Why - Take 2

I believe there is NO SUCH THING as “staying in one place.” People are always improving or regressing and no one can really claim they have “arrived.” (Even millionaires are smart to hang out with billionaires). I am amazed at how much fear (what’s really lurking inside the heart, not some outward excuse for why someone doesn’t do something) holds people back – and even more sadly, how much in denial people are about why they won’t attempt something new. Few want to admit to being afraid of failure, but without failing there would be no chance of succeeding. It is true that trying something new is a risk, sometimes a significant one. But NO ONE has ever achieved anything big without taking a risk. Look at any high achiever and you’ll see their road to success littered with failures.

I put this quote from Teddy Roosevelt in my blog a few weeks ago and I think it’s worth repeating here because it perfectly illustrates the heights that can be achieved when “in the arena”:

“It is not the critic who counts;

Not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, Whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood,

Who strives valiantly;
Who errs and comes short again and again;

Because there is not effort without error and shortcomings;

But who does actually strive to do the deed;

Who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion,
Who spends himself in a worthy cause,
Who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and
Who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly.

So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

No one goes through life without experiencing adversity and for me training and racing teaches me (in a smaller capsule of time) how to suffer, endure, overcome, and emerge stronger. Inevitably it spills over to other areas of my life and the reminder that I’ve overcome other or bigger obstacles is always there when some new problem comes along.

How I wish I could teach my kids this important life lesson, but time and experience will be the best teachers for them I’m sure :).