Stone Cold Steve Austin and the Sacrifice of Our Lives

I grew up a huge wrestling fan. In some ways I didn’t really have a choice. My mom used to go to WWF (now WWE) shows when she was pregnant with me. I was born for it. While I stopped watching a long time ago, I can still be sucked in by late 80s to late 90s nostalgia. When I heard A&E was doing biographies on WWE legends I grew up watching, I immediately knew how eight hours of my life were going to be spent. 

While they were all really good (even if you’re not a wrestling fan, you’d enjoy them) there was one that really stood out to me. It was the Stone Cold Steve Austin biography. If you know anything about the WWE’s Attitude Era then you know Stone Cold not only ushered it in but was arguably, it’s biggest star. 

Before he got to this place of global stardom, it took years of sacrifice and being looked over. He would drive hundreds of miles to wrestle, sleep in his car, and make $40 a night. Then spent years in a now defunct promotion that essentially buried him because of politics. When he finally ascended to the top it took everything in him to stay there. He spent over 300 days a year on the road, wreaked havoc on his body, and fell into a paranoia, always worried about the person coming up behind him to take his spot. Paul Heyman, a manager and executive in this business had this to say when reflecting on Stone Cold: 

“There's an obligation to your own vision and dreams that you have to service at all costs over and above everyone else in your life including yourself. Your own self interests take a backseat to your dreams and aspirations of what you want to achieve. He’s had multiple marriages that fell apart, he’s had multiple friendships that fell apart that will never be repaired. But that's the price you have to pay to look back on a body of work and have everyone else around you say: he changed the game.” 

Steve Austin sacrificed it all to get to the top and it cost him everything. Upon reflecting on his relationship with his daughter, he understands that it’s broken now because he was never around back then. It’s hard to form a long lasting bond with your children when you’re not there in their most formative years.

Several of you who read this are pastors and many of you have demanding jobs. Some of you are pursuing the life of an influencer, others are at the end of your careers/lives and reflecting, and some of you are just beginning your adult lives and trying to figure out what you want the next 60 years to look like. We should all be asking what the pursuit of success in our varied arenas, whatever that may be, is going to cost. 

Count the Cost

The Undertaker was another major WWE star in that era. He experienced similar relational pain to Stone Cold but upon reflection had this to say: The window of opportunity for success is small and you have to seize it while it’s there, at all costs. 

Do you though? Shouldn’t we take the time to consider what we’ll lose if we jump through that window? We live in a work obsessed world. Hustle and grind culture has us bragging about how busy we are, how many hours we work, and the lack of sleep we’re getting. 

What it won’t do is push us towards introspection. It won’t challenge us to think about the effect that constantly being lost in our work has on others. Nor does it challenge us to consider how the late nights in front of the computer leads to diminished mental faculties and physical degradation. Hustle and grind culture doesn’t compel us to count the cost of ignoring our children, friends, and family. Just because the window is there, that doesn’t mean you should jump through it, not if it costs you everything else in the process.

Enough is Enough

The real question we should be asking is: what is enough? When can we say we’ve had enough? That we don’t need to build anymore. We have to be able to recognize that not every opportunity is a good one or worth taking. We have to know when to retire and enjoy our twilight years. Working an extra three years to stack a little more money isn’t worth the time missed with your spouse, grandkids, and friends. 

Count the costs beloved.

Consider what you’re losing right now. Fifty years from now you won’t miss the nights in the office or care about the promotion. Perhaps you’re still working right now even though you could have retired years ago, is what you’re doing worth it? 

We can never get time back. Once it’s gone, that’s it. Don’t miss the time you could have with people right now. 

The constant chase for more is evidence of misplaced hope. Whether it’s money, status, fame or achievement, they all make terrible gods. In the end, they won’t provide what you’re looking for and can easily be taken away.

A life that finds its security in the hope Jesus provides is one that can say, I’ve had enough.