Create Your Extraordinary Life NOW!
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It’s February, 2001 and I just got my divorce papers from court. I thought my life came to an end. What went wrong? I pounded over and over again. I was married to a beautiful girl that loved me, I was extremely successful in business, close to my family, and everything seemed right but I knew deep inside something was wrong. I just did not know what.
I could not understand this empty feeling inside me. I was very successful ,so I did what most successful people do, I enjoyed the fruits of my labor by vacationing, spending money, cars, boats, sex, romance and whatever I thought would make me happy. At times when I would dare to surrender my ego and have the courage to admit that there was something wrong, I would ask the people I loved what was wrong with me. For example, my mom would say, “Nothing is wrong with you. You’re the best son a mom could have and I am so proud of you. I think it’s the stress from your partners.” At the time I had a chain of stores, so I thought my mom was right. Next, I asked my wife what was wrong with me. She said, “Honey, nothing is wrong with you, I am so happy to be with you.” She also assumed that I was happy and for some reason, I wasn’t. My sisters were the best, they would say, “Andre, as you get older, you are not as happy as when you were a kid. What you are experiencing is normal.” So I thought what a bummer it is to get older and be an adult.
Now I am thinking, thank God I have money and a wife that validates me. This kind of thinking caused me to cover up my true feelings of sadness, anger, rage, shame, and the need for more sex, more money, more of everything else. As a result, I developed a few addictions and I mean a few.
As I continued to indulge in over sexing, overeating, and over spending, I realized my sadness did not go away and as a result of my addictions, my marriage slowly but surely came to an end. I got divorced in 2000. After I got divorced, my whole world came crashing down. I no longer had money. I had to sell my business to pay for my divorce and my inability to focus made making money harder.
My wife who used to validate me was not there anymore. I got so depressed I had no confidence to even pursue a new girl. After all, who wants to be with someone that is sad and depressed? I was trying to hold on to my food addiction, but soon realized that having no money, no confidence, no happiness and then add being fat did not help. The journey to build my life back began on Valentine’s Day, 2001 when I attended a workshop about death and dying with Susan Anderson. This journey from misery to creating an extraordinary life was full of ups and down, but I would not change it for the world.
For the first time I was not living the double life. Also, I started to honor what was going on inside me and began to understand myself and what made me tick. This experience has taught me a few things; The first thing is that I know very little, the second is the little that I do know, which is not much at all is always changing, and the third thing is when I think I know it all, I need to step back and reevaluate my life and realize that I might be off track again.
Throughout this journey, I met many great people that have had a great influence on me. One of the great people I’ve met, his name is Bob. When I met Bob he was a customer in the pizzeria restaurant I owned and we soon became friends. Bob, just like the rest of us has struggled and had to go through his own journey to rebuild his life and build a life he loves.
Over the years, Bob and I took many drives to the beach, had many lunches at diners and as time went on; we both grew to love each other as best of friends. We would always share what we had learned that made our lives worth living.
In 2008, I had a show on a local cable network called Creating an Extraordinary Life. On the TV show I would interview people on how they created an extraordinary life for themselves and that’s where the idea came to write a book. Soon after I started to write the book, I realized that many of the philosophies I had were due to my conversations with Bob, so I decided to ask him if he would be co-author of the book and he agreed. Hence the title of the book became “Create Your Extraordinary Life Now”. This book is about those conversations Bob and I had over the years. One thing Bob and I agreed on was the commitment to make a difference in all people regardless of their age, status, and nationality. We are all children of God and all worthy and deserving of creating an extraordinary life. Also we agreed that nothing we say is set in stone. As we change our inner reality, our outer reality and understanding of life will also change. So when you read this book, we urge you to take what you like and leave the rest.
We hope and believe that this book can help you create the life you love and deserve and the life God wants you to live. Also, to get the most out of this book, we urge you to not just simply read the book, but practice the concepts, write in the book things that touch you inside, highlight what you think you can use. We provided spaces for you to take notes at the end of the book and if you need more space, buy a notebook and take notes each day. Try the concepts for 30 days. We believe you will be much happier and on your way to a life created by you and a life you love. Another thing we agreed on is that it takes courage to live the life you love. Some things you read in this book today you may not agree with until years from now. This has been my experience with many things I have read over time. Sometimes what works for you today may not work for you tomorrow. I believe you will get whatever you need to get at the time you are ready to get it.
Our philosophy has developed over many years by many books we have read, workshops we have attended, thousands of conversations we had, coaching others, and coaching ourselves, and anything else that we thought could help us. We urge you to make a commitment before you start to read this book to create an extraordinary life and will not stop reading until you are living the life you love.
My friends, Bob and I want to wish you good luck on your journey and remember having an extraordinary life is your birthright.
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About the Book
We all go through hardships in life. Andrea and Bob share their experience about how they went from a life of despair to a life of hope, happiness and joy. Each chapter is written to give you inspiration and tools on how to live a life that you love. At the end of the book there is space to take notes. Use the book as a guide and a study book to plan, create a life you love and a life you will enjoy to live. Bob and Andrea want to wish you a blessed journey in your life full of peace, joy, serenity and happiness.
About the Author
Andrea Colandrea was born in Italy and moved to New York when he was 10 years old. He has been an entrepreneur for the past 23 years. His journey to creating an extraordinary life began when he got divorced in February 2001. That journey to understand why he was unhappy in his life is what inspired him to write this book. This book is about his experiences on how he went from a life he hated to a life he loves and calls an extraordinary life. Andrea Colandrea continues to share his strategies in creating an extraordinary life through being a life coach and as a motivational speaker.
Bob Lembo was born in the Bronx in 1943. He has been a lifelong social activist and health advocate. In recent years he has focused his energy on helping those who have allowed their loving self image to be covered with self doubt, leading to a depressive reality. “Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get.” (Dale Carnegie)