I’ll be honest. I’ve had better stretches of my life.
I set the goal of writing one of these every day for 30 days. I really do not feel like it today, just being honest.
And that’s the thing about being tough. It really is just a decision. To show up, to follow through, even on the hardest days.
I tend to write little quotes on my hats. I started doing this when I was running a lot. I’d get to a certain point, and I’d take my hat off to cool down. Seeing some sort of motivational quote right there on the brim of my hat always gave me a bit of a boost.
One of those quotes, a long time favorite of mine, says that “champions are made on the bad days.”
Which, obviously is a great quote. But it’s one of those ones I love to throw around on easy days. But painfully annoying on challenging days.
I’m reminded of a poem called “Good Timber” by Douglas Malloch.
My favorite few lines from it
Good timber does not grow with ease:
The stronger wind, the stronger trees;
The further sky, the greater length;
The more the storm, the more the strength.
By sun and cold, by rain and snow,
In trees and men good timbers grow.
Good things don’t come easy. As the old saying goes ‘easy come, easy go.’
So when I’m in the dumps, on one of those bad days. The kind of days that just nothing is going right. I try to remind myself that these are the days champions are made.
I was texting with a friend yesterday, talking about my stress, fear etc. I said “I feel like I’m staring down failure, on the largest scale so far.” Which is a terrifying place to be, even for me, who appreciates failure.
Things get hard, get scary. They add up, and subtract. Life throws curve balls, we might get hit by a pitch or two. I guess the only reality of it all is am I still at the plate?
Last time I checked I was.
Last time I checked so were you.
Today’s question of the day, is something I meditated on this morning.
“When you fail, how do you process it? Deny it, lean into it? What’s your method?”