Trigger Warning: I will call you on your excuses in this post about overcoming adversity – 4 minute read)
Most of you reading this have never been in a fight in your life and that’s ok (not a prerequisite for this post – I promise) but give me two minutes to explain why life is like a boxing match…
One of the hardest parts about life (and boxing) is understanding that everyone will have good and bad days. Even the best boxers in the world have taken a punch or two…
Now let me be clear, I am not a boxer. I have done my share of fighting but most of it occurred in my living room with my brothers. But what I do have significant experience in is facing and overcoming adversity in life and here’s what I’ve learned…
- A positive mindset may get you through the tough times life throws at you, but it won’t prevent them from coming.
- The reality is, no matter how rich or poor we are, life will humble us all.
- We will all face obstacles. It doesn’t matter if you are white, black, red, blue, yellow or green….Life will kick your ass sometimes…and that’s a FACT!
- Our only chance of survival is learning how to fight back when life gets tough.
- Excuses on make difficult situations even harder.
The hard truth is that the more we experience life the better we get at it (just like boxing). Sure, people have certain privilege’s in life that may make it easier to overcome obstacles than others but we can’t change that. Just like some boxers are boxing proteges born to fight with little effort but most of us aren’t like that. Most people develop skill through experience, constant training, focus, hard work and the right mindset.
If we want to get better at life (or boxing) we have to spend more time practicing. You can’t protect yourself from the hazards of life. If you haven’t realized it yet, life is like being thrown in a boxing ring with the heavy-weight champion of the world (like Rocky Balboa). You can only avoid fighting back for so long before mother nature takes it’s course. Eventually you either choose to fight back or you take your whooping and pray you survive.
Eventually we must decide if we are going to fight back or not. After I injured my spine and was sent home from the Army, it was fair to say I was taking a beating. But eventually I decided that I wouldn’t give up without a fight. Eventually you just have to start swinging and give yourself the courage to get back up and keep trying. Eventually you must convince yourself that despite your inexperience, the only way to learn and get better at something (like facing adversity) is to face it head on. Sure you will take a beating every once in a while but eventually you will start to find your groove. I have faced adversity in my life that would have crippled me 10 years ago but here I stand.
I face adversity everyday when I wake up in chronic pain and every morning when I call my father and remember that he is sick. I face adversity when I go to work and help people rebuild their lives because the reality is, adversity is everywhere and it doesn’t just go away if we run from it long enough. Our only hope at survival is to start fighting back.
By: Timothy A. Natale
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