Troy's Times - August 1st, 2005
Hi Friend! IN THIS ISSUE
“It is not important How we come to the events in our lives, but how we Deal with those events”- Troy
This week’s article: The moment of my release, I was filled with overwhelming happiness. I had learned valuable lessons and I had succeeded. I was drug free and educated, I had my family back, and I had my whole life ahead of me. But, I soon found out that freedom itself was a challenge. The first night of my release, my sister picked me up at the gates a free man for the first time in many, many years. It was an extremely strange feeling to come and go as I wanted. There were trees around me, a dog ran by, I heard a kid laugh, and I had an ice cream cone. To celebrate, my sister took me to downtown Denver for dinner and introduced me to sushi. I had never heard of such a thing and the thought seemed repugnant, but compared to what I had been fed for the last several years I knew there was no way it could kill me. She dropped me off in the middle of downtown Denver as she went to park the car. There I stood, lights flashing, cars passing, crowds of people walking by me. The stimulation was overwhelming. I was frozen. It was like I was frozen in time, like I wasn't even there. As my sister approached she said I had the strangest look on my face, a look of fascination and fear. The comings and goings of the free world was something I hadn’t witnessed for years. I knew guys who returned to prison of their own free will after purposely violating their parole because they could not take the real world. They were institutionalized. Having been told what to do and when to do it for so many years, they couldn’t make decisions for themselves. We heard stories of trips to the grocery store that would leave a grown man completely overwhelmed by the choices in, for example, cereal only to realize that he had been standing in the aisle for an hour without making a decision. It is an amazing feeling to fear a thing like Cocoa Puffs. Was this going to happen to me? I had no idea what to expect. Once again, I made a decision to embrace change and slowly things started to get a little less scary. My friends and family were there to give me support and I was able to visit a cereal aisle incident free. Then it hit me. I was relearning a lesson. Once again, I was standing at the gate of change, looking at my past and envisioning a future as a better man with a better life. But, until I decided to embrace the change by stepping through the gate to see what was ahead of me, there could be nothing for me but fear of the unknown. Freedom was an awesome thing and it was meant to be a little scary to me. I had to relearn freedom from the standpoint of a clean, law-abiding citizen. I had to have it revealed to me in shocking clarity so that I would know that every moment I spent as a free man had amazing things in store for me. Becoming educated and surviving prison was only a short part of my path. Once I got out, I found that there would always be another challenge, another obstacle to overcome, another lesson to learn. I found that I was better than I had been, but I was still not the best I could be. This will always be true. That is the warning in this article. You must learn to love the path to becoming the person you want to be, because it does not end. When you have finished the goal you set for yourself, you will have a choice to make between continuing on the path or slipping back into dead time. In life, I will meet Janus again and again because as soon as I accomplish one goal, another must replace it. And, each time I meet him another test is passed and another lesson is learned. Dead time is no longer good enough for me nor will it be good enough for you. ............................................................................................................................................................ Not all of the gates I pass are huge and imposing and neither will yours be, but those are sometimes the challenges that can hold the greatest lessons. I discovered I could not get auto insurance because I didn't have an insurance record for three years prior. Where I live, under state law, if you can’t show proof of insurance for the prior three years it is illegal for the insurance companies to issue you a policy. This was intended to catch people who'd been driving without insurance, but left no loophole for someone such as myself who didn't need to carry insurance for prior years. Phone calls, letter writing and appealing my situation seemed to make no difference to anyone I contacted, and I was finally forced into informing an insurance company that the place I resided for the past three years did not require drivers to carry insurance. From that, I learned that there actually are still people in the world who prefer to think the best of you rather than the worst. I never said where I had been, but they were happy to assume that I had been in a foreign country. I’m sure that prison never crossed their minds. After years in the detention system, it was nice to finally be given the benefit of the doubt rather than the nightstick of unfounded assumption. Upon obtaining insurance I tried to secure a driver’s license, but was told because of a ten year old violation in another state. I would have to resolve that issue before my residing state would issue a license. Hence another six weeks of red tape and paperwork being passed from state to state before I was finally issued my drivers license. It forced me to remember that no matter who I became, I would always have to be accountable for my past. I then attempted to rebuild my credit, but the bankers were shocked to see that not only did I lack a recent credit history, but also my credit report was completely blank, as if I had dropped off the face of the earth. I was informed that this was more damaging than having a bad credit report. I would have been better off showing a bankruptcy, a repossessed vehicle, anything. From that I learned that even a clean slate could present a challenge. Of course the credit report is the only place where there was a preference for a marred past. Inform someone that you spent the last several years incarcerated for armed bank robbery, and the reception is usually very cool. I learned quickly that it was better if people got to know me first, before I shared the details of my recent residence with them. Only then were they willing to look beyond the stigma at who I really was. The one exception to this is my current wife, the most nonjudgmental, caring, sweet, loving, honest and beautiful woman I have ever met. She knew my past before meeting me and was able to see beyond my history. She has taught me to look at the world with an open heart. Easy times after my release? No. Worth working for and fighting through?
Yes. That which is worthwhile in our life, which is really worthwhile,
is never going to be easy. My dead time is over and every day, I choose
a better life.
See
me being interviewed by Bankers Training and Consulting Company! -
Click to see! Please note that my opinions in all sections are just that- my opinions. Feel free to disagree with them, argue them or dismiss them. As a professional speaker and author, I find that from time to time I offend or upset people. To this I say that I better be offending some people, otherwise I am not doing my job. By making people look at things they are not always comfortable looking at, I expect to ruffle some feathers and welcome your feedback at any time) Featured product for this issue! MY FIRST PUBLISHED BOOK- " From Desperation to Dedication: Lessons You Can Bank On"…Click
here to order
Download a free chapter of my book, The Preface is available here - Click to begin! If you live in or near one of the following cities where Troy will be speaking over the next few months, please contact The Evans Groups for details on an opportunity that does not come around often- see Troy present for free!
Sign up for my affiliate program and earn money while you sleep! Click here for details! Commission for booking me - I offer a commission of 10%-20% ($650.00-$1,300.00) for anyone who refers me for speaking engagements and/or bulk product sales. Please contact The Evans Group for details. Subscriber opinions and impressions of this electronic newsletter: I invite subscribers to write me with their questions as well and I will answer them in the next issue. Also readers, I invite you to send in profiles of yourself and how you have used the information from my electronic newsletter, products or speech in your personal and/or professional lives. Once a month I will feature one individual for all others to read about!
Note: You are free to reprint any portion of this electronic newsletter as long as the portion remains complete and unaltered, and the “About the Author” section is included. About the Author- Troy Evans is a professional speaker and author who resides in Phoenix, AZ with his wife Pam and his dog Archibald. Troy travels the country delivering keynote presentations, and since his release from prison has taken the corporate and association platforms by storm. Overcoming adversity, adapting to change and pushing yourself to realize your full potential- other speaker’s talk about these issues, Troy has walked them.
|
| |||||||
         | |||||||
