Latest / Rooted & Real With Keenan / Day 3: "Be a Goldfish"
Transcript
- Keenan: friends, welcome back to Rooted and Real with me. So today we're on day three of our nine days to believe, a series as we count down to the premiere of the new season, season four of Ted Lasso. So we already talked about being curious instead of being and what it to truly believe. So today we're talking about another one of my favorite Lasso quotes. He says this. Be a goldfish. Ted says a goldfish is the happiest animal because it has a 10-second memory. Whether that's scientifically true really the point. The point is this: don't let one moment define the rest of your life. I to admit, that lesson became very personal for me. So here's a lesson that I learned. I sat one of the biggest exams of my career. The National Clinical Mental Health Counseling Exam, or as some of y'all know, the NCMHCE. So invested about a year and a half of my time, my energy, my money in becoming really good at this test. I completed graduate school, I worked with clients, I studied for this thing for countless hours. Then I took the exam and I failed. I missed it by one ⁓ point. I Staring at the results and feeling crushed, feeling frustrated. Not because I thought I wasn't intelligent, but because I started asking myself questions that had nothing to do with the exam at all. I would say things like, Maybe I'm just not cut out for this. Maybe I need to change careers. Maybe everyone was right. God has someone else in mind. Maybe God has something else I'm supposed to do. It's amazing to me how quickly. One disappointing moment can become a false story about your identity. The exam wasn't just testing my clinical knowledge anymore. It was testing my confidence, my calling, what God had called me to do. was testing my perseverance. As a counselor, ⁓ now recognize exactly what was happening. One had turned into over-generalization. That's a common cognitive distortion. Instead of saying I failed one exam, my mind begins saying, I'm a failure. That is a massive difference. is an event, not identity. When we conf when we confuse those two things, ⁓ shame writing a story that God never intended us to believe. And that is what rumination does. It causes us to replay mistakes until they begin to feel like the truest thing about us. But repeating a lie doesn't make it true. listen to what Paul writes. Philippians 13 to 14. He says this, brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do, forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Jesus Christ. something important there. Paul isn't pretending his past never happened. He's not saying that. He's refusing to let it control his future. ⁓ has reasons to live in regret far greater than feeling an exam. Before following Christ, he persecuted believers and approved of violence against the church. Yet after encountering Jesus, Paul didn't become defined by his worst chapter. He became defined by God's grace. That's the same for us. That was the same for me. Your worst day does not have the final word. Jesus does. Paul also wrote a book another book called Romans, or it was a letter, not a book. Romans chapter 8, verse 1 reminds us, therefore, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. That doesn't mean there are no consequences. It means there's no condemnation. That's a world over difference, especially in definitions. So here's part of the story that I'm grateful for. I didn't quit. I kept studying. I kept seeing clients. I kept learning. I kept trusting God had called me to do this work. Even when my emotions told me otherwise. And after two more attempts, passed on the third one. Looking now, I realized pass this passing the exam wasn't even the greatest victory. ⁓ The victory was refusing to let one setback determine the direction of my life. God used that season to build perseverance, humility, and compassion. Today, when someone tells me that they failed, I don't just understand it academically. I lived it. Maybe your exam isn't an actual test. Maybe it's a marriage that ended, a business that didn't succeed, a job you lost, a dream that hasn't happened yet, a parenting mistake you can't stop replaying. Here's what I'd tell you if I was sitting, if you were sitting with me. are more than your worst moment. Our worst moments ⁓ not define you. You are more than your greatest disappointment in one event that doesn't get to write your identity. God does. think about one failure you've been carrying around. Write it on a piece of paper. Then underneath it, answer these three questions. What did I learn from this? How has God been faithful even in this season? What truth from scripture speaks louder than my disappointment? And pray a simple prayer. Lord, help me stop defining myself ⁓ by I've done and start defining myself by who you say that I am. So Tomorrow we're going to talk about another quote that has challenged me over the years. Do the right thing. Doing the right thing is never the wrong thing. We'll explore why integrity often costs us something in the moment, but produces something far greater in the long run. Until then, be a curious, keep believing, and maybe, just maybe, be a goldfish. Keenan Crowley. This has been Rude and Real. Thank you all for being here. If this episode has been important and ⁓ Touch your life, please share it with somebody. We could use the shares, we can use the ratings, thank you all so much.