The Viable Alternative

In my years of pursuing self improvement in order to become a better, stronger version of myself, I’ve always been fascinated with the stories others have told about the things they’ve done to change various aspects of their lives in terms of diet, fitness, spirituality, to mental, physical and emotional health.

In terms of diet, I’ve heard people talk about how becoming a vegan transformed their health. Yet, I’ve heard other people say that being a vegan never worked for them because it made them lethargic and sickly or exacerbated whatever autoimmune disorder they were trying to reverse, and it was switching to the carnivore, or all meat diet that transformed their health by reversing autoimmune disorders, eliminating depression, and helping them lose a whole lot of weight. Others swear by the ketogenic diet in helping them transform their health, while some say they tried it and it didn’t work for them in getting the results they were looking for. Then, others swear by the paleo diet while some dismiss that and will list the name of another type of diet that helped them.

I’ve also heard people recommend certain books that helped give them that shift they needed to embark on a path that made them successful, while when I recall reading that same book, I remember it not having done a damn thing for me except for taking space on my shelf. Yet, I’ve read some books that I found to be very helpful to me that did nothing for others who read the same book.

In terms of spirituality, some people think that Christianity is the bees knees and credit it with transforming their lives, while others find it to be stale, stifling and cumbersome, and extol the virtues of Islam, Buddhism, or a “general” form of spirituality where they believe in and pray to a Higher Power but don’t associate themselves with any organized religion.

In terms of mental and emotional health, I’ve heard different people credit different types of therapy with helping them heal from past emotional pain and trauma. Some were helped by one of the 12 step programs whether it be for alcoholics, or sex addicts, or drug abusers, while others think they suck and credit psycho analysis with helping them. Others were helped by hypnosis, others have done body oriented or somatic therapy, some have used energy healing, and others have used one of these newer modalities such as EMDR, network spinal analysis, rolfing, etc. to help them heal.

I’ve also heard of all these different things people do to stay focused on and accomplish their goals that although they work for a charm for some people, others would denounce it as bunk and think their way is the best. For instance, for me, it is very important that when I set a goal, I write it down first. I find a power in doing that. However I have a friend who is a go-getter who tells me he never writes down his goals. He says what works for him is just keeping them in his head and just constantly thinking about them to stay focused.

I will also tell you that I got very little from taking that transformational platform that people rave about, Landmark Forum. Yet, I’ve seen it cause some profound changes in people and heard people give glowing testimonies on how it changed their lives. I’ve seen it help reunite families, help people find the loves of their lives, get their dream career, become wealthy, etc. I had no such success.

At the end of the day, we’re all snowflakes. None of us are exactly alike. We all have our own unique DNA and as such, different things work for different people in different ways. What may work in changing the life of one person may not work in changing the life of the next person and vice versa. Also, even when two people find several things that are benefit to them on their individual paths, they may get different benefits from those same things and also, there will most definitely be something else that works for one but not the other. This is why that although it’s important to learn from those people who are living the type of life you want to live and have the results that you want to have so that you can create the same for your life, you have to allow for the fact that not everything they did may work the same for you, and that you will have to forge your own unique path by trying different things out to come up with your own formula.

This is The Viable Alternative.

Hope this helps,

Ike Love