The Adversity Advantage with Doug Bopst: Trent Shelton - How to Transform Your Pain into Purpose

Trent Shelton - How to Transform Your Pain into Purpose

Sep 14, 2020

Your pain can either become your PRISON or your PURPOSE!!!

Are you one of those people who believe that all the pain you have experienced and been experiencing are just plain punishments? Then you must tune in to this episode to change that belief into its exact opposite.

My guest today is one of the most inspirational and motivational people on the planet. He is a former American football wide receiver, speaker, author and his content reaches more than 60 million people weekly across his social media platforms. I am incredibly honored to have Trent Shelton, founder of RehabTime on the show today.

He will make you realize that all the problems and pains were given to us by God for a reason.

A bit about Trent’s story:

Trent’s everything was sports. Since he was four or five years old, he played baseball, basketball, and football track. And all the way up to high school, he still played basketball, football and baseball.

That was his identity.

He was blessed to be an outstanding athlete in Texas, went to Baylor University on a full scholarship, and his career at Baylor went great. He had a chance to get drafted, and that was the picture that he’s always painted.

Draft day came. He was waiting for his name to be called, but he never heard it. And that's the first moment in his life where he felt like he wasn't in control, and he wasn't enough.

That lasted for just a short while because he got a call. It's like a big war how the teams are calling him — the Cowboys, the Colts, and other teams. His uncle advised him and said, “Hey, go with the Colts. Don't go with the team that offers you the most money. Go to a place where they have nothing to give you but a fair shake.”

So he signed an undrafted free agent deal, which was a very small signing bonus. Probably a few thousand dollars, and he had to work his way up.

But in the same year, Trent ended up having the greatest preseason with the NFL. They brought him in, and they said, “Hey, you know we want to develop you. We have a lot of receivers — Marvin and Reggie. All these guys want to develop you and there's gonna be a good chance in the season. Somebody's gonna get hurt, you're going to be ready.”

He went ahead and bought his car, got his apartment, and all those things.

But within just three weeks, Trent got a call. It's what they call a “Terrible Tuesday”. They released him. He went back home and tried to suppress everything, and the suppression turned into depression.

And two weeks later, Trent got called back. His career was very unstable.

2008 was his breaking point, and he just didn't care anymore. He didn't even want to live anymore. The only thing that kept him going during that time was his three-month-old son, Tristan. He knew that he had to keep living because his son needs his father in his life.

Faith, family, and fitness: What do these three words mean to Trent?

Faith

It is the rock.
It is everything, whether it's a spiritual relationship with faith or just the word in general. We are human beings, we operate off of faith.
We have to strengthen it to be able to see the unseen, to be able to believe that there's something that’s going to happen for our lives as we like to put it, and believe that there's a door that's going to open from my life that didn't exist yet.

Family

It is his accountability.
It is who he does everything for, especially his immediate family.

Fitness

It's been a part of his life since he was five years old — obviously with sports. But now, even just moving his body, he would say movement influences mood.
It is his release from stress, and it builds on his mental toughness.

What is Trent’s biggest joy in life?

His biggest joy is being able to coach his son's football team. He would rather do that than go speak on the stage in front of 5000 people. Because he knows that the seeds that he is planting in his family's life will not just affect this generation, but also future generations.

“I don't want to be successful to the world and unsuccessful to my family. It doesn't matter if people say, ‘I love Trent Shelton.’ but my kids are like, ‘I don't love my father.’ or ‘My father is not here.’”

- Trent Shelton

What pieces of advice can Trent give to anybody who’s struggling to decide whether to let someone go or not?

Just because they're a good person doesn't mean they're good for you.

Always try to ask yourself, “Where is this bridge leading to? Is this bridge leading me to a greater version of myself? Or is it leading you to a lesser version of myself?”

And if your answer is a lesser version of yourself, you have to burn that bridge.

For Trent, what is the reason why people like to run from their pain and their problems?

Trent knows that running away from pain and problems is one of the three parts of the rehab process, which is the reality.

Reality is hard to face.

People want to stay blind to what they actually see, and they don't want to go through that emotional pain, that emotional journey, so they are going to just sweep it under the rug, as if it doesn't exist, than actually deal with it.

How does sharing a message, helping others, and being of service inspire Trent’s transformation?

For Trent, it brings healing to his soul when someone else benefits from the things that he does — serving, sharing his story, and giving the things he learned from his story.

He starts to realize that he didn’t just go through all that for no reason. There was a greater purpose than the pain he was experiencing.

He believes that we wouldn't be able to do what we do, if it wasn't for the things that we went through.

Tune in to this episode to hear more of Trent’s advice about how we can get to where we are really happy with who we are!

Connect with Trent Shelton:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trentshelton/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LikeTrentShelton

Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/straight-up-with-trent-shelton/id1489061681

Books: https://amzn.to/3mlLu4S

RehabTime:

Website: https://shoprehabtime.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RehabTime

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rehabtime