The Viable Alternative

Last week I talked about how I finally was able to get how I needed to change my story about money, but, how am I doing it?

Well first off, part of me being willing to share my challenges with money on here is so that I can be held accountable in this area I have challenges with. Being that I’m pathetically so vain (hey, it’s a Leo trait), I would consider it an utter embarrassment to share something that I say I’m working on and then look like a complete “front” by not living up to my word. This is to keep my arse in check especially when I go through my lows of getting discouraged and feeling sorry for myself.

Second, though I once had great credit up until my mid 20s, my credit had been quite crappy ever since. As you know that “credit is king” in this country, you can’t do much in this country without good credit unless you have a lot of cash on hand to circumvent the former. Well, my attitude was that since I didn’t have much money anyway, I didn’t have to worry about having bad credit because I couldn’t much of anything like a house or a car.

See once again the “story?”

My story and my excuses kept me in a place where I kept myself surrounded by indicators of a substandard financial situation (e.g. pitiful credit). I realized that in order to change my financial situation, I needed to start acting like I had money or I expected money to start coming to me instead of continuously expecting ongoing lack. To do this I decided it was time I took a deep breath and take a look at my credit and see how I can start cleaning it up.

Serendipitously, as I was thinking about this, a good friend of mine told me about his friend who I knew also who had a Credit company that helped people clean up their credit and had offered to hook my friend up. I gave him a call, he helped me get access to my credit, and lo and behold, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought, and he said that it shouldn’t take too long for me to build back up my credit and has already given me the steps to start doing that.

Third is in regards to my Faith. In my life, especially as of recent, I’ve heard about amazing stories of Faith from the mouths of the people who had these experiences and from the stories we read in books and hear on television where upon boldly embarking on a journey towards a dream, in some way or another, money was always provided for them and all their needs were met, though of course, overall the journey wasn’t easy.

These stories were indeed inspiring, and while I had always wished that I could have my own testimony of Faith like these people, due to my own internal blockages, I was always reluctant to take the FULL leap of Faith like these people. I just thought that I was one of those people who was somehow just too “special” for Faith to ever be able to work out for.

Well about a month ago, I did a photoshoot which involved behind-the-scenes footage of me being interviewed about the shoot and how I put it together. I was already riding on a high on having been able to pull this off after trying and failing for a couple of years, so when I saw the edited version of the whole video, with the momentum I had, I was able to step out of myself and see myself from a different angle.

To my surprise, I saw a very engaging, powerful, inspiring being and I thought to myself, “Wouldn’t it be a shame if I were to die not reaching my full potential and sharing it with the rest of the world? How much less hopeful would the world be if the other greats that are here now and came before me didn’t step out and achieve their potential?””

This isn’t me being conceited or arrogant, this is just me starting to step out of my Ego and recognize the value I have as a human being. Everyone walking this planet should be able to do the same thing.

Anyway, full of inspiration, I began to make a “deal” with God, I promised Him that if he provided me a way, a means and the provision for my needs, I will surrender to Him all my gifts and talent to make this world a better place.

Around this time, I was watching Bishop T.D. Jakes give a sermon on Oprah’s Lifeclass on the OWN Network. In the sermon, he said one of the most life altering things I’ve heard in a long time. To paraphrase, he said people have it wrong. They chase “provision” in their life, but when you align with your purpose, provision chases you.

BAM! (BTW, I need to come up with a new word, I tend to say this on here a lot. 🙂 )

I’ve often heard many wealthy people say that in order to be wealthy, rather than chase money itself, work on being a person of value and the money will find you.

Having been already pushed out of my comfort zone by friends and mentors to challenge myself, plus being on fire to actually do something in this world, I was finally ready to have a message like this resonate deep within my spirit.

Now, do I know my purpose? I can’t fully articulate it yet. What I do know is that our purpose lies in our desires, our gifts and what we enjoy doing. The blind leap of Faith I chose to take encompasses these things. So, here begins the next level of my life, learning how to have and work Faith to attract money, and allowing the lessons I learn from that to change the story I tell myself about money.

What else? Stay tuned for Part 3.

This is The Viable Alternative.

Hope this helps,

Ike Love