Uphill All The Way

Life is hard. Really hard at times. I am a huge fan of the Rocky movies. I am not ashamed that at 17 it’s what inspired me to take up weight lifting and got me started on being the gym rat that I am now. (I still want to learn how to box).

There is a line that I constantly remember. It’s actually more than a line. It’s an entire scene. But it’s in the last Rocky movie that was made, Rocky Balboa. His son is feeling sorry for himself, trying to find his place in the world. Rocky explains how and here I quote my favorite line “no one is going to hit as hard as life, but it’s not how hard you can hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.”

It’s so true. The true test is making it through the challenges that life throws at us. The times we want to throw up our hands and quit. The times when things hurt and hurt deeply. The times we want to wallow in our self-pity (even when it could well be said that it’s justified).

The times we get beat down. It’s hard. No one ever said life would be easy. It comes with heartache, with pain, with bruises and scars, and it can “beat us to our knees and keep us there permanently if we let it”.

But the key is to not let it. To rise to the occasion. To meet the challenges head on, and though we might be shaking with fear, trembling on the inside, and wanting to raise the white flag, there’s that small determined voice that inside is saying “stand your ground”. And as you do, that boldness rises up within you and you find yourself staring into the face of whatever calamity or hardship you are facing and boldly declare “do your worst”.

Stay strong. You can beat this.