Original Post: 9-9-2009
Life is so interesting and full of so many unforeseen twists and turns. I guess that is the point and without them we would perhaps be bored. Never-the-less I am continually learning that how we respond to these occurrences are what determines our character.
Character, at the end of the day is all we really have. It determines who we are, and why we are. Our character is bound to be flawed and within those flaws we grow or we fester.
I am reading a book a friend gave me, The Dip, about “knowing when to quit and when to stick.” It urges the reader to take inventory and find the one thing he/she focus on to be the best. If your direction in life looks through a kaleidescope, you will never have a focus and you will be come a jack of trades and a master of none, which isn’t a bad thing so long as your dream is not to become a master of anything. I think this applies to me in so many ways…
First, I pushed and focused so hard on my fitness career that I had to (for the time being) give up a lot of my other ‘quests’ (like going back to school) because to be the ‘best’ in fitness it required my up most attention. It is not that I am more talented than the girls I competed against. It is that my determination was relentless. I believed in my ability to make it. With my belief, and the support of so many, like you, I made my dream a reality. You can too. You just have to want it more than you can stand to give it up. You have to want it more than it is hard. You have to, in the most discouraging moments, see it, and work until those moments are shadowed by victory!
Second, I have had to reflect on my character. I have had to understand that I can not, and never will succeed at pleasing everyone, even though I am a ‘people pleaser.’ My strive to not create ripples has cost me in several points of my life. This book has further driven home the point that I, YOU, need to be true to yourself, to your heart and your dreams. Go after the most important things. Fix the most important things, one at a time.
I know that this speaks to some of you more than others. I hope you will take it at face value and take from it something positive…life should be positive and will be if you allow it.