Leaving Egypt — The Ancient Story That Explains Why Change Is So Hard

Well, hello there, my friend.

Jonathan Dahl with you.

Welcome back to The Daily Podcast.

I'm pleased you're here.

There are only so many stories in the world.

I think, w- is it soci- not sociologists, it's historians of

culture called… What do we call them?

Let's call them cultural historians.

They argue that all different human civilizations and societies tend to have

these broad groups of stories that kind of are emblematic of the human experience.

And one of the stories that you will obviously know is the story of the

Hebrew people leaving ancient Egypt.

So whatever your faith perspective is, I don't know whether you've seen

the film Prince of Egypt, but I'd be surprised if anybody listening isn't

vaguely familiar with the idea of Moses and the Hebrews leaving Egypt.

And from that cultural historian lens, it's not just a great story of

a group of people, an historical event and all that sort of stuff, but it's

a profound metaphor for the human experience of transformation and change.

So I wanna offer you this lens today, and I want you to try and

apply it to your own story and where you're at at the moment in life.

You see, all of us begin somewhere, and we're always trying to get somewhere else.

Point A to point B. In philosophy, we call this teleology, the kinda, the, the, the

path of… Like, think of it like this.

Like an acorn, its teleology is to become an oak tree, right?

So if a acorn turned into, uh, a camel, you'd be like, "That's unusual.

That was not what I was expecting," right?

So you, the acorn does the oak tree thing because that's what it is.

And so in the human journey, I often argue that our task is

to become more human, right?

To become more alive, more fully what we've been created by God to

be, and this story of leaving Egypt.

And that's the o- I wanna put this repetitive idea in your mind,

leaving Egypt, leaving Egypt.

What does it mean?

It's a… Egypt is a place of bondage, right?

It's a place of captivity.

It's a place where, of oppression.

And all of us, at some degree, have areas of our life where there

is some form of oppression, some form of slavery, addiction maybe.

All of us at, in this moment in history, technology, all these different things

that people are struggling with.

There can be a place in our lives, there can be a season of ours,

there can be a whole life where we can feel trapped in Egypt.

And I've really felt this morning, I, I was preparing the content,

and I thought, I really wanna help people understand this.

That the journey of personal development, the, the journey of inspiration,

motivation, goals, the stuff that we talk about on this show every single

day Is really about moving you from somewhere to somewhere else, to leaving

behind beliefs, patterns, behaviors, attitudes that have held you back

and kept you in bondage of some form.

It might be slavery to old ideas that have held you back for years, or beliefs about

yourself, or things that people have said.

And it just seems that God wants to get our attention and say, "Hey,

look at that story. Look at that story of leaving captivity, leaving

oppression, leaving slavery, and going to," what do they call it?

A promised land, a place of flowing with milk and honey.

So let's take that metaphor and think about where we're all at

in our lives today as we listen.

Can I ask you, is there some area of your life at the

moment that's an Egypt for you?

I mean, it's unlikely that you're listening to this and everything in your

life right now is going so perfectly that it's just embarrassing, that

people just look at you and go, "Can you stop being so outrageously perfect?"

Well, maybe you do, but for most of us, that's not our experience.

All of us have got some area where we feel held back, and that is not

how we've been created to live.

We haven't been created for slavery.

We haven't been created for misery.

We've been created for freedom.

But there's this journey, right?

And the first thing is the decision to leave Egypt.

The first thing is to say enough to this endless suffering, enough to this

unhappiness, enough to these patterns of addiction or holding myself back

or putting myself down or not trying for things or just living in confusion

and never knowing what I should do.

Enough to all of it.

And let's begin the journey.

And the next part about that story is that the journey out of Egypt has got

its, you know, it's dramatic, right?

It's dramatic, the leaving story.

But then there's this period of uncertainty in the wilderness

where they're kinda on their way, but not there yet.

And a lot of times-- And there's a beautiful metaphor in the story where

they're like, they start complaining and they're like, "This is hard.

Why don't we go back?

You know, at least when we were back there in Egypt, at least we had some food.

Like, here it's like we can barely eat, and it's, it's not very nice, and we don't

like it." And they g- and they grumbled.

They complained.

I'm on a complaining mission at the moment.

I've just been every day posting on Instagram, just stop complaining.

Stop it.

Over.

Done.

"But Jonathan, I've got this real problem." Stop.

If you have a real problem, then let's find some real solutions.

But complaining about it just makes everybody else

miserable and doesn't help you.

So my point is that first people begin this process of leaving Egypt.

They listen to a bit of content.

They read a couple of books.

They get so sick and tired of repetitive patterns in their life.

They're like, "I'm gonna change this.

I'm gonna make this different." And they leave Egypt, and then

they start the journey into the wilderness, and after a day, a week,

a month, it's like, "I wouldn't mind a bit of comfort again, you know?

I wouldn't mind a little… I wouldn't mind a donut.

Maybe a couple of donuts.

Maybe just, maybe just a week of Netflix.

Uh, maybe I don't need to g- maybe I don't need to go to the gym anymore.

Maybe, maybe I've just been pushing it too hard.

Maybe I'll just go back to not going, or maybe I'll go back to Egypt."

And you, and you notice that we never say it to ourselves.

Do you notice we never, like, post on any social media, "Everybody,

I'd just like to let everybody know I am going back to Egypt."

Everyone's like, "What do you mean?

You, you, you're going on holiday?" "No, I'm going back to the metaphorical Egypt

of my own misery and low performance.

I'm gonna head back there.

Thank you all for following my journey.

I will be in touch once I've settled back into the land of mediocrity, slavery,

bondage, and misery." No one ever says that But once we start the journey and

it gets difficult, so many turn back.

I don't want you to turn back.

I want you to prepare yourself that as you begin to leave Egypt,

it will be difficult, okay?

Can I be a voice?

It's gonna be hard.

There are so many mornings when I wake up and I'm like, "Wow, it's

really early." If you follow me on Instagram, it was a couple of days

ago, I was like, I was posting at 3:30 in the morning, not to impress you.

It was just as like, you know, I woke up early and got started, and here we go.

And trust me, I sleep really well.

I make sleep a huge priority.

Y- I, I know it doesn't sound like it if you follow me.

You think I'm like a vampire who sleeps, like, 30 minutes

a day hanging upside down.

No, I actually take sleep really seriously.

But I don't wanna waste a day.

I don't wanna go back.

I ain't going back.

I'm just not.

Like, whatever else happens to this show, to me, to life, whatever happens,

you are not gonna find me like, "What happened to Jonathan Doyle?" "Oh, he

went back to Egypt." "He what?" "Yeah, well, you know, he just, he put on 40

kilos and never did a podcast again, and, uh, he's living in a trailer

park." It's not gonna happen, friends.

I ain't going back.

Like, probably like a lot of us who-- So I've spent some time there years

ago, and I'm just like, "It ain't so great here. It's just not so great."

And I do not want that for you.

You have not been made for slavery.

You have not been made for addiction.

You have not been created by God for mediocrity.

This is not the purpose.

This is not the plan.

And if you are living in those sorts of things, you are living in

Egypt, and that is not your home.

You don't belong there.

You are not created to be there.

It is not your nationality.

It is not… Unless I have an Egyptian listener, I do apologize.

But for everybody else, you know there's somewhere else for you

There is somewhere else for you.

And can I tell you, I don't wanna just, uh, maybe I'm just gonna

paraphrase Martin Luther King Jr. Like, I've seen the Promised Land.

I've actually seen it.

I've caught glimpses of it, of what it's like to really wake up and to

be in a place where you feel alive.

Like, most of the time, like, because the way that I live, like, the, the

training and the food and the training and the exercise and the sleep, and

most of the time I just feel great.

I just feel really great all the time.

And I had a great week just last week.

I don't like talking about myself too much on the podcast,

but I just had a great week.

I just met so many great people and got to serve lots of people,

and I'm just like, "This is it.

I'm alive.

I'm alive.

I'm, I'm, I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing.

I'm happy" And I want that for you.

It shouldn't just be people like me that get to live that way.

Like, all of us should be living in our gift.

All of us should be awake and alive, not in slavery.

Okay?

Leave Egypt, my friend.

Just leave.

Just leave.

Just say, "Enough." Just, just say, "Enough." Just walk out.

Just walk out.

Start.

How do you walk out?

Uh, change structures, begin some different processes,

set yourself up for success.

Listen to the podcast every day.

I'll have something for you.

Start reading some stuff.

Reach out to me.

I'm posting reels and shorts on Instagram, YouTube every single day.

There will be something there for you, okay?

All right, that's it.

Uh, please make sure you subscribe.

Instagram, jaydoylespeaks.

YouTube, jaydoylespeaks.

Subscribe to this podcast.

Love it if you could share it with people.

Leave a comment if it's a blessing to you.

Everything else is on the website at jonathandoyle.co.

God bless you, my friend.

This has been the daily podcast.

Get out of Egypt.

Go.

And you and I are gonna talk again tomorrow