Bad days and setbacks are a part of life. Setbacks will happen. They’ll come in different forms. And when they do, it’ll seem like the worst timing ever.
That’s how it is for me, you, your cousins, your parents, and all their friends.
When setbacks happen your mettle will be tested. I don’t believe someone’s strength is measured when everything is going their way- but more when things don’t go their way.
I’m sure most of you have heard this one before, but it’s worth sharing again so I will.
“Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place, and I don’t care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward; how much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done! Now if you know what you’re worth, then go out and get what you’re worth, but you gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain’t you. You’re better than that! I’m always gonna love you, no matter what. No matter what happens. You’re my son and you’re my blood. You’re the best thing in my life. But until you start believing in yourself, you ain’t gonna have a life.”
-Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa
You may or may not be a fan of the Rocky movies, but take that for what it is- a damn good piece of advice.
If you get injured, it’s unfortunate sure- but it’s also a signal that something you were doing along the way wasn’t right. Maybe your movement is a little sloppy. Maybe in the back of your mind you know you should be doing more stretching, or coming back more slowly after time off. It’s not necessarily your fault– but it’s no one else’s responsibility but yours.
Neither is the way forward.
And in my experience, the only true way forward is with positivity.
There is always give and take in any situation, and to take anything, you’ve got to first be willing to give.
You’ve got to have genuine positivity in the opportunity to work on the thing that has sidelined you. Sometimes that’s direct work, and sometimes that’s taking it easy for a while and having the opportunity to use your time toward something else.
I could as easily be talking about getting laid off as a physical injury.
I’m purposely leaving this fairly vague because I know most of you reading will be able to come up with your own scenarios that you’re going through or have gone through.
Most controllable setbacks are due to being resistant to change. For my self, it wasn’t until I let go of some things that I was resisting and allowed myself to fully accept guidance that things started to move.
The old “how’s that working for you” look in the mirror usually seems to do the trick- after an undetermined period of time of resistance of course.
Positivity is the way forward. You won’t move forward while dwelling on the negatives any more than you’ll build yourself up by tearing others down.
And sometimes you just have to fake it ’til you make it.
Think “What would a positive person do in this situation?”
“Ok. I’ll do that.”
