What is true success? Society measures success as power, position, cash, the right labels on your clothes, where you live and what you drive. Perhaps you do as well.
Try this on for size… Success is not who you are when everything is going right. Who you are when life is easy? Of course you would be confident in your abilities, your stuff, your life, perhaps thinking as you look around that you are better than others, when the living is easy.
True Success…
The true measure of success is who you are when the storms of life rage in your direction. When the rains of adversity throw you down to the ground. Who are you in the tornado of life, when everything you thought was true ends up to be just the exact opposite. Who are you when that happens? I personally measure success by the ability to get up after heartache, depression, failure, rejection, and pain (both physically and emotionally) just to just name a few.
People who have successfully gone through the darkest of times are more valuable to society. They are not losers; they are wise beyond measure in those areas. We can learn from them! We shouldn’t be so quick to toss them away and think we are superior, as we have never faced what they have. Your life is not over yet!
I feel as though I have been through so much in my life and this has taught me how to connect to people. Really connect with them and have empathy for them as they go through negative circumstances. Our value comes when we have gone through the storm and are then able to stop and help someone else through.
George S. Patton said, “I don’t measure a man’s success by how high he climbs but how high he bounces when he hits bottom.”
Some people think that if you fail you are finished. They are just getting started! The truth is, that if you never step out, if all you ever do is play it safe you’ll never know what could have been. Life is not always kind, but it is what we take away from our challenge that sets us apart.
When I was 4 years old my grandfather introduced me to boxing. It was important to us as George Chuvalo, the Canadian Heavyweight Boxing Champion lived across the street. Everything about boxing reminds me even to this day about how life works.
Who would you rather watch your back? Someone untested by life’s trials, too afraid to make mistakes, never venturing out into any thing new? My choice is that certain someone who has failed a number of times and just keeps getting back up?
Muhammad Ali said, “Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win when the match is even.”
Leave a Reply