Mark Messmore's Blog, page 2

Unmasking Depression: Why It Is Difficult To Understand

Imagine trying to describe to someone else what it’s like to eat a marshmallow. And, for our purposes, imagine that person had never seen, tasted, or even knew what a marshmallow was.

How would you describe it?

You could take a more descriptive approach to say, “It’s like a sweet, fluffy pillow that you eat.” Or you may spend time listing off the ingredients and scientific conditions that give a marshmallow its unique texture. Or, you may go with the simplistic approach and say, “It’s squishy candy” and leave it at that.

Regardless of what approach you might take, I hope you recognize that no matter how you describe it, like walking on the moon or being in love, someone cannot fully understand what it’s like to eat a marshmallow until they have experienced it.

The best you can do is to help them grow a little in their understanding.

In 2015, I received an answer for why internally I felt the way I always did. My doctor diagnosed me with depression.

Since that time I have tried to put into words how I would explain to someone else what my internal life is like. Yet, much like eating a marshmallow, I don’t think someone can fully understand it if they have never experienced it. But that has not kept me from trying to help others grow in their understanding.

CHALLENGES TO UNDERSTANDING DEPRESSION

One of the first hurdles that must be overcome when understanding what it is like to live with depression, is the limited nature of our language. Any person who has experienced loss, grief, or disappointment has likely felt the real, human experience of feeling depressed.

Yet, similar to how a stress headache is not the same experience as having a migraine, feeling depressed is not the same as living with depression. In each case, the intensity, duration, and causes tend to be quite different. That is not to say either is invalid, but neither are they the same experience.

Another hurdle that must be addressed is the breadth of ways depression manifests itself. One person may have trouble sleeping while another sleeps all the time. One person may binge eat while another cannot bring themselves to eat anything. One person may throw themselves into work or hobbies or video games to silence the depressive voices, while another cannot bring themselves to set food outside of their bedroom.

While these challenges are real, I believe there is also value in pushing through to understand the experiences — even the uncomfortable ones — of others.

DEPRESSION’S REALITY

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, over 21 million Americans deal with depression. These are your family members, friends, neighbors…or even your pastor. Throughout this blog series, I plan to offer some personal reflections on what it’s like for me to live with depression and some recommendations on how you can support those you love who are fighting their own invisible battle.

No…I don’t think I’ll fully be able to help you understand what your loved one is dealing with. I do, however, hope I can help you be more informed and act in an understanding way. Because when it comes down to it…trying to describe what it’s like living with depression, is a lot like trying to describe what it’s like to eat a marshmallow.

For mental health resources in your area visit the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

If you know of someone who struggles with suicidal thoughts, encourage them to text HOME to 741741.
A trained volunteer at the National Crisis Text Line will anonymously help navigate whatever crisis they are going through.

Unmasking Depression: Revealing Challenges to Understanding

Imagine trying to describe to someone else what it’s like to eat a marshmallow. And, for our purposes, imagine that person had never seen, tasted, or even knew what a marshmallow was.

How would you describe it?

You could take a more descriptive approach to say, “It’s like a sweet, fluffy pillow that you eat.” Or you may spend time listing off the ingredients and scientific conditions that give a marshmallow its unique texture. Or, you may go with the simplistic approach and say, “It’s squishy candy” and leave it at that.

Regardless of what approach you might take, I hope you recognize that no matter how you describe it, like walking on the moon or being in love, someone cannot fully understand what it’s like to eat a marshmallow until they have experienced it.

The best you can do is to help them grow a little in their understanding.

In 2015, I received an answer for why internally I felt the way I always did. My doctor diagnosed me with depression.

Since that time I have tried to put into words how I would explain to someone else what my internal life is like. Yet, much like eating a marshmallow, I don’t think someone can fully understand it if they have never experienced it. But that has not kept me from trying to help others grow in their understanding.

CHALLENGES TO UNDERSTANDING DEPRESSION

One of the first hurdles that must be overcome when understanding what it is like to live with depression, is the limited nature of our language. Any person who has experienced loss, grief, or disappointment has likely felt the real, human experience of feeling depressed.

Yet, similar to how a stress headache is not the same experience as having a migraine, feeling depressed is not the same as living with depression. In each case, the intensity, duration, and causes tend to be quite different. That is not to say either is invalid, but neither are they the same experience.

Another hurdle that must be addressed is the breadth of ways depression manifests itself. One person may have trouble sleeping while another sleeps all the time. One person may binge eat while another cannot bring themselves to eat anything. One person may throw themselves into work or hobbies or video games to silence the depressive voices, while another cannot bring themselves to set food outside of their bedroom.

While these challenges are real, I believe there is also value in pushing through to understand the experiences — even the uncomfortable ones — of others.

DEPRESSION’S REALITY

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, over 21 million Americans deal with depression. These are your family members, friends, neighbors…or even your pastor. Throughout this blog series, I plan to offer some personal reflections on what it’s like for me to live with depression and some recommendations on how you can support those you love who are fighting their own invisible battle.

No…I don’t think I’ll fully be able to help you understand what your loved one is dealing with. I do, however, hope I can help you be more informed and act in an understanding way. Because when it comes down to it…trying to describe what it’s like living with depression, is a lot like trying to describe what it’s like to eat a marshmallow.

For mental health resources in your area visit the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

If you know of someone who struggles with suicidal thoughts, encourage them to text HOME to 741741.
A trained volunteer at the National Crisis Text Line will anonymously help navigate whatever crisis they are going through.

Living With Depression: Challenges in Understanding

Imagine trying to describe to someone else what it’s like to eat a marshmallow. And, for our purposes, imagine that person had never seen, tasted, or even knew what a marshmallow was.

How would you describe it?

You could take a more descriptive approach to say, “It’s like a sweet, fluffy pillow that you eat.” Or you may spend time listing off the ingredients and scientific conditions that give a marshmallow its unique texture. Or, you may go with the simplistic approach and say, “It’s squishy candy” and leave it at that.

Regardless of what approach you might take, I hope you recognize that no matter how you describe it, like walking on the moon or being in love, someone cannot fully understand what it’s like to eat a marshmallow until they have experienced it.

The best you can do is to help them grow a little in their understanding.

In 2015, I received an answer for why internally I felt the way I always did. My doctor diagnosed me with depression.

Since that time I have tried to put into words how I would explain to someone else what my internal life is like. Yet, much like eating a marshmallow, I don’t think someone can fully understand it if they have never experienced it. But that has not kept me from trying to help others grow in their understanding.

CHALLENGES TO UNDERSTANDING DEPRESSION

One of the first hurdles that must be overcome when understanding what it is like to live with depression, is the limited nature of our language. Any person who has experienced loss, grief, or disappointment has likely felt the real, human experience of feeling depressed.

Yet, similar to how a stress headache is not the same experience as having a migraine, feeling depressed is not the same as living with depression. In each case, the intensity, duration, and causes tend to be quite different. That is not to say either is invalid, but neither are they the same experience.

Another hurdle that must be addressed is the breadth of ways depression manifests itself. One person may have trouble sleeping while another sleeps all the time. One person may binge eat while another cannot bring themselves to eat anything. One person may throw themselves into work or hobbies or video games to silence the depressive voices, while another cannot bring themselves to set food outside of their bedroom.

While these challenges are real, I believe there is also value in pushing through to understand the experiences — even the uncomfortable ones — of others.

DEPRESSION’S REALITY

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, over 21 million Americans deal with depression. These are your family members, friends, neighbors…or even your pastor. Throughout this blog series, I plan to offer some personal reflections on what it’s like for me to live with depression and some recommendations on how you can support those you love who are fighting their own invisible battle.

No…I don’t think I’ll fully be able to help you understand what your loved one is dealing with. I do, however, hope I can help you be more informed and act in an understanding way. Because when it comes down to it…trying to describe what it’s like living with depression, is a lot like trying to describe what it’s like to eat a marshmallow.

For mental health resources in your area visit the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

If you know of someone who struggles with suicidal thoughts, encourage them to text HOME to 741741.
A trained volunteer at the National Crisis Text Line will anonymously help navigate whatever crisis they are going through.

Using AI To Develop Your Talk, Post, Article, or Sermon

While I am a self-proclaimed geek, I have not been one to jump on the AI bandwagon. It’s not that I’ve intentionally avoided using tools like ChatGPT, but I’ve just not seen much application in my day-to-day life. In case you don’t know, I’m a pastor. Thus, ChatGPT doesn’t offer a lot of application when it comes to making pastoral visits, planning outreach events, or writing sermons.

Or at least, that’s what I thought.

Then, I decided to explore a self-guided course by PublishingAltitude.com and I began to see how, for a pastor, speaker, or author, ChatGPT (and other similar tools) could really serve as a boon when it comes to brainstorming, idea development, and even research.

DISCLAIMER: I am NOT encouraging anyone to use AI tools to fully create a speech, post, newsletter, or sermon. There are a myriad of issues that arise if you lean TOO heavily on something you did not invest in creating. HOWEVER, there are some creative ways to use a tool like ChatGPT that can help you out.

Basic Uses

Like most people, when I heard about ChatGPT, I went to the site, popped in a couple of questions, and then went on my way. This is what I would term a basic usage of AI tools. To be clear, this can help you with brainstorming some ideas. For example, if you wanted to write about dog ownership, a question like, “What are the most common questions of new dog owners?” can provide you with some ideas for potential posts.

Intermediate Uses

Let’s face it, the basic use cases can also be answered by a simple Google search. To begin really leveraging AI as a tool, you need to understand that the more you put into your query, the more you will receive as a result. In continuing with our dog-ownership example above, consider the following input:

"When individuals consider getting a dog for the first time, what are their most common hesitations? I would like you to respond from a position of someone who has two working adults in the household and three children. The children are actively campaigning for a dog, and there are no immediate medical considerations that would be prohibitive."

Try placing this question into ChatGPT and you will find that the responses are much more nuanced and thorough. You have provided more specific information that the AI can consider as it generates its output.

Advanced Uses

I want to be clear, I do NOT consider myself an expert on AI. However, the idea continues that the more you put into your query, the more you will receive as a result. For this example, I’ll step away from the dog-ownership example and instead, provide an example I used for my sermon this past Sunday.

You will find that, to make it easy on myself, I have separated the query into sections, even specifying how the information should be returned. My goal in this instance, was to be able to look for unique perspectives on the person of Jesus. So, instead of spending hours rifling through blog articles on Google, I allowed ChatGPT to come up with some examples for me that I did use in my message.

Essentially all I have done is use an AI tool to help me do some research. Just like Google took the process of searching down from hours spent at the library to a few minutes, ChatGPT allows me to have a conversational-type approach and drill down into what I am specifically looking for.

So that is what I am currently learning and working on. How have used ChatGPT for some projects of your own? Do you have any best practices to share with others of us who are still learning? I’d love to hear about it!

Using AI As You Develop Your Talk, Post, or Sermon

While I am a self-proclaimed geek, I have not been one to jump on the AI bandwagon. It’s not that I’ve intentionally avoided using tools like ChatGPT, but I’ve just not seen much application in my day-to-day life. In case you don’t know, I’m a pastor. Thus, ChatGPT doesn’t offer a lot of application when it comes to making pastoral visits, planning outreach events, or writing sermons.

Or at least, that’s what I thought.

Then, I decided to explore a self-guided course by PublishingAltitude.com and I began to see how, for a pastor, speaker, or author, ChatGPT (and other similar tools) could really serve as a boon when it comes to brainstorming, idea development, and even research.

DISCLAIMER: I am NOT encouraging anyone to use AI tools to fully create a speech, post, newsletter, or sermon. There are a myriad of issues that arise if you lean TOO heavily on something you did not invest in creating. HOWEVER, there are some creative ways to use a tool like ChatGPT that can help you out.

Basic Uses

Like most people, when I heard about ChatGPT, I went to the site, popped in a couple of questions, and then went on my way. This is what I would term a basic usage of AI tools. To be clear, this can help you with brainstorming some ideas. For example, if you wanted to write about dog ownership, a question like, “What are the most common questions of new dog owners?” can provide you with some ideas for potential posts.

Intermediate Uses

Let’s face it, the basic use cases can also be answered by a simple Google search. To begin really leveraging AI as a tool, you need to understand that the more you put into your query, the more you will receive as a result. In continuing with our dog-ownership example above, consider the following input:

"When individuals consider getting a dog for the first time, what are their most common hesitations? I would like you to respond from a position of someone who has two working adults in the household and three children. The children are actively campaigning for a dog, and there are no immediate medical considerations that would be prohibitive."

Try placing this question into ChatGPT and you will find that the responses are much more nuanced and thorough. You have provided more specific information that the AI can consider as it generates its output.

Advanced Uses

I want to be clear, I do NOT consider myself an expert on AI. However, the idea continues that the more you put into your query, the more you will receive as a result. For this example, I’ll step away from the dog-ownership example and instead, provide an example I used for my sermon this past Sunday.

You will find that, to make it easy on myself, I have separated the query into sections, even specifying how the information should be returned. My goal in this instance, was to be able to look for unique perspectives on the person of Jesus. So, instead of spending hours rifling through blog articles on Google, I allowed ChatGPT to come up with some examples for me that I did use in my message.

Essentially all I have done is use an AI tool to help me do some research. Just like Google took the process of searching down from hours spent at the library to a few minutes, ChatGPT allows me to have a conversational-type approach and drill down into what I am specifically looking for.

So that is what I am currently learning and working on. How have used ChatGPT for some projects of your own? Do you have any best practices to share with others of us who are still learning? I’d love to hear about it!

Two Keys to Keeping An Audience’s Attention

You have just 30 seconds.

In 2010 a group of researchers from at The Catholic University in Washington, D.C. performed a study to understand precisely how long a lecturer had before students stopped paying attention. The result was 30 seconds.

That’s half a minute. That’s the length of some commercials.

If you are someone to has spent hours preparing a speech, lesson, or sermon, hearing this can be quite disheartening. As a presenter you WANT this time to be valuable to your audience, rather than your voice serving as background noise while they crush candy on their phones.

So how do we, as presenters delivering speeches, lessons, sermons, etc. stand a better chance of having the audience with us for more than 30 seconds? Here are two keys that can help you get, and keep, your audience’s attention. Since speeches involve both content and delivery, I will offer one key for each major segment.

DELIVERY: BE ENGAGING

Some view the idea of engaging as a personality trait that one simply does or does not have. And, to be fair, one’s personality will certainly influence their ability to be engaging. Yet, even the most soft-spoken, reserved individual can be an engaging presenter if they work on specific elements of their presentation style.

Intentional familiarity with your introduction so that you can look to your audience rather than your manuscript, beginning with energy that indicates you want to be there, and looking into the eyes of audience members can go a long way towards meaningful engagement.

CONTENT: SHOW YOUR AUDIENCE WHY THEY SHOULD CARE

A major mistake many presenters make is to assume their audience is invested in what they are about to say. This is a topic I address directly in my book about preaching since preachers are notorious for this mistake.

Yes, your audience is rooting for you to succeed, but mainly because they don’t want to be bored. Some of the first statements you make should indicate why this talk matters to them. Some potential ways to do this include:

Identifying a shared experience that can help them relate.
“Have you been to the DMV and it feels as though they need your birth certificate, social security card, three pieces of mail, a notarized Nolan Ryan baseball card, and an original copy of the Declaration of Independence? Well if you can understand that feeling you can relate to what I’m about to address today.”
Generate tension by asking a question or addressing a problem.
Internally, we all want to resolve tension when it arises. This is why we get frustrated when an episode of our favorite shows has a cliffhanger forcing us to wait until we can find out the result. Interjecting even a moderate amount of tension or “stakes” into your talk can cause your audience to sit up and want to hear more. Some ways to do this include:Ask a question (e.g. “You’ve been told the cold war is over, so why is there such animosity between the United States and Russia today?”), orIdentify an acknowledged problem (e.g. “According to a March 2023 report by the US Treasury, Social Security funds will be depleted by 2034.”)

Yes, a great deal more can be said about introductions, but these two keys should get you started on the right track to overcoming that 30-second window and increasing your chances that they will really want to hear what you have to say.

The Conference Trap

I really enjoy going to conferences. Perhaps you do as well. In my line of work (pastoral ministry), I’ve attended preaching conferences, worship conferences, missionary conferences, conferences that are for general edification and encouragement, leadership conferences, and more. I also know there seems to be a conference for nearly every industry, hobby, culture, and sub-genre in existence.

Case in point, years ago in a men’s small group, several of the men were having a good laugh that I was about to attend a conference focused on the subject of preaching. Then, a few minutes later, one of them was discussing how the highlight of his year was attending a conference focused on…concrete. Some return ribbing was certainly in order after all the flack I had taken for a conference on preaching.

While I am certainly pro-conference and love attending quality conferences myself, there is an inherent trap that I have seen again and again for conference attendees. Attendees will love the main sessions, dive into several workshops, fill out their conference programs with copious notes, then return home and carry on changing little to nothing in their everyday lives.

No, not every conference is meant to be life-altering. However, most that I have attended are meant to inform and impact in a way that sticks with attendees when they leave. These events are designed to download a tremendous amount of information so that you, the conference participant who has dedicated both time and money to attend, can feel as though you received tremendous value and implement what you learned.

But if we’re honest…most of the time conference workbooks get filed away in a drawer only to be thrown away a few years later. The excitement and motivation of new ideas often withers away as we run face-to-face with the reality of everyday demands and responsibilities. And far too often, the pain of change simply does not seem to be worth the potential benefits.

MY APPROACH

I cringe to think about how many conferences I have attended over the years only to let the immediate lessons and value gained disappear into the grind of every day. So several years ago, I began implementing a post-conference strategy that has benefitted me tremendously. I ask myself the following two questions:

What is one idea I can implement in the next week?What is one idea I can implement in the next year?

Any conference worth its entry fee will have you swimming in a sea of ideas for your personal or professional life. This, then, is an exercise in focusing in on what I find to be THE best and most necessary ideas for where I am currently. By identifying a seven-day goal, I can give myself momentum and see (nearly) immediate value from the time and money I have just spent. The one-year goal then goes on my whiteboard or notebook (wherever I am keeping my yearly objectives) and I begin working backward to put it into place.

No, this idea isn’t the most novel, yet it has been immensely impactful for me personally. It is also an idea I would highly recommend you implement for the next conference that you attend.

Feeling Stuck: It’s Not All-Or-Nothing

Earlier this month, I made an honest post about feeling stuck. And, while it was honest, it was also incomplete. Let me explain what I mean…

It is entirely possible to be thriving in many areas of life, while simultaneously feeling stuck in others.

Think about it, chances are good that you know of someone who is thriving professionally, but relationally their life is a train wreck. Similarly, you likely know of someone who is relationally solid, but when it comes to their physical or emotional well-being, symptoms are less-than-stellar. Thus, when I mention feeling stuck, you may find that does not resonate wholly with you, but it does strike a chord in more of a specific area.

You may find that you feel stuck in any one of the following areas:

FinanciallyProfessionallyPhysicallyEmotionallySpirituallyRelationallyIntellectually

And, to be clear, I fully recognize that you may be able to add to that list. My point is, our lives are complex, highly layered, and immensely nuanced. Don’t be surprised if there is some aspect of life in which you feel stuck.

WHY I HAVE BEEN THINKING ABOUT THIS

As I mentioned in that initial post, I have been thinking about this dynamic of “feeling stuck” because I have been working on a keynote speech about that very concept. Furthermore, if I follow the old preacher’s adage, “speak from your weaknesses and you’ll never run out of material” this is certainly a process I have had to learn about in my lifetime. In my speech, I’m simply trying to share lessons I continue to learn.

However today, I want to reiterate how feeling stuck is not all-or-nothing when it comes to the various areas of your life. Instead, it is entirely possible you feel stuck in one area even as you thrive in others.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER

Look at the list above, is there any certain area where you feel stuck?What goals do you have for each of those aspects of your life?Is there another facet of life you would add to the list?What would it look like to create goals and invest in one specific area of your life, particularly one in which you feel stuck?

Feeling Stuck: How Did We Get Here?

Earlier this month, I made a post about feeling stuck. In that post, I offered some personal reflections about how I have felt in the last few months and a mantra I was beginning to implement when I felt stuck. I invite you to read that post here in case you’re curious.

This time of reflection made me begin to consider a simple question, “What leads us to get ‘stuck?'”

It’s not like anyone wakes up one day and feels a dramatic urge to be paralyzed and unsure about a part of their life.

No one yearns to feel stuck, and yet so many people find themselves in that very place.

So here are a few circumstances that may help you identify how you became stuck, or more importantly, keep you from getting stuck in the first place. Each one might end up becoming its own blog post. But for now, I’ll keep it to a few sentences of commentary.

SETBACKS

For nearly every person, business, and organization, the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 was seen as a major setback. All momentum and future plans abruptly went on hold as the world navigated a pandemic.

Yet, setbacks don’t need to be global to be impactful.

Personal interruptions, organizational adjustments, and even weather events can cause setbacks arresting all advancement you previously had.

UNCERTAINTY

When we start on a new project, hobby, goal, or dream, we are often starry-eyed with high levels of motivation.  However, this can quickly get derailed by uncertainty.

Uncertainty shows up when you don’t know what to do next…either because you seem to have no options, or perhaps because there seem to be an infinite number of options.

When you are not sure where to go with your book, career, relationship, or recovery, it’s easy to get a sense that you’re stuck.

FEAR

The unknown and the different intimidate us. Fear will force us into the known and familiar. Fear will tell us we can’t, and shouldn’t, and give us one million reasons why.

Yet, as the classic quote from J.A. Shedd goes, “A ship in harbor is safe, but that’s not what ships are built for.”

IMPOSTER SYNDROME

A decade ago I had never even heard of imposter syndrome. Now, I recognize it in my own life as well as the lives of many others. I even wrote about it here. A cousin of fear, imposter syndrome will tell the author of a dozen best-selling books that they’re not a “real” author. Imposter syndrome will tell a respected professional that they have everyone fooled and don’t really know what they’re talking about.

Imposter syndrome can also keep you from taking the step toward your goals and leave you feeling stuck.

CONCLUSION

These are four examples of what emotions or circumstances can lead us to feel stuck in some area of our lives. What would you include that has made you, or others, feel stuck?

Getting Unstuck

Can I be honest about something? For the last several months I have felt stuck.

To be clear, that does not mean I’ve been idle. While I have not posted on my blog or sent a newsletter since early March, I have been quite busy in the background.

I have been working with an NSA hall-of-fame member to improve some of my marketing and develop potential speeches.I have joined Toastmasters looking to improve parts of my public speaking and even competed in their humorous speech contest, winning the area and placing second in our division.In March, I was one of the presenters for the Christian Church Leadership Network to help preachers prepare for EasterI attended the National Preaching Summit which focused on preaching family values.

As you can see, I’ve been active. Pair all this with the increased busyness of our home life (three kids’ sports in one season, Spring break, Summer vacation planning, etc) and I’ve not been bored.

I have, however, been stuck when it comes to pursuing opportunities for speaking and writing that I began in 2021.

Granted, I wouldn’t have necessarily labeled it that until this morning when I stopped to take a serious look at why I had made no progress in writing a new book, a keynote speech, or even a blog post in some time. The result, dear reader, was realizing feelings of uncertainty about where to go in my most recent last blog series, feelings of imposter syndrome when it came to my next book, and a combination of both when it came to the keynote speech I’m writing.

By the way, the keynote speech I’m writing is about how to get moving again when you feel stuck.

*cut to an image of me with my face in my hands chuckling at the irony of my own situation*

When In Doubt, Grind it Out

I was listening to a podcast this week by Jon Acuff and he made a point that resonated with me. He pointed out that, when he hasn’t written for a while, writing can begin to feel intimidating. Much like when someone is not in the habit of going to the gym, taking that first step can seem equivalent to climbing Mount Everest.

To me, the uncertainty and internal insecurities led me to take writing and replace it with any number of familiar, more comfortable activities. Yet, these are still areas I want to grow in and goals I want to accomplish. So, in my introspective morning where I took time to brainstorm and review, I wrote down the following statement…

When in doubt, grind it out.

The gist here is recognizing that I will not always feel like writing. Uncertainties and imposter syndrome will continue to creep in. So…what can I do to keep working toward my goals and keep from getting stuck?

I can grind on tasks that move me toward my goals. Whether they are for writing, speaking, fitness, nutrition, education, or anything else.

Maybe you have a goal of running a marathon, but you don’t feel like putting in the five miles today. Perhaps grinding your way through two miles and some stretching is enough so you can come back the next time. Have a goal of learning a new language, but don’t want to spend an hour today memorizing verb declensions? Grind through ten minutes now and ten minutes later just to make some progress in the direction of your goal.

I’ve been stuck. But I don’t want to stay stuck. So…even when I don’t feel like it, and even if I don’t feel adequate…I’m choosing to grind and push through the work in front of me.

Why?

Because I have some goals, dreams, and desires. And in the end, there means there is going to be some grinding through to get there.