The best compliment that ever crossed my bows, so to speak, was perhaps meant as a semi, quasi-insult.
Not sure I remember who it was that first graced me with this compliment/disguised aspersion on my character. But I can honestly say that there were a few who had examined me in the thick of battle only to find me a variation or another of what they coined as indefatigably relentless. In fact, they might have said that I was incorrigibly and defiantly devoted to a singular purpose.
For most of my life, I imagined I was perhaps wrong to be so stubbornly set in my ways. After all, if more than one person tells you are drunk, you better go home and sleep it off, eh.
But then I thought about all the times, people, good people, close people, who love(d), nurture(d), cherish(ed), encourage(d) and support(ed) me, all these good people whom I loved and love, they were/are all wrong to think me hellishly stubborn.
Because you see, life is very much a crap shoot, a coin toss. And everything falls into two categories: wins and losses. Now, what most people got wrong is the ratio. Most fellows are wrong to think it’s a 50/50 game.
Well, I am here to tell you Life is definitely Not 50/50. Most of the losses you take in life are due to one factor, and one factor alone: lack of temerity, balls, resolution. Thing is when you fail in life in any endeavor, it’s because you become disillusioned with yourself, others, how things are going, the rate at which things are going.
Basically, anything can discourage one from doing the only thing that separates winners from losers. And that is getting up off the ground, where life’s hard knocks have thrown you.
It is a given that if you stay down, you will lose. That is established, set in stone.
But if you choose to get up and back into the good fight, that is when you stand a chance to turn a loss into a win. True, true, life may throw you down again and again. But it is up to you, to your agency, to believe in your lucky star, and get back on the horse, in the saddle, and at ’em.
Because when you do, you show the world, the universe, the cosmos, your mettle. You prove everybody, and Yourself, that you may be beat, but you are not done in. You are not a victim. You are not defeated.
And that is a win, in and of itself.
So, yeah, many people will tell you all sorts of things about yourself. You listen to them. And listen carefully. Sometimes, they will provide you a key, a hint, a way to decipher this amazingly complex world of ours. But most times, they are not in your skin, your mind, your place. They do not know what it is to walk a single foot in your shoes. And therefore, you ought to take their advice with a pinch of salt.
In other words, Adapt their message to your needs. And Overcome the obstacles coming your way. But you have to find the way because it’s your life that’s on the line, not theirs.
And the world is full of people, who believe others have their best interests at heart. When in reality, there is only one person in the world who is sure to know that. And that person is you.
Götterdämmerung 