513 - Why do we sensationalize?

We hear a lot of success stories about people who overcame insurmountable odds to have massive success.

Incredible people like @Nick Vujicic, @Maysoon Zayid, and @Bethany Hamilton come to mind.

They are all amazing people who, despite disabilities, have risen as leaders who inspire the rest of us.

Others rose out of poverty such as @Oprah Winfrey and @Jim Carrey to become highly successful.

As a result, many people believe they must first suffer some terrible adversity before they can become successful.

Another group we hear about are the downfalls of successful people who, having no physical or financial limitations, made it to the top and lost it all.

The first name that came to mind is OJ Simpson. There really are to many to name.

We love reading about the rich and famous who crashed and burned. There are too many to name.

There are two groups who we hear little about.

First, there are those who faced adversity and didn't rise to success. There's nothing sensational to report there.

Second, those who did not face adversity and rose to success. We don't hear about them as often as those who faced adversity because there is nothing sensational to report either.

This could be displayed in a quadrant:

- We hear about those who succeed despite extreme adversity.

- We don't hear about those who failed who have extreme adversity

- We don't hear about those who succeed who had no adversity.

- We hear about those who failed who had no adversity.

Albert Einstein is often credited with the quote, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”

When we let go of extremes and stop adhering to sensationalism, we can all succeed together regardless of our conditions.

I love that people are coming together, although we don't hear about it nearly enough.

But when you take a deeper look, people are coming together.

The definition of WOKE is - being alert to racial prejudice and discrimination.

Being AWAKE takes that a step further.

It means not discriminating against people who are different for any reason. Race, gender, physical or mental abilities, culture and everything else we fear keeps us judging each other.

When we drop our judgments and assessments of others we can work closer together.

Our conditions (our past and our physical capacity) will no longer not define us.

Anyone can succeed.

There will be failures and setbacks along the way. Those are what help us get stronger and learn along the way.

Why do we sensationalize?