Strength

I believe we all have more strength than we give ourselves credit for. I know for fact I sure the hell do. I think learning to tap into that strength, though, is the trick. I think many of us tend to crumble first when hard things come our way. Perhaps it's because so many hard things have hit us that we just can't remember why we even bother to stand anymore, but therein lies the secret. Why do you get back up? Why do you fight?

I think the difference between the people who get back up and the ones who don't comes down to whether or not you have a vision for your life that drives you.

I didn't for a very long time, but last year was a trial by fire, no exaggeration, and what got me through, what kept me going, made me keep standing back up, and if I couldn't stand, kept me crawling, was
faith. Faith that my life matters. Faith that I have a gift to give this world that I've barely scraped the surface of. Faith that there is more, that I am capable of more. Faith that no matter how much I may have screwed up in my life, that everyday is a new opportunity to make a better choice, to learn something that changes everything, to experience something that makes you feel sincere gratitude for every tear, every knife through the heart that got you to that place.

I never give up because I never know what's right around that corner.

No matter how hard it gets, no matter how painful, there is purpose and I will stand up again.

I will always fight.

I will never again give in to other people's low opinions of me.

I have a purpose in this life. I have a gift to give. I have love to experience.

Life is a beautiful thing and I will never give up.

I will tap into that inner strength. I will find the teachers my life needs. I will listen to the music that gives me wings. I will always keep going, no matter what.

We hold so much power within us. Make a commitment simply to never surrender. No matter how bad it gets, as soon as you decide to change it, it will start changing and the changes don't have to be anything more that a thought...

Change the things you tell yourself.
Have a mental defense against the naysayers.
Find and keep your focus.
Dream your dream and make it so crisp and so clear that you can't not go for it. Make yourself thirst for it. Make it compel you in your sleep and waking hours. Get it stuck inside your head like one of those songs that drives you crazy. Make it so you can't escape it and you will make it a reality.

You can achieve anything you can imagine. Honestly, you can also achieve so much more than that... you just have to start moving. :)

In 116 days I will be living in Florida and no one will stop me. Determination I have in spades. I'm working out the other details on a daily basis, but the ships have burned, there is no turning back. Florida here I come! ;-)