Life wasn’t meant to be easy

No it wasn’t.  Do you ever wonder how some people make it?  They make it to the big time, to where ever it is that they want to go.  They smash all their goals and their dreams become their reality.  It’s easy to watch from the sidelines and say that they are just naturally gifted in their particular field, or that things were handed to them on a silver plate, but the reality for the most part is that they weren’t.  It is these successful people who know a thing or two about hard work.  Elite athletes who have put themselves through years of grueling training, restrictions on their diet and social lives to succeed, to reach that goal.  They have the determination and drive, they want to succeed badly enough that the pay offs are greater than the costs.

Anyone who knows me knows that I have a major girl crush on Michelle Bridges, she’s my idol.  Yep, not afraid to admit it, to me she’s a legend.  So, how is this relevant?  She has had to work her backside off to create the profile she has today.  I watched an interview with her once where she said that nothing was handed to her.  She would spend every night at the computer, writing articles and submitting them wherever she could.  In the beginning, Mish appeared for free on television, until her segment became popular, so it was made a regular thing, and she was back paid.  Mish shopped her first book around to seven publishers before one took a chance on her, now she has written 10 books, with 9 being best sellers.  Yeah, I think she knows a thing or two about consistent hard work, and that is an important lesson.

Michael Jordan is a legend.  He has become a household name with countless books and movies released.  However according to his long-term coach Phil Jackson, it was hard work that made him a legend.  When Jordan first entered the league, his jump shot wasn’t good enough.  He spent his off-season taking hundreds of jump shots a day until it was perfect.  He later wrote that Jordan’s defining characteristic wasn’t his talent, but having the humility to know he had to work constantly to be the best. 

Now I’m not saying we should all be aiming to be the next MB or MJ.  But we should be aiming to be the best that we can possibly be.  What does this mean?  Recognising what you want and then putting in the HARD WORK and CONSISTENCY to get it.  This means a lot of different things to different people, and can mean something totally different to you in ten years time than it does right now.  Seven years ago in year 11, I took physics…uhhhh, yeah that’s right…me…physics.  However my goal was just to pass it, I didn’t care what result I got as long as I passed, I put in some extra work and I did!  Just, with 55%!!  Six years ago, I was an artist.  Well…kinda.  I worked incredibly hard through my final years at school to learn as much as I could and be the best I could be, to create my own style.  I wanted a 20 for my final piece in year 12, so I did the work that got me there.  Three years ago, all I wanted to do was to travel, anywhere and everywhere.  I worked my butt off, earned the money and went...multiple times!  Last year I decided my health and fitness was next.  That was what I wanted to do, get ‘skinny’.  Oh yeah Liz…that goal quickly changed to something healthier and actually achievable (what even is ‘skinny’?!).  I’ve set countless goals around health and fitness, my latest ones being able to do ring dips and unassisted pull ups.   I am now focused on my final years at university, focused on learning everything I can about teaching so that I can be the best teacher that I can possibly be.  My goals… I did achieve them; I still am achieving them, I keep setting new ones. How?  I am focused.  Slowly but surely I have achieved my goals and I have been doing this all my life.  Every goal I have set for myself, I have had to strive for and be totally determined to reach it.  To me, failure just isn’t an option.  

Don’t get me wrong, I have had to dig myself out of some pretty dark and deep holes.  But I did.  At some point, in my mind something clicked.  I realised that I was responsible for my own life.  My future could or could not include all of these things and I know that it is up to me to go out and get them!  Those dark holes you find yourself in, they’re your tests.  The difficult times when you learn just how strong you are, and how badly you do actually want something.  Are you going to pack it all in just because it seems like your whole world is caving in?  Hell no!  It will only cave in if you let it. 

The moral of this story?  Life wasn’t meant to be easy.  Nothing worth having is handed to you on a silver plate.  I think that when you have had to consistently and truly work hard for something, you are able to genuinely and truly appreciate it.

Liz Xox