In this piece I am just going to throw some random ideas about forging ahead when life present itself in any format that it knows best. For those times when you feel your spirit is dampened or simply low. This may help you to lift yourself up and move ahead. Of course there is no defined ingredient to win at all moments in life, kind of one size fits all type of solution. Nevertheless, this might be helpful or you could pass it on to someone else. There are times I wish life had a clear cut manual that one could follow when faced with life’s curve balls. Just a wild thought!!
Life is a mixture
Life is like a mixed pot of experiences. One day it throws you a curve ball, the other day it gives you an open penalty shot. One wise man once shared this with me, ” In life it’s either you are out of a challenge, about to face a challenge or right in the middle of a challenge.” That is life and it’s assorted encounters. In all that, don’t forget to redirect your thoughts to some beautiful moments that life once threw at you, (I will revisit that later).
All the roller coaster of events are meant to test your tenacity, your faith and most importantly, your capacity to endure. Your dreams will be put to test, your energies will be shaken, your vision will be marred and all hopes will be shattered. Despite all these and even worse experiences, one thing to always remind yourself is, that which doesn’t kill you, will make the stronger you at the end of the tunnel.
The challenge is not…
Being knocked down by life, isn’t the challenge, but deciding to remain on the ground. You have to muster (yes muster not master which is an act of assembling) the energy to pull yourself up and face life one more time, over and over again – thus called living. They say never quit, you might succeed with another blow when you feel like giving up the fight. When drowning in life’s sea of encounters deciding to remain on the ground is what makes you to suffocate and lose your life. So the challenge is not drowning either.
The frequency of having to encounter the challenges isn’t the challenge. Countless times will you have to face the tough prowess of life’s claws. Each encounter will be different from the other, life certainly doesn’t prepare you enough to face it’s puzzles as they are thrown in front of you. You will have to figure out the way forward on the go, figuratively they say, “You will have to hit the ground running.” Many are the times you are going to be thinking on your feet. In most of those scenarios it’s not about perfection, but being in motion at least.
What you will need is…
You will need a big enough Why, even if it’s not a big enough one, can you reach for a why at least. You will need a good enough reason to propel you forward. It is your why that gives you energy to forge ahead, wake up from your challenge and face reality. It might be a scenario when you are pursuing some objective, a life milestone or a business venture, reminding yourself why you started all that in the first instance will help you to recharge your focus and your thought process towards being solution oriented instead of lamenting and being motionless.
You will need to make a decision to move ahead and not backwards. “Forward ever, backward never!” sound a motto for some organisations, groups or individuals, borrow the same notion and let it carry you forward. In most scenarios the difference in moving ahead, or being stagnant lies in the power to make a decision. It doesn’t necessarily mean the decision you make is the best winning decision. At least having a decision and following it with an action makes a difference. Remind yourself again, that deciding not to decide and taking an action is also part of a decision. There maybe times when that will be the best. Even when there is physical action to take, making the mental decision to move on is equally a called for decision to execute. Think about it!!
It is all about having mental toughness that will help you to win one more time. Most of life’s battles are fought and won in the mind. Whatever a mind can conceive it’s possible to execute it in the physical and have solutions come to fruition. Put the most powerful computer in the world to use – i.e. your mind. If you put your mind to work, it opens up avenues that will help you find a way where you almost never thought there was one. When you can turn impossible into possible it is first inside your mind. Redirecting your thoughts to times when you won some of life’s challenges gives you a sense of victory and the needed energy to win again. Life’s beautiful moments are our reserves to revisit when our spirits are low so that we can fuel our energies for success.
Your are a winner
Wake up and move ahead, face the day’s challenge, put your mind to work. Be solution oriented rather than investing your energy bisecting the challenge into various layers. You are a winner, if you tell yourself so. None has the power to tell you otherwise. Rise up and shine one more time!!
A winner at heart is relentless and more determined to face life head on. Don’t doubt your potential to face life’s battles and your capacity to win them by reflecting on the times you might have failed to do so. The past should never have the power to dictate your future success. It can only do so if you give it the power to do so, by deciding to focus on the energy draining thinking process. Remind yourself that you are a winner and rise up as a winner to forge ahead.
Conclusion
Indeed life has a fun way of presenting itself to us. Some days are better than others. It is how we choose to interpret life’s events that matters at times. Whether we see a challenge and magnify it at the detriment of robbing us of most of the beautiful memories we cherished before. Those beautiful memories are the fuel that we need to forge ahead. They are never wrong when they say, “count your blessings always.”