Choose to Take the Journey

Get back in the ring

Here’s the scenario. You’ve been burned in the past. You’ve tried and failed, on multiple occasions. Maybe you set the bar too high one too many times and fell short of your goals. You feel disappointed. Discouraged. Like, what was the point? But that’s no excuse to throw in the towel. You’re just not good enough… yet.

But you can be, if you just get back into that ring! Stop analyzing your past failures to death in the hopes of avoiding future mistakes. If the world gave you a good whipping, don’t make it worse by giving yourself three more beat-downs in your own mind. In the end, it’s better to keep fighting for your dreams and lose than to sit at home and cheer for the winning team. If you don’t fight, you will have already forfeited. If you do fight but lose, at least you’ll have had one hell of a ride.

Toughen your mind

“A jug fills drop by drop.”
-The Buddha

There was a point during my 3rd year of optometry school that I approached my psychological limit.  During the week, I saw patients all day while I studied for my classes at night.  On weekends, I practiced clinical procedures while preparing for the National Board’s examinations.  Despite having already invested my university years studying science, 2 years of professional study, and in excess of 100 thousand dollars in student loans up until then, I actually considered dropping out.  I couldn’t imagine enduring another 2 years of that life, an accumulation of even more debt, and a possible residency just to get a job doing something I was beginning to doubt I even wanted…

…until I realized my problem: I was too farsighted. By becoming more nearsighted, everything became easier to deal with. Rather than trying to get through a particular quarter or even a particular week, I merely tried to get through a particular day. I kept imagining myself at the end of the day, finished with the day’s work and ready to go to bed. On particularly hard days, I would just try to make it through lunch, then dinner, then bedtime, and then to just wake up the next morning, get myself through the door, and start the next day.

When you feel overwhelmed, just focus on the here and now. Focus on getting through just a few hours at a time if that’s what it takes.

Harden your heart
“I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.”
-Bill Cosby

Stop trying to make everyone happy. No matter what you do, people will hate you. Even if you are too meek and accommodating to hate openly, they will deride you behind your back. Spending your time trying to placate to a hater’s every whim is to fight an uphill battle on a hill of your own making.

Instead, follow your heart and steel yourself for the barrage of attacks. Becoming visible enough to elicit the ire of complete strangers means that in their eyes, you’ve become worthy of envy. Other times, the attacks will come from those closest to you. Your family or your social group have already cast you in a particular role, and to break out of it is to upset the equilibrium of their worlds.

Do as you please, not as they please. With time, their criticisms will sting less as you consolidate your strength.

Stay light on your feet

To throw an effective punch, you have to keep your body limber. You can’t dig your feet into the ground or lock your joints. The real power of a punch comes not from the hand or the arm, but from the twisting motion of your entire body from your legs, through your core, and out to your shoulder and wrist. Tensing up not only weakens your punch, but also makes you easy prey for getting knocked down.

Don’t allow your aversion to pain to paralyze you. You will fail, I promise you. It is a fact of life. But if you think of failure as merely feedback, you will be able to endure the pain and eventually prevail. Failure is life’s way of telling you to adapt. If what you’re doing isn’t working, be prepared to change your approach. When the world throws a knockout punch, you have to stay flexible enough to evade it, to maneuver yourself back into position, and to bounce back stronger than before.

Keep your guard up

Don’t drop your arms and let yourself get pounded in the face. When the world is giving you the beating of your life, that is the time you need to maintain your resolve the most. Don’t give up, because the pummeling won’t last forever. Arms up. Wait for an opening. Strike. Nothing worthwhile ever came without a fight.

//Do you have a story of how persistence has paid off for you? Please share below.