When life challenges you, where do you find the courage to stand back up and keep going? I think sometimes you have to give yourself that courage and its as simple as that, at least for me it is. Nobody is coming with a speech that will suddenly make everything okay. Sometimes you just have to look at yourself and say, “Come on, get up. We still have things to do.” 😂 Life can humble you in ways you never expected, and there will be moments when you genuinely don't feel like pushing anymore.
For me, one of the things I think about is the future I haven't reached yet. I think about the family I want to have someday, the wife I want to marry and the children I want to raise. I haven't met some of these people yet, but they already exist in the future I imagine for myself and sometimes that thought is enough to make me push through the difficult days. I think, “I can't give up here. There is a version of my life ahead that I'm still working towards.” Maybe one day I'll have children who will look at me as their father, and I want to be able to tell them that their dad didn't stop trying just because life became difficult and it was as a result i am able to give them this life of comfort.
I know it sounds strange to find motivation in people you haven't even met yet, but I want to build a life that future me will be proud of, and I want the people I eventually share that life with to benefit from the effort I'm putting in today. Maybe the struggles I'm facing now are preparing me to become a better husband, a better father and simply a better person. So when life knocks me down, I try to remind myself that I'm not only fighting for the person I am today. I'm also fighting for the person I am becoming.
Of course, that doesn't mean I always feel strong. 😂 There are days when motivation disappears completely. There are days when you question your decisions, and progress . I've realised that courage doesn't mean feeling fearless, courage is being disappointed and still trying. It's being tired and still taking one more step. I also remind myself that life keeps moving. So when life tries to make me feel small, I try to give myself a reason to stand back up. I think about the future, about the wife I hope to marry, the children I hope to have and the kind of life I want to build for all of us. I don't know exactly what that future looks like, and honestly, life may have completely different plans, but I know I don't want to meet that future version of myself and regret that I stopped trying when things became difficult. So I get up.
