I’ve taken some time away from writing recently. I’ve had a lot happening this summer from moving in with my girlfriend to starting a new job to going back to grad school to leaving that new job because I hated it…
Lots of things going on.
I’ve also been trying to realign my focus and determine the things that are most important to me. Writing obviously being one of those things, I knew I wouldn’t be away for long. And here I am. The other things… I’m working on them. Can’t give away too many surprises that I have in store for all of you 😉
Somewhere in the past couple of months I started watching the Rocky movies. I usually spend 60 minutes on the StairMaster at the gym and try to find a movie to pass the time. The Rocky series happened to be on Netflix and once I watched one, I had to watch them all. Up through the two newer Creed movies with Michael B. Jordan.
Not only had I gone through the entire gamut of Stallone boxing flicks, but I also started watching documentaries on boxers and MMA fighters. After watching all of it, the one big lesson that stands out is something that Stallone said in Rocky Balboa from 2006. And what he said was so simple yet so hugely impactful. What he said was this: …”it doesn’t matter how hard you hit. It matters how hard you can get hit and keep going. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done!”
It seems that the fights that are the most celebrated are the ones that went on for rounds upon rounds. Both men standing toe-to-toe and never backing down until the final bell rings. A fight that comes to mind here is Arturo Gatti and Mickey Ward. Three matches in all, ten rounds each match, both men swinging and taking a pounding every round for a total of thirty rounds. They started as enemies and by the end became best friends. Even to the point that Mickey Ward would train and accompany Gatti to the ring in future fights after Ward had retired.
What is it in a man (or a woman) that keeps them going? What is it in you and in me that refuses to be broken no matter how many blows have rained down on us? Those of us who have been through very real and very tough battles stand stronger than we were. And not because we hit so hard. But because we took the hard hits and kept on facing them. One blow after the next, after the next. Until we finally hear the bell. Until we finally see we are more strengthened and capable than we ever thought we could be. Until we finally accept that we have what it takes to keep on going. To keep on fighting.
Hit…after… hit. We have what it takes to stay standing.
Take the hits. Because you can.
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