Forging Forward

One of the first bits of advice I remember receiving when I started to run competitively in junior high was not to look back in a race. We were told not to look because we shouldn’t be concerned with where the person behind was– instead we should be looking forward to catching the person ahead of us.

Looking around meant we’d use energy being more worried about what others were doing when we should only have been concerned with ourselves.

That piece of advice has stayed with me long past my competitive running days, something I have to remind myself of when I get caught up into what others are doing, what they have accomplished, and comparing it to my own life.

It happened to me recently and I found myself unable to let go of something that I felt like was continually smacked in my face. That is, until I asked in prayer, “What can I do with it? How can I turn it around? What can I learn from it?”

And that’s when I was reminded of something I have wanted since I was six years old, something I have partially completed, but haven’t quite gotten where I want to be. And that’s when I decided to rededicate myself to this goal.

We can’t change what other people do, what other people have, what we haven’t done or don’t have, but what we can do is take anything that seems to irritate us and turn it into an opportunity. And while this was a lesson I was taught early, sometimes I need a big reminder of what is truly important to me, what I really want out of life, and the push to make it happen.

Forge forward with your dreams. Use all potential road blocks as changes to reflect and change your thinking. Everything is an opportunity if we choose to see it that way.