[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeLezpLBnM8[/youtube]Life doesn’t always play out according to my plans. Stuff happens … especially in this economy! The news is saturated with unemployment, failed business’ and loss. It’s easy to feel defeated, and when we are repeatedly knocked down, it sometimes seems useless to get back up again. The thing is, it is that getting up that
It’s funny, so many of the events in my life that felt overwhelmingly negative, turned out to be pivotal points that changed my for the better. When the rug got pulled out from under me, it forced me to re-group, and it wasn’t until I stepped out of the box … out of my safety zone, that my life began to truly change. My design business was wiped out when my builder clients went bankrupt. The money they owed me was tied up in their houses and when the banks foreclosed on them, I lost everything. Sounds devastating … and it was, but it opened a door that allowed me finish my book and follow my dreams.
Randy Pausch once said, “We can’t change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.” We all have our stories, and most are touched by hurt, pain, fear, disappointment and loss. The struggles we face are as varied as our lives, but no matter what hand we have been dealt, there are so many others that have walked the same path before us and the damage affects us all in the same way. The distinction is made in how we handle adversity.
We only get one chance at life and this is it! We may have every reason to feel like a victim, but the truth is, when we crawl into our victimized shell, we are empowering other people, situations or circumstances to steel the one chance we get to live our best life. Don’t give them that control!
I’ve never been brave! In fact, my self-image kept me trapped in the belief I could do little to change the course of my life. One thing I have learned along the way is courage is not an unattainable virtue. The difference between a courageous person and a coward is simple. A coward is disabled by fear, but courageous people feel fear, they just choose to move forward in spite of it. It is a decision not an attribute. We have to make the decision to change our lives and never give up. Life can change on a dime.
“To get what you’ve never had, you must do what you’ve never done.”
Casi