YOUR FULFILMENT AND ABILITY TO OVERCOME ADDICTION IS IN YOUR OBSESSION
At this point, there should no longer be any doubt in your mind about what obsession is, what passion is, and the role they both play in ensuring a life of great accomplishment. Today, I want to show you how a purpose-driven life, obsession, and fulfilment are connected.
Every one of us was created for a purpose, and everything we need to achieve that purpose has been placed in us by the Creator.
When you’re walking in line with the purpose for which you were created, it is inevitable that you find fulfilment on that path; you derive joy and pleasure from what you are doing, and as a result, it is easy to become obsessed. There is nothing in life like being focused on ones’ path of fulfilment, and the proof that you are living a fulfilled life is that you are obsessed with what you are doing.
“The fulfilment of your dreams lies within you and you alone. When you understand and accept this, then nothing or no one can deny you greatness.”—John A. Passaro (American author)
What John is saying in the quote above basically is; if you want to live a fulfilled life, all you need has already been placed in you. You have been created in a way that nothing can stop your greatness (as long as you live within your purpose and work hard at it). And the proof that you are truly living for your purpose is that you become obsessed with it. If you are working in your path of fulfilment, there is no question of not liking it; you will easily fall in love with your work to the point of an unusual obsession to produces amazing results.
Let me break it down for you; living a purpose-driven life comes with great satisfaction, and nothing shows that your life is on the right track to fulfilment than when you become obsessed with what you are doing. So, first comes a life of purpose—a life on the right path, then comes fulfilment, after that, obsession; then the obsession leads you to a life of accomplishment and significance, a life of great impact.
Ruslan Bondarenko used to be an alcohol addict, who wasted his earned money and was just a carpenter until he came to the God’s Embassy church. Through the teaching and ministration of the church, Ruslan discovered the purpose of his life and came to the realization that every Christian is born and designed to impact on the world.
As a result of that understanding, today, he is living a fulfilled life as he has his own flourishing business and as well as the owner of a Christian kindergarten where he has been obsessed with teaching children correct values from a young age, hereby impacting the future of his nation.
The story of Natasha Potopaeva is another good example of someone who has found fulfilment as a result of her obsession. Natasha was an alcoholic who has been drinking for years before crying out to God one night for help. She was neck-deep into drinking that she introduced herself to me as “Natasha Alcoholic.” Although she began to experience some measure of peace after crying out to God that night, according to her, she still didn’t know Jesus.
Then, by the mercy of God, one day, she ran into me on TV while I was inviting viewers to a bible study.
In her own words, she said “The bible study became like food to me. I received Jesus into my heart, and I was overfilled with joy. I know I had to help other people find the joy and peace I had.”
That was the birth of her ministry. She became obsessed with helping people to get over their addictions, which led to her founding the Love Rehabilitation Center as an outreach of God’s Embassy. Through this ministry, many addicts have been transformed by God and inspired to live their life on purpose. Natasha who could not find fulfilment in all her many years of drinking finally found fulfilment when she became obsessed with her life’s work. As a result, she began to live a life of impact as she became a huge blessing to so many other addicts through the Center.
The discovery of purpose and subsequent obsession in it will open you up to a life of impact, significance, and fulfilment. Without this discovery and obsession, your life will be empty and devoid of fulfilment, and in the bid to fill the emptiness, you will find yourself in one form of addiction or the other. In doing so, addiction will begin to take the place of obsession.
Many people get the sequence wrong. Along the way, they lose track of their purpose and their calling, and this leads them to a life devoid of fulfilment, a meaningless life. In the bid to get some relief from the nightmare their life has become, they seek temporary happiness in material things or bodily pleasures. They become addicted to things that only bring temporary happiness with no chance of fulfilment; alcohol, drugs, sex, and so on. They search for fulfilment in things that only bring temporary gratification, and when they don’t find it, they move on to another addiction.
Does the life I described above sound remotely like yours? Have you gotten the sequence wrong? Have you been looking for fulfilment in ephemeral and temporal things? If yes, there is something you need to know; you will never find long-lasting happiness—fulfilment—in these addictions. Fulfilment in life is only possible when you’re working in your area of calling and purpose.
“As long as anyone believes that his purpose is outside him, he will go outside himself and seek fulfilment where it cannot be found. He will look for solutions and answers at every point except where they can be found—in himself.” — Erich Fromm
German psychologist, psychoanalyst, sociologist and philosopher Erich Fromm just summarised everything I have told you. If you are unwise enough to think your fulfilment can be found outside your purpose, you will spend your whole life looking for something that was never lost. You will have no other choice but to become addicted to ephemeral things of life.
As a young boy, Grant Cardone had plans to make his family proud; he wanted to be a wealthy and successful businessman. He wanted a life of significance; to impact people around him positively. However, somewhere in high school, he lost the plot, he lost sight of his calling in life, and he fell in with the wrong crowd.
By the time he was nineteen-years-old, he was using whatever hard drug, he could lay his hand on. His addiction to drugs didn’t give him what he wanted; a respite from the emptiness of his life; instead, it made things even worse. The more he used the drugs, the farther his life veered from where it should be, and before long, all the dreams he had of a meaningful life were a distant memory. He had a college degree, but the addiction that started in high school was sucking the life out of him; he became an underweight young man with no purpose, no direction and no sense of self.
Grant was so far gone, his mother and everyone around didn’t know how to help him. Even when—as a result of his addiction—he was beaten to near death, laying on a hospital bed fighting for his life and promising himself that he would never use again, only to get better and return to his old ways. He was lucky to get a job as a car salesman, but he wasn’t any good at it; he hated his job, but he couldn’t quit because it was the only way he could make money to feed his addiction.
Grant knew he was on the path of destruction and realising that he couldn’t help himself; he decided to check into a rehabilitation centre to seek professional help. While there, he managed to stay clean for 29 days, then when his insurance coverage ran out, he was sent back out to the street. On his way out, his counsellor gave him some parting advice,
“You’ll never make it, you have an addictive personality, you are defective, and you have a disease you can never recover from. The most successful thing you can do with your life at this point is never use drugs again. Focus on anything else, and you will fail, drop all your grandiose ideas of money, fame, and success.” Whoa!
If Grant’s case was so severe that the person who was supposed to encourage him could say these things about him, is there really any hope for him? Is there any possibility that he’ll find fulfilment in life?
Well, Grant believed there was hope for him, and rather than take his counsellor’s words as the final nail in the coffin of his life, he saw it as a challenge to prove him—the counsellor—and everyone around who thought it was over for him wrong. He decided to go back to the root of his problem, doing so helped him realize that his problem wasn’t his obsession with drugs per se; his problem was the fact that he gave up the things he was obsessed with while growing up—success. His addiction to drugs only happened after he stopped obsessing about living a life of impact.
This realization marked the turning point in Grant’s life; he decided there and then not to worry about getting rid of his drug addiction anymore. Instead, he decided to regain his childhood obsession for a life of great significance; for a successful and impactful life.
He faced his job with renewed vigour, and he learned all he could about the automobile industry. He got to work an hour before everyone else, and he was the last to leave; all his time was dedicated to being the best car salesman possible. Grant transformed his old addiction to drugs to something more profitable; he turned it into an obsession with success.
Grant Cardone Has Now Built a $500 Million Dollar Empire
Not long after, changes started to manifest in his life; he had not only gotten rid of his addiction to drugs, he had become the top salesperson at his workplace. Grant turned his life around not by getting rid of his addiction to drugs, but by regaining his purpose in life, and immersing himself in it till he became more obsessed with living a life of meaning than he was with getting high on hard drugs. He is now one of the most successful men in the world and has built a business empire worth at least half a billion dollars. He is also passionate about teaching others how to become successful entrepreneurs.
What is that thing you’re addicted to? Is it alcohol, drugs, smoking? The reason you got addicted in the first place is that you deviated from your calling, you lost your purpose in life. Like many others, this lack of purpose, lack of fulfilment in life led to a certain emptiness, and you sought to fill that emptiness with an addiction.
However, that addiction only brings temporary respite and afterwards, perpetual destruction to your life, and you need to be rid of it. Like Grant’s story shows us, the only way to get rid of that addiction is to regain your thirst for a purpose-driven life; to replace the destructive addiction with a renewed obsession, an obsession to live a life of fulfilment.
To be continued Tomorrow, don’t miss it!
Excerpts from the Book “Obsession The Master Key To Leaving An Impact On Your Generation”. #DSABOOKS
This book can be found on dsabooksplanet.com and Amazon.com
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, CHURCH AND NATION
By Pastor Sunday Adelaja.
