The Importance Of Getting Up And Trying Again

“The true measure of courage is not whether you reach your goal–it’s whether you decide to get back on your feet no matter how many times you’ve failed.” Oprah Winfrey

What I’ve learned is that the things that are most important in my life relationships, writing, training for races, learning how to live a wholehearted life, and even caring for two pups takes effort and time. Lots of time! There’s no shortcut to suddenly being able to run a marathon or write a novel. Every morning I must make a conscious decision to work toward the goals I’ve set for myself. If I’m not able to complete a long run or I get a stuck on a scene in my novel I get frustrated, I can be hard on myself, but at the end of the day, I know I tried and I will try again.

I was watching surfing videos on YouTube. After being amazed by the skill involved I realized that surfing is like life. Life is the ocean and we are the surfers. First of all, it takes courage to grab a board and face the unknown. We paddle along in calm waters until suddenly a wave appears. Then we must try to stay up, but sometimes the waves get the best of us. There can be lots of wipe-outs! Maybe we end up sitting on the beach wondering if we’ll ever succeed, fearful, exhausted. Maybe we’ll want to give up. But if we keep at it, keep going out there and trying then there will come a time when we become one with the wave, riding high, feeling the exhilaration of knowing we didn’t give up. We did it!  And then we will get on our board and paddle again because no wave is the same. They’re all an adventure. The only way we’ll become expert surfers is if we have the courage to experience the beauty and the energy of the ocean over and over and over again.