Battered and Bruised but Never Defeated

“Success consists of getting up just one more time than you fall.” 

- Oliver Goldsmith

Everyone ends up battered and bruised at some point, it's a side effect of actually investing ourselves in our lives. It's caring enough about the outcome of something to take a chance and risk being hurt or let down. 

 I've been thrown down more times than I can count, but I've gotten up one time more than I've hit the ground. I've made a point of learning as much about myself as I could on the way down, and while getting back up, so that I could rise that much quicker on legs that much sturdier the next time around.

 Because there will be a next time around. Perhaps the nature of the challenge will be different, but there will always be another test, another trial, another obstacle to be overcome. These are inevitable for anyone who is out there living life. Just as we can't get on a bicycle for the first time without getting our knees scraped at some point, we can't go through life expecting great love and great adventure without a few tears shed and a few wrong turns. 

 Sure, we could fall off the bike and decide it hurts too much to try again. We could decide to let the fear of the stinging peroxide prevent us from wanting for more, but then we'd miss out on the whole experience. We lose a little skin off our knees, but we gain the wind in our hair as we experience the first rush of freedom. Albeit, a short one around the block before mum calls us in for dinner. 

 You see, it's not about hiding ourselves away in the protective shells that we put up while we stand constantly on guard. It's not about hiding from challenges. Rather, it is about learning just how strong and capable we are and facing obstacles head on with an air of stubborn defiance saying “I will get through this, and I will conquer it.”

 Because it can be conquered. Yes, it may not be in the way we initially envisioned ourselves doing so, we may fall off the bike a lot more than we anticipated, but we will find a way to get beyond the challenge, to get from the point where it is staring at us right here - right now, to the point where our little bicycle is glancing at us from the rear view mirror as we test out our new learner's permit for the first time.
“You've survived 100 percent of everything in life so far, so there's a pretty good chance you'll survive whatever is next.” 
- Timber Hawkeye  

Go forth, live your lives! You'll get a few scrapes and bruises but gosh darned if there won't be a story to each and every one of them proving that you've been living life rather than stowing yourself safely away. Proving that you have been living your life with the passion it merits.

Cheers!
The Bra Street Rambler

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