Anytime I hear of a suicide, I think about how lucky I am to be here today. Furthermore, I feel sorrow for the individual, as well as their family and friends.

If only these individuals could see into the future. If only they could see how much better their life will get if they just hang in there.

I feel that God saved my life on the night I wanted to commit suicide. I had no access to a vehicle, and no obvious method of going through with it at my home. No guns, no way to hang myself, no incredibly high roof or bridge nearby to jump off of.

Out of nowhere, I broke down and began crying out to God for help. No one else was home at the time. God was all I could turn to at that point. I didn’t feel like I had anyone to turn to. I didn’t have any real friends, and never felt that my family understood me.

I haven’t suffered from any depression since, and my life has continued to get better with age. I have my ups and downs just like everyone else, but the amount of personal improvement I have made is almost dramatic.

If only Junior Seau and all other victims would have sought God’s strength and guidance. If only they would have turned to him. They would still be alive today.

My point: suicide is never the answer. No matter how bad things may seem, there are always better times ahead.

If you back on your life, you’ll find that some of your best moments are follow times of crisis. So if we just hang in there and get up the next day, something good is bound to happen sooner rather than later.

If only suicide victims could truly grasp this. When you’re depressed, nothing matters. You would rather be anywhere else in the universe but here on Earth. I know how difficult it can be to see any light at the end of the tunnel.

I don’t know what Seau was going through. I don’t why he did what he did. But I wish he could see how hurt his family and his friends are right now. If he would have known how many people cared about him, perhaps he would still be here.

We get so caught up in our own lives, whether we are depressed or not, that we forget how we affect others.

Life is difficult, and it can be downright painful at times. But the bad times are what make the good times as great as they are.

Without pain and sorrow, we couldn’t experience joy. Life was never meant to be easy. But adversity is only temporary. And once we get through it, we become better for it.

Part of God’s plan is for us to turn negatives into positives. But we can’t do that if we end our lives early.

Whatever Seau was going through, he could have eventually turned it into a positive and made a difference in this world.

What’s great about this life is that we have control over it. We can change and adapt. We can grow.

If you don’t like your life or who you are, you have the power to change. All of us do, whether we know it or not.

If only suicide victims knew this.

I learned that Google made some changes to their logarithm, and my top earning sites all lost their first page rankings. For those unfamiliar with internet marketing, first page rankings are what a lot of us shoot for. It’s how our websites get traffic, and ultimately earn money. Without them, our sites are pretty much invisible unless we opt for paid advertising.

I accept full responsibility for what happened, as I broke the rules that Google set forth. I didn’t do things the right way. I learned a valuable lesson that will make my business better going forward.

Anyway, I went to sleep last night feeling very negative and down about my situation. I was frustrated, yet concerned about my stream of passive income now pretty much depleted.

I know better than to sulk, as I have read books such as Think and Grow Rich, The Science of Getting Rich, and the Master Key System. A positive attitude, no matter what the circumstances, can make all the difference.

I woke up this morning still feeling down, not sure what to do next. I then starting thinking about my problem, and what I should do next.

There’s a saying the greatest progress can come during times of crisis, so I reminded myself of this.

Slowly but surely, I started picking myself up. I focused on solving the problem, as opposed to feeling sorry for myself. What a difference it made.

I spent the day in deep thought about my business. To make a long story short, I developed a new business model that I believe is better than the one I just had. It should help me achieve success faster, while also setting myself up well long-term.

Sometimes we need something bad to happen to make us re-think what we’re doing. If everything always went smoothly, we would never have to find a better way.

Adversity can be downright painful. But the faster we get past it and move on, the faster we’ll find solutions to our problems.

It’s not about how many times you get knocked down, it’s how many times you get back up.

Here are a few quotes from Drew Brees about adversity:

“Just to think of the road that we’ve all traveled to get to this–there was so much we had to go through–and how much adversity we faced along the way.”

“Going through hard times is what gives you the opportunity to accomplish something special.”

This latter quote really stood out to me. Now, I have always believed that the bigger your dreams and goals are in life, the greater the struggle. Why? In order to accomplish lofty goals, such as winning the Super Bowl, it requires being better than just about everyone else. This means having a great deal of wisdom and strength, and that is what going through adversity will do for you. Without wisdom and strength, we are ignorant and weak. Not exactly a formula for success.

Sometimes while experiencing adversity we don’t understand why, but it’s important to see the big picture – that it’s preparing us for something great. Therefore, embrace the struggle, be thankful for it. More than likely, it means you are on your way to doing something special.

The Saints have been a team all year that have had to come back to win games. So what significance did that have on their win last night? Well, if you watched the game, you know that they were down 10-0 after the first quarter, and came back to outscore the Colts 31-7 the rest of the game to win.

Now, if any team has its way, they want to blow every team out that they play. Having to come back and win games from behind is challenging and stressful—regardless of what sport or level you are playing at. However, if the Saints had won all their games this year easily, they wouldn’t probably have responded the way they did when they were down 10-0.

“We’ve had plenty of games this year when we’ve gone down at some point in the game–early, fourth quarter, whatever it might be. We just continued to believe in ourselves and found a way to win” – Drew Brees

I have talked before about the importance of faith in yourself and where you are going in life in order to be successful.

Whether we are aware of it or not, we all have to be trained before we can accomplish anything great in life. The Saints all year were being trained for the Super Bowl by having to comeback a number of times to win. This is why they didn’t panic when they were down early. They had been there before, they were ready for it, and believed they could win. This exemplifies the importance of faith, and it can only be developed over time and by overcoming adversity.

The lesson in this instance is this: Not everything is going to be ideal when you are traveling down the path toward success. Sometimes, you are going to fall behind and have to make some comebacks, like the Saints did. You are not going to blow everyone out. But there is a reason for it, and it could be preparing you for the greatest moment of your life-just like it did for the Saints.

All we have in life is our health; without it we have nothing. Regardless of how much success you experience in your profession, none of it matters if you have health issues. That is why eating healthy and exercising on a daily basis is critical to living life to the fullest. As someone who is self-employed and works long hours, I still always make sure that I exercise daily and sit down to eat healthy meals.

You might have recently heard about Urban Meyer, the head football coach at the University of Florida, and his decision initially to resign then deciding to only take a leave of absence. The reason for his decision was due to health concerns he has experienced for awhile now. He mentioned the fact that he has ignored his health for years. When he told his family he was resigning initially, his little daughter was said she was happy to “get my daddy back.”

He has created a great deal of success including winning two National Championships in the last four years. Yet because his life was not balanced, the stress of the job became too much for him. He admitted that he ignored his health, and is clear that he didn’t devote much time to his family. Because of it, he is now in a very precarious situation, not knowing what his health is long term and whether he will be able to coach football again; not to mention putting the football program in a tough spot.

Entrepreneurs are very passionate about their work. The amount of money and success experienced often depends on the amount of time and work put into their business. However, business should never become before God, family, and health. You may experience success short term, but long term you will burn yourself out and your health will begin to deteriorate. You won’t even be able to enjoy all the success you had because of it.

Periodically, take a step back in your life and re-valuate your priorities. Are you taking care of your health? Are you putting family before business? Are you managing your time well enough? Don’t look back on your life someday and wonder where the time went because you worked 16 hours a day at the office. You can always make more money, but you can’t get more time.

No matter how bad you think everything is for you, remember: it is only temporary. Situations don’t last forever, they are always changing. One minute, everything is great and flowing smoothly. The next, adversity strikes and now you have problems to deal with. Adversity, however, is God’s way of making us stronger and teaching us something that will helps us going forward. How can we ever grow and learn if we always experienced success?

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:2-4

That said, instead of viewing adversity in a negative light, find out what you can learn from it and how it can make you better. That is what trials are designed to do. Besides, if you don’t have any problems, your life probably isn’t very fulfilling.

“We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us – they help us learn to endure. And endurance develops strength of character in us, and character strengthens our confident expectation of salvation.” Romans 5:3-4

If you view life as a temporary situation, then there should be no fear of consequences. If you fail at something, so what? Besides, as I mentioned before failure is your best teacher. You will learn from failure and be better off for it. Don’t listen to anyone that says you are a failure, for the only failure is not trying.

“I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.” -Michael Jordan.”

Anyone who has succeeded at anything in life has failed. Jordan is the greatest to ever play the game and one of the most successful athletes ever, yet he failed a number of times. He has also said:

“I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.”

“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

How do you want to look back on your life when it’s all said an done? Do you want to think about all the things that you didn’t do? Do you want to be full of regret? Do you want to have to answer the question of why you didn’t go after your dreams?

Can you imagine being old and seeing how your life passed you by, wondering what if? I personally couldn’t even image how sick I would feel, knowing that it is too late to change everything. Thinking about everything I should have done in my life. Is that what you want?

Do you want to have regrets? Or do you want to look back on life with a huge smile because you went after your dreams and accomplished them, that you pursued your passion and lived life to the fullest did all the things you wanted to do?

You only get one shot at life. It’s here and gone in a hurry. If someone told you that you were going to die in a week, would you regret how you are currently living your life? Would you want to change it? Or can you honestly say that you are living a life of fulfillment and enjoyment each and everyday?

Just do it….doesn’t matter what fears you have, ultimately if you want something, you simply have to go for it. Don’t look back on your life and wonder what if.

Why is positive thought so important? It has been scientifically proven that your life is a manifestation of your thoughts. Whatever your dominant thoughts are, positive or negative; your life is going to be a reflection of them. If you’re dominant thoughts consist of achieving success, your subconscious will begin to help you get there. The same holds true if you constantly think about failing, or being poor. If you think you are going to fail and that is what dominates your mind, then chances are you will fail.

However, a positive thought process alone doesn’t translate into success. Thomas Edison once said “Vision without execution is hallucination.”

Always have hope and optimism in your life. If you know that your life is going to continue to get better, you will always have something to work for and look forward to. This optimism will help you get through the more difficult times in your life, knowing it will get better with time.

What are your dreams? What do you want out of life? If you aren’t doing anything today to get closer to your dreams, what is stopping you?

Find out exactly what it is you want. What is fulfilling to you? What do you value the most?

Find your passion in life. If someone gave you 5 billion dollars and you could wake up every day and do whatever you want, what would it be? (nothing isn’t an option). What career would you choose under these circumstances? What are your strengths and weaknesses as a person? What are you naturally good at? When you find your passion, you will gain confidence in the direction you are heading. This will create optimism for the future, knowing that you are taking steps towards your dreams.

When you find the right career, it will come natural to you in some ways because it suits your God given abilities. You will have confidence in yourself to excel and will bring fulfillment.

When you believe in what you’re doing, fear ceases to exist. Why? Because you’re doing what God has put you here to do. You are showing faith in him by listening and following the path he wants you to go down. When you show faith in God, he will always be there to guide you and get you through the difficult times.

“Trust me in your times of trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory.” Psalm 50:15

Following your dreams involves risk, struggle, and uncertainty which is why many choose to ignore them. These people fear taking risks and failing, thinking “what if this doesn’t work? People will think of me as a failure.” This thought process in lies the reason why many struggle achieving happiness. They think more about failing than succeeding, and are more concerned with what others think. No one else knows what you’re journey is about but you and God. So instead of listening to others, listen to what God is telling you.

If there was no struggle involved with the dream you are pursuing, there would be no appreciation once you realized it. Is there going to be adversity? Of course, no one ever said that pursuing your dreams is going to be easy. But the satisfaction and fulfillment you will get when you fight through the adversity, overcome all the obstacles, and realize your destiny will be unlike anything you have ever experienced.

I had fear my entire life until recently. I had extreme fear of social situations, referred to as social anxiety disorder, fear of uncertainty, change, and taking risks. I would wake up in the middle of the night filled with worry and fear about my life. This was when I didn’t have faith.

I now place all my faith in God. I completely surrender myself and place my life in God’s hands. I know he has a plan for me and I intend to follow it every step of the way. Because I have complete faith in God, I have absolutely nothing to fear in my life. I know he is always with me no matter what and wants me to succeed.

“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10

How did I get to this point? What caused me to have such faith in God, especially when I never had it before?

To make a long story short, I listened to God. I allowed him to guide me. My heart was telling me to change careers almost a year ago today, and I listened. God guided me to what is now my true passion, which is entrepreneurialism. I am happier and more fulfilled now more than ever and have great optimism for the future. Since my faith has grown, I have felt at peace with myself and with God.

“I am leaving you with a gift – peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give isn’t like the peace the world gives. So don’t be troubled or afraid.” John 14:27

I have learned that our gut instinct is one of God’s ways of communicating with us. When something doesn’t feel right or natural, there is a reason for it. I felt God was telling me to change my career, and I listened. I showed faith in God when I did so. I didn’t think about the possible consequences. I instead prayed a lot and asked God if this is what he wanted me to do.

“Don’t worry about anything instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7

My level of faith has continued to grow in God. I have found that he will always get me through the difficult times, and adversity is just of means of testing my faith and making me stronger. I know when I trust what God is telling me and follow through, and place him first in my life; he will fulfill all the desires of my heart. Everything we have in life is because of God.

What’s the moral to the story? Listen. Pray. Show gratitude. Have faith in God that he will help you every step of the way as his plans for us are far bigger than we can imagine. What is there to fear when God is always with you?