HOW ABOUT A COMEBACK THIS YEAR?
I’m a sucker for a Cinderella story. I’ve got the original Rocky movie poster hanging in front of my treadmill at home. I love it because of the saying, “His whole life was a million-to-one shot.”
Did you ever feel like that? Like all the odds have been or still are against you? Maybe, as a kid, it was the family you came from. Maybe you were short, unpopular, not athletic, had trouble with school. Or, as an adult, maybe you’ve lost money; blown relationships; become overweight; gotten depressed; developed joint pains; feel constantly fatigued, stressed, or overwhelmed; just not made the money or the impact on the world you once hoped you would. And on it goes.
What makes Rocky Balboa, James Braddock (“Cinderella Man”), the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team, Seabiscuit, Pretty Woman, and Cinderella such amazing stories is that, for them all, it was over. They were nothing, nada, already-blew-it, screwed-up, big-loser, forget-about-it, no-chance types. Yet, against all odds—when every normal, everyday motivation to keep trying would have run out, totally given up—theirs didn’t. They did it, they made it. These so called bums and losers won.
Do you remember a time when you wanted to do something significant, maybe even something great? What happened to that guy/girl? He or she existed once. Existed somewhere, long before there were the fears of failure, the mistakes, the goals you didn’t hit when you wanted to hit them, bills to pay, and large-scale rejection. He or she existed long before these fears, pains, and frustrations caused you to justify your position or the position of others, turn excuses into reality, become a victim, and develop a deep fascination with self-preservation.
How about a comeback? A coming back to believing in yourself, knowing you’re at cause and not a victim, believing in the fact that God did and still does have greatness and victory in store for you.
Could you be the Rocky or the Cinderella story of your town? The next miracle to shock the world? Absolutely! But, you have to know that you can do it, or at the very least be willing to try. Rocky said, “If I can go that distance, you see, and that bell rings and I’m still standin’, I’m gonna know for the first time in my life that I weren’t just another bum from the neighborhood.” He didn’t know if he could do it, but he was willing to go for it. Once there, he called on all his past pain, all his unmet desires, and all his hopelessness and, rather than letting those emotions block him as they had in the past, he used them to find newfound hope, deep energy, and the will to go the distance.
What could you do? Abraham Lincoln’s mother said to him from her deathbed: “Be somebody.” What does “going the distance” mean in your life? What behemoth do you have to knock out or endure blow after blow from in order to be a champion in your own heart and the hearts of many? What do you have to do to be able to shout like Rocky, “Yo, Adrian, I did it!”
It’s not the size of the dog in a fight, but the size of the fight in the dog. Fight comes from not quitting when things have been tough or failures have piled up over years and years. Fight comes when you use calamity and distress as inner fuel and failure as the very thing that propels you forward—or at the very least, to take the next step. No Cinderella story has ever happened because of great skills or natural ability. In fact, you can’t be a Cinderella story unless you’re a million-to-one shot! It’s never been brains, arms, or legs that have won a place in history. It’s been heart.
Rocky, James Braddock, the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team, and Seabiscuit (all true-ish stories), didn’t really beat their opponents. They beat fear, frustration, desperation, and all that comes from a life that’s said very clearly over and over and over again, “You can’t!” Each, in their own way, conquered their own souls, and so can you!
Don’t you think it’s about time for a comeback?
