This is how you move! Early and often and with purpose. If a 4 year old can pick himself up after falling 5 times, we can get up and conquer the monkeybars in our life.
Don’t spend your life chasing someone else’s dreams. Go after yours!
It is natural for people to want to lead a life of comfort and ease. Most people do not seek out hardship for hardship’s sake. Hardship is difficult and often painful. However, it leads to growth. No hardship, no growth. No growth, no fruit. A successful life, therefore, is not a life without hardship. It is one with hardship. Success dies with the person. The fruit you bear, however, lasts even after you’re gone. Now that’s the kind of legacy worth leaving, a generational one. Each of us decides our own legacy. Don’t wait to make yours.
Today’s loss leads to tomorrow’s gain!
“The summit is believed to be the object of the climb. But its true object—the joy of living—is not in the peak itself, but in the adversities encountered on the way up. There are valleys, cliffs, streams, precipices, and slides, and as he walks these steep paths, the climber may think he cannot go any farther, or even that dying would be better than going on. But then he resumes fighting the difficulties directly in front of him, and when he is finally able to turn and look back at what he has overcome, he finds he has truly experienced the joy of living while on life’s very road.” – Eiji Yoshikawa
The words of Eiji Yoshikawa remind us that growth rarely happens at the summit. The peak may offer perspective, but it is the climb that forms character. In moments of difficulty, when progress feels slow and the path uncertain, it is easy to measure life by outcomes alone. Yet the real transformation often occurs in the quiet perseverance required to take the next step.
Adversity clarifies priorities. It humbles ambition. It reveals reserves of strength we did not know we possessed. When we finally look back at the valleys crossed and the obstacles endured, we recognize that the joy of living was never confined to achievement. It was present in the effort, the resilience, and the decision to continue.
Ken Reiman is a diplomat, author, and global affairs speaker whose work reflects faith, leadership, and lived international experience.