Never Give Up

Life is hard – let’s face it. Life is full of unexpected curve balls, setbacks, tragedies and challenges. For many, life can seem like a never ending and constant uphill battle. I can relate to this sentiment because my own life has never been easy.

However, when we have faced many challenges, perhaps one after another, or when life seems the hardest – we must never give up, on ourselves or in life.

Never give up the battle to overcome each new challenge that comes your way – challenges build inner strength and character. We learn more about ourselves through each new challenge, and we build strength with each new challenge. Try to view them this way.

And never give up the battle to succeed in your life or to achieve your goals and dreams – no matter how many setbacks you face, and no matter how hard or far away they may seem.

Take baby steps if that helps. Sometimes baby steps help goals and dreams to seem more achievable and realistic. It may be a matter of one step forward, and two steps back – but at least you are taking a step forward.

Keep taking steps. Your goals are within reach and are achievable with consistent effort and with faith and belief in yourself.

Maintaining faith in oneself is critical for achieving goals and dreams, so never give up on yourself, first and foremost. Have faith in yourself that you CAN DO THIS – never say you cannot.

And never give up on having hope, even if it is the smallest sliver of hope that you must hold onto – hold on. Sometimes, it may take a leap of faith that good things will happen. Sometimes, we just have to believe and have faith that we will be OK in the end, no matter what is happening in our lives.

I am not suggesting here that we sit back passively in life, holding onto hope and faith that things will fall in place or that life will get better. We must be proactive in life, too, and make things happen in order for our lives to improve.

Never giving up means being proactive. We need to proactively tackle challenges; we must proactively solve problems; and we must proactively pursue our goals and dreams.

It is easy, however, to want to throw in the towel sometimes. Sometimes, life can seem beyond manageable, especially when it’s been one challenge after another. I have been in this situation myself.

Those are the times when we may need to surrender to what life is allowing at the moment. Fighting against the flow  – or against the flow of what it allows – is like fighting against the flow of life itself.

Sometimes, we need to surrender ourselves to what life gives us in the moment, and believe that life will bring more good things our way when the timing is right. The world works in very mysterious ways.

I have fought many uphill battles myself. I have wanted to throw in the towel myself many times, and give up on my hopes, goals and dreams. However, when I accepted what the universe was giving me at the time, and when I understood that some doors close while even better doors can open further down the road, I understood something fundamental about the way life works.

Another fundamental fact about life – life is constantly changing and shifting. Life can and does improve, even when all may seem hopeless in the moment. It is in your darkest moments when you can find the strength and will to go on, by knowing that things will eventually shift and change.

So, never give up. Find the strength within you to keep going, to keep fighting the good fight and to keep actively pursuing life in the ways that you desire. Don’t let life beat you down! Conquer it! Take it on with full force and tell yourself, you are not going to beat me! I am going to conquer and win! YES.

It is in our darkest moments that our true inner character is found. It is in our darkest moments when we can find and see the light – or really, our own will to conquer. So never give up on yourself and your inner ability to not only survive, but to conquer and to achieve and thrive.

Happiness can come out of having experienced the darkest moments. We can appreciate that much more the happiness we feel in the moment because we have suffered greatly through major setbacks and/or life challenges.

That is our mission in life, after all – to be happy, to conquer and to thrive, even by enduring the most dire circumstances and situations. So never give up!

Thriving in the Wilderness

We all find ourselves in the wilderness sometimes.

I’m not referring to the physical wild places in nature (much as I love those). I’m thinking instead of those uncomfortable inner experiences of wilderness where we are left wandering outside of our usual routines with our familiar landmarks nowhere in sight. We find ourselves outside of our comfort zone and unsure of the way home in the desolate, unfamiliar landscape we find ourselves in.

Life’s broken places—losses, heartbreaks, illnesses, traumas, injuries, and setbacks—are usually the harsh shoves that force us into these seasons of wandering in the wilderness. We don’t choose them and would do anything to escape them.

Despite the discomfort and desolation these seasons bring, they also bring rich gifts as they strip away the dross of our lives to let us see more clearly what’s real underneath. 

What I’m interested in is what it looks like to choose the wilderness. I recently came across a comment about the season of Lent being like a desert time or a chance to enter into the wilderness. It was accompanied by this quote:

“What if we view this desert time of Lent as not just a time to reflect or to lament or to confess or to fast, but a time where we learn to be free.” ~Megan Westra

Whether you celebrate the Lenten season or not, this idea prompted me to ponder what it means to choose to dedicate a time to intentionally entering the wilderness, choosing to wander outside our comfort zones and familiar patterns for a season.

Rather than waiting until life forces into the wilderness, what would it look like to choose it intentionally as part of quest to grow and to deepen our inner freedom?

Is that not a deepening of beautiful living to choose spaces that help us shine our light by nurturing our growth and healing?

For some people, traditional Lenten practices of giving things up to enter the wilderness through making space by letting go (even temporarily) of distractions or pleasures may be an optimal way of finding an entry into wilderness wandering.

For others, adding a new practice (like meditation) or learning a new skill (like how to better handle conflict) might be a better opening into a space of wilderness through the stretching discomfort of the trial and error that comes with new things.

Others may find that spending a season in intentional deep reflection through journaling or therapy with a focus on healing and growth may be the most effective route into that wilderness space.

For many of us, I suspect a combination of all three of these things—stripping away, deep reflection, and new practices—work best in synergy with each other to create the most effective doorway into the uncomfortable yet fruitful space of inner wilderness.

Life has been pushing me hard in the last year into wilderness spaces of my own as I’ve faced one setback and challenge after another. I feel pretty beaten up and exhausted with trying to keep it all going.

These experiences have me questioning and challenging long-standing beliefs about how life works, what I want and need in life, and what will best help me thrive. Having those foundational assumptions so shaken up is the epitome of wilderness wandering.

As usual, though, I’ve put a great deal of energy into trying to side-step as much of that journey as I can even though I know from experience just how fruitful times like this can be.

I’m starting to think that the best way out of this wilderness space is through it and that maybe choosing to enter more fully into the wilderness wandering instead of avoiding it may help me find the other side more effectively with greater gifts to bring with me.

I’ll be actively seeking out ways to do that more effectively in a purposeful way in the coming days to seek out the freedom that comes with that kind of growth.