Nothing worthwhile is going to come easy. This means that if it’s worthy, then you’ll have to work for it.
Do you want a house?
Good. Want a nice car?
Good.
Me too.
This means that you’ll spend more time working for the house and the car and the life you want. In all honesty, you’re going to spend more time at work than you will be at home, enjoying the house you work for or doing the things you want to do, — that is, of course, unless you have money, in which case, you might not understand the same feelings when it comes to the he pride of ownership or you might not understand the success of building your own kingdom from the ground up.
But that’s okay. To each is their own.
I don’t have it like that.
I have to work for the roof above my head.
I was watching some old videos of different fighters who looked to make a name for themselves as a professional.
It’s very different when you compete to be the toughest on the block or the toughest in the neighborhood and next, you find yourself about to fight in an arena where people are looking to compete with the best in the world.
Who would you want to be in this scenario?
I have seen different sides of my life, and I have wished and wondered and hoped for the green light or that some kind of magic door to open up for me, as if to say, “Hey, where’ve you been, kid? We’ve be looking all over for you!”
Maybe there is a door like that for me somewhere, or maybe there is the law of time, which is something that we all have to serve —including the lucky ones because no different from the professional fighters, even if the first win is all luck, the next fight is going to be a fight, for sure. This is when our chin is tested, along with our spirit, and our endurance.
This is when we find out if we have the heart of a champion, or if we are only meek at best, and if our spirit cannot take the fractures to our ego, in which case, we posture and we pose, but deep down, we know that we don’t have the chin it takes to compete.
I remember the basic moves when I started in Jiu-Jitsu. You learn the moves and you learn the different steps to execute the moves, which is great and necessary. However, when the drills go live and the training becomes real, I painfully learned that no one is going to give themselves away.
No one is going to forfeit their victory.
No, this is a fight, and rest assured, the competition is in the same fight and neither I nor the person I compete against is willing to lose or surrender. Of course, not unless I beat them into submission.
This is life and be advised that life is a competition. The same as the fighters who look to turn pro, or same as the person who is interviewing for the same position as me in the corporate world, I have to learn, and understand, anticipate that there will be punches thrown, and there will be counter-moves to my moves, and the same as I want to go home with a victory, so does everybody else in this world.
No one wants to go home with a loss, but at the same time, there can only be one person who has their hand raised in victory. Only one person gets the job.
Only one person can “make it,” which leads me to my next question:
Which person do you want to be?
Therefore, it is important to understand that even the best champions experience losses. To me, this is what makes the heart of a champion because adversity is part of the game.
We have to remember that.
You have to play your heart out, no matter what.
I don’t care what the score says . . .
You have to keep trying and giving your all.
No matter what the task is or how the judges score your fight.
This is what it means to have the heart of a champion; but more, this is what it means to have the heart of a hero.
I want to be a hero.
Years back, there was a member of my Sunday morning groups called Breakfast with Benny. This group was a Sunday morning group in a northern New Jersey County jail.
I think about this person from time to time. He told me that he has to learn to be okay, and that he has to be comfortable with being uncomfortable because to him, the fight ahead of him was uphill and the odds were stacked against him.
He died shortly after his release from jail.
If I’m not mistaken, I think he died the same day.
Rather than fight back, this young man surrendered to the loss of “self” believing that this was him and that, at best, this was all he could ever be.
He was wrong.
But now he’s just another number and a stat in the loss column.
I love the intention behind the words, “I have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable,” because this is life.
Life is not going to come easily and neither are the things that I want.
I understand that some things are worth fighting for. I get that no one is going to give up their claim or their rights just because I think I am deserving or at the worst, I would say the worst kind of belief is self-entitlement.
I’m not entitled to anything.
People are not always going to play fair or take turns or be honest.
This is life.
There are days when the sun is shining and we can play at our best, and all is easy when the wind blows our way.
But remember something:
There are days when we have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable because maybe we are not at our best. Or maybe you’re at your worst, which is why we train so hard because it’s easy to be at your best on your best days,. However, sometimes you have to be your best even when you “feel” like you are at your worst.
Or if the odds are stacked against you, by any means, you have to play your heart out, each and every day, each and every moment, and the truth is we have to do this from now until the hour of our death (amen). While I grant that this can be tiresome and thankless, in the end, there is no feeling worse than the shame we feel when we look back and realize that we quit or didn’t even try.
How many opportunities have you passed on? Or how many times did you have the chance to dare to be great, and instead, how many times in your life have you slid backwards because you were too apprehensive to compete?
How many times in your life can you look back and see that you failed to believe in yourself?
How many times did you think the odds were too much against you, or how often did you think that the competition was too strong? How many times did you quit before you started because you lost before the game began?
How many times?
I have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. I have to test my skills and challenge myself.
I say that this is true in the arena where fighters leave it all in the cage. I say this is true in the boardroom. I say this is true at work when I take on a new project. Whether all is good or not, I have to keep moving and keep trying and I have to keep solving until the ultimate problem is solved.
Either I go home with a win or a loss, the choice is mine. If I quit, I’ll never go home with a win that is big enough to cover the share of my losses.
Keep pushing.
Keep learning.
Get comfortable with being uncomfortable and learn to anticipate adversity.
Remember that adversity is not the enemy. No, adversity is a tool like a barbell that helps us build strength.
The truth is we are the only enemy that can make us quit because even if I lose or if I compete and get knocked down or worse; even if I get knocked out, at least I got back up and tried again.
Living any other way is too defeating and degrading for me.
I’ve quit enough times.
Now, it’s my turn to dictate the pace of my upcoming fights.
I say this because at the end of the day, no one can take away the victory that comes with showing up and putting it all on the line.
I’m not a champion (yet),
but I want to be.
And being a hero?
Hell, I’ve met heroes.
My head is shaved to the scalp for the heroes I know who fight to save their own lives while they battle cancer.
I’m not as tough or as brave as them, but I’m here.
I’m fighting back.
My competition might be strong,
but so am I.
And sure, I’m uncomfortable.
But I’m not uncomfortable enough to quit or give in.
I have a dream to accomplish and no one is going to “just” give it to me.
No, I have to work for this.
And speaking of . . .
It’s time for me to fight back and earn my daily bread.
So, ante up Monday.
Let’s see what you have for me today.
The Written Addiction 