics (a health store with retail spaces in three different states) along with a yoga studio in his hometown in California. His background and how he's risen to overcome realities that the majority of us cannot even begin to fathom is nothing short of incredible.
He's written a couple of books, one of which I'm in the middle of now, "Remembering to Live: Lessons I Learned Crawling Out of Hell". The writing is concise with many sentence fragments, and it feels more like a diary or playbook for life than an actual book. Lots of goodies, but one line in particular that really stuck out to me:
"The vast majority of us will secretly live a life of quiet desperation."
If that doesn't hit home for you in some way, I want your secret. I think it's inherently human to have dreams that we're terrified of going after. I can think of a couple right off the top of my head that may forever go unrealized unless I decided to take the necessary leaps. But the fact that we're human isn't an excuse to not chase them. We risk failure, judgement, embarrassment, and isolation by going after the things that our soul calls out for. The thing is, we also risk the chance of succeeding. Of learning from our leaps. Or at least of knowing we tried, instead of letting the dream live in the back of our minds.
Thankfully, most of us haven't been pushed to the point of intentionally overdosing twice like Rafati did. But just like he was before he turned his life around, we're guilty of living in the want. Wanting more but being too afraid to go for it. I think his book title says it all, especially when staring down fear. Remember to live.
"A Single Seed" is my attempt to get out one idea every day that I've learned or accumulated over the years, with the hope that it may stick in someone else's memory bank as well. The idea may be related to fitness, business, life, or philosophy, but I think you'll find that many can change domains if you wish them to. With each seed planted, a new life awaits.
Image credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/prayitnophotography/38291212264