Burgers, Dairy Queen, and a Poverty Mindset

I have a very vivid childhood memory of my family and me going to Dairy Queen after Sunday service.
My parents didn’t have much money, but somehow, my mom would manage to clip coupons and occasionally treat us to a single patty burger at Dairy Queen as an after church treat.
The order was simple, each of us would get a single patty burger, and sometimes if we could afford it, my brother and I would share an order of fries.
Although I was grateful for the burger, I would dream of being able to buy a country chicken basket.
For some odd reason, one of my school friends was often there eating with her mother and siblings at the same time as us.
Her family would order an array of menu items, one of them being a coveted treat that I so desperately wanted to try, a country chicken basket.
However, every time that I’d ask my mom for one, she would tell me that we didn’t have enough money (which was the truth) and that only rich people could afford them (which was a lie that I’d eventually believe).
Although this narrative was not told to me in a malicious manner, it caused me much harm.
Unbeknownst to her, I developed my own narrative that I would always be poor, that I couldn’t have nice things, and that I’d never be able to earn a competitive salary.
Unfortunately, I spent the first 32 years of my life living from this narrative. The end result was that I found myself settling for a life that I was never born to live.
I was overworked.
I settled for menial salaries.
I racked up debt.
I had very little to call my own.
…. And I believed that good things only happened to other people.
However, the day came when I realized that my belief was nothing more than a narrative that I had created.
And the truth is that I was under no obligation to allow it to lord over me.

Fast forward to today:
I’m a coach that helps people to heal their relationship with themselves so that they can break free from the limiting narratives that lord over their lives.

You were created for so much more than you give yourself credit for.

𝐆𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞. ⁣ 💯👊🏽👊🏽

Unapologetically Yours,

John Eli