At the age of 19 I opened a Martial Arts School and grew it to 350 active students within 5 years.
My wife divorced me when I was 28 which sent me into a whirlwind of searching and letting go of life.
I sold my business, sold my house and spent much of my time smoking weed on the beach.
Trying to run away from my now developed marijuana addiction, I went to a 30 day meditation retreat in Oaxaca Mexico and moved there immediately afterwards after seeing that there is another way to live besides goal acquisition, growth and money.
The little surf and fishing village that I now found myself in was… magical. Friendly locals, hippy spiritual travelers, warm waves, meditation, parties, and girls.
I had a family that loves me, money in the bank, and a generous amount of friends and activities.
It seemed that a project, a focus, a career, was the only thing missing.
Through a number of stories plus the personal journaling I had done on my time off, a lighting bold struck that I could build my new community a skatepark.
So I set out on the mission. I bought property, we built a first concrete ramp, brought down 20 donated skateboards, made an instagram page, and started marketing the mission to the world.
With a couple of contacts and blessed messages, we acquired two professional skatepark building teams (shout out to Wonders Around the World and Dreamland Skateparks) to volunteer their and their teams’ time to bring the vision into reality.
Everything on paper would say my life was perfect.
But inside, I was miserable.
I was still addicted to marijuana and deeply depressed.
During another 10 day meditation retreat, I felt intense pressure in my chest and my vision started to blur.
Luckily, that is where it stopped, and I called a friend to ask him to pray for me.
He listened to me and at the end of our conversation he told me to meditate on the word “powerlessness.”
I contemplated his instruction for a couple of weeks, called him back and surrendered to his next advice, which was an invitation to a new way of living, a “spiritual way of life,” guided by 12 steps.
It took me some time to get the hang of it. For one, I thought I was already spiritual.
But the gap in my game was that I had concepts and theories galore, but those alone didn’t equate to peace.
I learned and executed on a handful of exercises that brought my spirituality out of my head and into my reality.
I started to clean my house up, trust God, and help others in a more selfless way.
And the fog started to lift.