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Health and Wellness

Keeping Your Eyes On The Finish Line When Life Throws Hurdles

Staying motivated is key when overcoming life's complications.

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Keeping Your Eyes On The Finish Line When Life Throws Hurdles
Pubs and Publications

Face it, not everything can go the right way for you all the time. Life has an annoying habit where things will be going really great, then all of a sudden, you are in a hole and have to pull the dirt around you to build you up enough to climb out. Everybody can speak of an experience similar to this. Life is essentially a really big card pyramid or domino track and a little mistake can have disastrous consequences. Fear not, however. There is a way to keep composure when everything is going wrong.

Motivation. Think about what motivates you. Perhaps it is your family, your friends, your significant other, your school grades or success, maybe even your pet hamster named Fluffy. Now that you have a vision of what or who you want to be proud of you or if you just want some pride in yourself, set realistic goals to help yourself achieve the maximum. Start small, think of the baby steps before moving on to walking or even running through what you are trying to accomplish.

It might sound silly, but you have to crawl before you can walk. Imagine a scenario where you are faced with what seems to be an insurmountable task. Dissect it. Look at it from different angles. Take, for example, training for a benefit marathon to help kids with cancer, but you have never tied on a pair of running shoes in your life. Baby steps. First, you need to get your hands on some good running shoes. Next, you need to check out some beginner workouts for strengthening your heart, lungs, brain, and legs.

Walking phase. Now that you have started your journey of training for this marathon, you start to get a little bit of confidence in yourself. You notice subtle improvements in your performance. Your breathing is not as labored, you are not as sore now that your body is getting used to the exercise, and you start to feel good while logging those miles.

Fast-forward to run phase. You are two months away from the marathon. You have run further in training than you ever have in your life. You have come a long way from when you began running to now. You see yourself being able to dominate at the marathon and you have great pride in yourself for all the hard work you have done.

But life happens. Three weeks before race day, you roll your ankle during a long run. The doctor says it is a simple sprain and you need to keep off your feet for a few weeks. Instant curveball, thanks, life. You are devastated. You really wanted to raise money for cancer research for kids. But you do not lose all hope. With proper care, you know you can help your body heal its injury and still make it to the marathon.

You keep your head up. You do not let the dodgeball life just threw at you hit you in the face. You keep your eyes on the prize and make an astounding recovery and complete the marathon.

That is what life is about. Staying motivated when adverse things happen. Completing your goals is more important than succumbing to the less pleasurable things in life. You cannot cross a finish line if you close your eyes and go off on a tangent to avoid the obstacles in your path. With the proper motivation, you can be a ninja and jump over those obstacles and look incredible when crossing the finish line.

Using this analogy, you can apply similar thought processes to any problem or obstacle in life and overcome it. Having the right motivation will also boost confidence and have a positive impact on those around you, and will inspire them to keep their goals in mind and accomplish the maximum.

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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