Jealous Devils and Positive People.

Jealous Devils, ignore them and move on.

Jealous Devils and Positive People.

Words based on true stories and self-experience.

They are out there. The bitter, the angry, the naysayers. They are out there, the Jealous Devils.

The haters who see you trying to shine, they only want you dull. The ones who operate in crowds with their baying, negative noises; they have their crowds only because they don’t have the courage to stand alone.

They come in all shapes and sizes. The siblings spilling bitter untruths in the hope it will move them further up the family ladder, closer to the father who thinks himself a God.

The parents who berate their children because they see that very same child’s future and it angers them. It angers them because it was a future they wanted, but their very own bitterness prevented it. Don’t worry readers; that child will shine anyway, but we will get to that.

The friends who see you and cry “My round!” and then, when you try to leave for pastures new, whisper “Who does she think she is?” They may even use terms, show off, bitch, slag. Why not?

But I believe, and this is from my own experience, that for every Jealous Devil there are two Positive People. I know because I’ve met them.

You see your future, you see what you want to do with your life, but you have no idea how to get there. You don’t know the people to help you, and you don’t have the tools to get the job done. All you have is the buzzing in your ear from the Devils. “Who do you think you are?” they ask.

Except there is a quiet voice who whispers louder than their shouts.

“Here, take this, this will help,” they tell you. “Here, read this, this contains the knowledge you need and look, watch this. This guy does what you do, maybe a little bit better, so learn from him.”

And so, the whispers are important.

And so is that casual remark, made to you at a family gathering, some distant relative who has heard of your path. “Love,” he says to you. “You are making people so proud, but girl, you were always going to do that.”

That Uncle doesn’t even know he has moved you to your next level, as he turns back to the bar to buy his favourite niece a drink. You smile anyway.

You make your move, you start to find your path, and you are in rooms with your own Gods. Except they aren’t. They aren’t Gods. They are just like you, only further down the road.

One of the most positive people I have ever met and a huge influence on my life. Mr Geoff Thompson and his wife Sharon.

And they speak many different languages from the Devils, and they are languages you can understand.

They sacrifice parts of themselves so they can lift you up just that little bit higher. They shave off a piece of their own energy and hand it to to, just so you can go that little bit further.

They aren’t always graceful with their words though, oh no. They aren’t unkind, not at all, but they won’t always tell you what you want to hear. What they will tell you is what you need to hear and if you want to move just that little bit further to where you want to be, you best listen, because these people only want what is best for you. Because once upon a time, somebody wanted what was best for them. And they got it.

I have been made to feel small, I have sat and talked with BAFTA winners (and they listened). I have been battered and I have fought European MMA champions. I have stuttered through being belittled and I have spoken and then listened to applause from the crowds who also stamped their feet at my words. It was always the latter of people who pushed me up, pushed me forward.

Jealous Devils howl and their noise is nonsense. Positive People talk quietly and their words matter.

Only you can choose who you listen to.

Home with my buddies, so important for my mental health.

To book Simon to talk at your event or for a Self Protection/MMA seminar, please email me, Julie at info@simonmorrell.com