The answer to every trap is found in stories.

Because self-help is a fairly new concept — every valuable answer has to be embedded into a story that delivers some golden nugget in the end.

So, we (Thoughts & Productivity) set out on a journey to :

• Find them

• Curate them

• Filter them

• Adapt them

And present them in a way that’s actionable for you today.

Wednesday Stories — a short 2 min story that aims to spark some interesting ideas in your brain. Every Wednesday, we send a new one to our paid subscribers only.

Hello readers!

Welcome to another thought-provoking story. For this one to work, you’re going to need a little bit of imagination.

Your Personal Hell

Imagine that you keep living your life the way you’re doing right now — years go by and then eventually you die.

We know gruesome, but bear with us...

Once you’re dead, your soul moves into the afterlife.

You meet god and then he asks you —

“Welcome my child! Did you enjoy your time in heaven?”

Heaven?

What would you do?

How would your soul process this information? 

Just look around you and realize just how beautiful the earth is. How it is filled with incredible things, people, and experiences.

What if this was your opportunity to enjoy this beautiful garden?

God follows up with —

“I created Earth and bestowed on you unlimited possibilities and everyone enjoys this garden differently.”

You might be in shock to come to the realization that heaven is real and that you’ve lived in it.

After mumbling in answer — still in shock from all of this — you get to move on…

And this is where things get even more interesting.

You’ve met god and now you get to meet the devil.

But he looks a lot friendlier than you pictured him. There are no horns, no redskin, no fangs, and he just looks like a regular Joe.

He greets you and then he says —

“Hi there! Now that you’ve been to heaven, are you ready to see your personal hell?”

You think to yourself —

“Wait! I might not have been perfect, but I definitely don’t deserve to go to hell for the rest of eternity.”

So, you beg him to let you go.

He laughs, but not in the maniacal way you expected him to.

And then he says —

“No silly, how is something else you humans have always gotten wrong. Let me show you…”

Then you both sit in the chair, he waves his hand and a projection shows up.

It’s you, but somehow different.

You look happier & healthier, your life is filled with friendship & abundance, so much success, so much love, so much of everything.

So, you turn to the devil and ask —

“What is this? Although I see myself, this isn’t the life I lived. What are we watching?”

The devil smiles and replies —

“This is your ideal life, my friend. This is the life you could have lived. This is the life in which you didn’t listen to other people. This is the life in which you committed to the thing that made you happy. And as a result, you got everything you wanted out of life.”

You see, this is why it’s called “Your Personal Hell”.

Because for the rest of the time, you will exist knowing that you had the opportunity to do all of that, but you chose to settle for less because you were scared of what might happen.

You freeze to stone realizing how big of a mistake you’ve made.

You wish with all your might that you had the opportunity to do it all over again, but unfortunately, these aren't the rules of the universe.

Moral

Readers, what we want you to take away from this story is:

• What if this is supposed to be your heaven?

• What if you don’t get another chance?

• What if every single day you live on this Earth is a gift the universe has bestowed upon you?

Yes, it comes with hardships.

Yes, it’ll come with obstacles.

And we know it ain’t gonna be a smooth sailing.

But what if those are there to help you appreciate the good? To make the most out of this heavenly journey?

Would you waste it, or would you do everything in your power to come as close to that ideal version the devil would like to show you?

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Enjoy your heaven while you’re in it, or else, regrets will become your personal hell!

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P.S. This is a sample story to give you an idea of what we publish every Wednesday. There’re also samples of Saturday Insights and Sunday Digests. To get a whole idea of what you’ll get with a paid subscription, give a read to our about page.

Our objective is to reach 1 million people and try our best to give them what they need the most — Thoughts & Productivity that compounds over time.

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