This sentiment or emotion or crazy conclusion has been gnawing at me for about the last month or so. I have to raise money to compete, to eat, to pay for supplements, to pay for a coach, to travel, lodging, entry fees, tanning, and specialty training related to posing. The necessity is enough to cause most, if not all of us to slow down, stop, or quit. Nothing is possible without resources (money)….so you must take the time to put the fuel into place or you are going nowhere. I hate having to put money as my number one priority but that’s the name of the game for me now. I feel like nothing is going well and I can’t focus on the shows that are ahead of me. So, in order to get from here to there I have to stay the course which includes little things like depression, discouragement, anger, sleeplessness, and an overwhelming sense of having to climb with no strength.
Let’s pull this apart a little bit. In the book by Victor Frankel entitled, “The Meaning of Life” he reflects on his experiences in a Nazi Concentration Camp. Before the camp he was a Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Berlin. In the camp he, as was everybody, reduced to animal-like existence. Nobody believed they would survive this ordeal and every exposure to life was a depressing, discouraging, painful, living hell. He observed that each man had a belief system that sustained them day by day despite starvation, lice, disease, and the incessant beating from the guards each morning and evening. Some believed that there entire family was waiting for them. Some believed that they were going to be liberated on such and such a date and all they had to do was survive to the day of liberation. In summary, we like these poor fellows in the concentration camps must cling to a belief that only we know about to get to the final objective. Sometimes, we have to be able to “imagine” the “win” even the moment indicates that we will be lucky to get to tomorrow.
Believe in what you want. Believe that the journey you are on is necessary to get what you want. Determine to want to “win” so strongly that nobody can take your dream away, not even circumstances will deter you from continuing despite no immediate evidence to validate your effort. Spend time focusing on not only the win but the why that establishes your effort. Why do you put yourself through all this? Dammit! DECIDE and then stick to it. Don’t look around. Just KNOW that what you are doing is yours and is worth it.
Bottom Line: When there seems to be no hope…..create that hope you need. Be disciplined when all seems lost. Be diligent and give nothing away to discouragement. You have to survive so that you can tell others how it’s done. The Best to all of us especially when the road seems too hard.
Six Pack and Senior 