…starts with a single step…then a trip, and a fall, with a scraped knee, bruised hip, and a long groan.
Not exactly what you expected? Well, reality can be a bit more cheeky than an inspiring phrase, but it doesn’t make it any less true.
Tenacity
Falling is normal, stumbling is common… but what separates the people who have what they want from those who don’t is tenacity. I like that word a lot. It has a couple fancy definitions from the Oxford dictionary (among others), but my favorite is:
“the quality or fact of continuing to exist; persistence.”
I believe that’s a great definition, and something we should all practice every day. No matter what we’re trying to do, it’s pretty dang unlikely that we’re going to be able to do it perfectly every time. That’s why we practice, that’s why we train, and that’s why that single step is just the beginning.
That CAN be you
Movies and television shows and books and magazines are full of real life and fictitious characters who overcome great adversity to be lauded as the hero of the day, champion of dogoodery and all around swell chaps.
It’s great to see and read these accounts and feel inspired. Where it goes wrong is thinking you can never overcome something as big or important as that, or do something spectacular as that, so what does it matter if you let yourself go, or give up on a dream?
But you know what? You don’t have to do something famous or publicized to make a difference.
Tenacity is infectious. It will change the people around you in big and small ways, but the impact cannot be overstated. Every person who did something great was inspired by someone who didn’t, to either do or not do as they did. All you have to do is get back up. When you fall, you get back up, when you come up short, you try again, and share your journey. You never know what little piece of information may get someone up off the bench and in the game, and that is the shot heard ‘round the world.
Will Shepler
NTN Coach
NapTown Nutrition