During my family camping trip, I read “Embrace the Struggle -Living Life on Life’s Terms” by Zig Ziglar and Julie Ziglar Norman, a gift my girlfriend gave me. In this book, you will learn struggles several people have endured during life’s journey but also about the faith and dedication of Zig Ziglar and his family. You see, Mr. Ziglar fell down several stairs and suffered a brain injury. His love for his family, his Redhead, and his purpose did not waiver. When you embrace your struggle, there is always one thing you can count on – God.

Everyone has their own struggle, whether it is personal, emotional, spiritual, business-related, or financial, we all struggle at one time or another.

3 lessons I learned from this inspirational book are:

1. No matter what your struggle may be – you are never alone. Family, friends, and strangers unite in prayer and support of all kinds. People want to help people.
2. When you are living your purpose, what you truly love to do, there will always be a way for you to live that purpose, it may not be the way you envisioned it to be…it may be even better than you expected.
3. Learn to accept things you cannot change and be solution focused on the things that you can change.

Someone once said to me,”It is hard to stay positive all the time.” I will not argue that for some people and even myself that there are times that are more difficult to endure than others, but I know for a fact, it is much more difficult to be surrounded with negativity. Negativity is energy draining. Optimism makes me feel alive. I will share my rose coloured glasses any day.

Embrace your struggle with faith and optimism (a spoonful of sugar). Make lemonade from the lemons that come your way. Be grateful for the people who lift you up. Life can be sweet again!

Time is precious commodity. We cannot borrow it because once it has been spent, it cannot be returned. The passing of time also represents the becoming of who you are now and who you have yet to become. The three gifts of time are your past, present, and future.

The lessons you learn, you may not see as gifts. We all have events or situations in our lives that are pivotal or have transformed our lives into who we are. These situations and events are also a matter of perspective. I have heard from a number of different people about their life’s journey and resilience from situations like abuse, being a child of a workaholic, neglect, death of a parent or spouse, and many others. I’m not saying that anyone deserved to be a product of their situation. What I am saying is these situations make who you are.

As I take some time to reflect on these three gifts, I came up with several insights and treasures.

Your past represents the beginning of your journey. It cannot be changed for it lies behind you. When you hold onto your past, it prevents you from moving forward and enjoying the present and planning for the future. Your past is a memory and a learning. It is the person you were at the time.

The present is the time that you’re living in the moment. It can often be difficult for people to enjoy the moment because of all of the distractions in the world around them. That is why it is important to savor the moments, the feelings, and the laughter for soon it will be the past.

Future is what we plan and hope for. It allows us to dream. Your dream can be what you want to be, do, or have. It is the time of who you have yet to become regardless of your past and what situation or where you came from.

Life can hand us unexpected challenges. Sometimes, we can rise up to the challenge and sometimes it feels like the darkest hour has hit. If you know someone who has overcome their challenge, you know it takes courage to move forward. Courage despite what others think is best for you. The courage to do what you think is best for you and trust that you already know what you need to do. You already have it in you.

Listen to my friend Justin Hines as he encourages – Courage!

Share how you find courage!

“Life is like riding a bicycle – in order to keep your balance, you must keep moving.” ~Albert Einstein

After not competing in a triathlon in 5 years, I did it. I signed up a week in half before the race for a mini triathlon without much training as the distances were do-able. (I do not recommend this for everyone.) I knew in my mind that I really needed to train for a Sprint Triathlon (750 m Swim, 20 km Bike, 5 km Run). Even with half the distance, I could hear my internal chatter battling back and forth having quite the conversation: “Are you crazy? You know you need to train. You have done this before, you can do it! For heaven sakes, it has been 5 years. You know what it takes.”

Have you realized that little voice speaks the loudest when you are challenging yourself? It does not matter if you are doing something for the first time or you are doing it for the twentieth time. The voice inside likes to put in its 2 cents. While I was racing, I realized that, yes I did do triathlons over 5 years ago and I still had the skills to do it again. Mind you, I needed definitely to sharpen those skills but nonetheless I already had them. You, too, have many skills you may not have used for months or years but you still own them. They are part of your blueprint. When there are challenges that come up in your life, you consciously or unconsciously retrieve those skills to apply to the situation that comes up.

As I was riding up the hill, I found myself thinking,”Wow, You did amazing job several years ago!” I think I appreciated it then but not as much as I do now. Climbing the hill became difficult and I quickly tried to find the right gear. When I found the right gear, I looked at the top of the hill and then focussed on 3-4 feet ahead of me. Every three to four feet, I got closer to the top. My positive self-talk was in the highest gear. My mind back pedalled to the past…Keep going you can do it! You never forget how to ride a bike! You can do it!


When I reached the top of the hill, I felt a surge of energy rush through me. I conquered it! I continued until I completed the race. If any of you have participated in an event or have been challenged by a situation that tests your mindset, you can appreciate what it takes to reach your end result.


ACKNOWLEDGE AND APPRECIATE – Acknowledge and appreciate where you are right now and realize that where you have been has made you who you are today. You are not defined by the past but many lessons where learned that you pull into your future. You have done some pretty incredible things that you may not have full acknowledged.


BREAK THE PATTERN – Break the pattern of the internal chatter and filter out the negative from the positive. Allow the positive to replay in your mind to make you strong. When you break the pattern, you can have better control of the thoughts you allow to enter your mind.


CONQUER THE TASK AT HAND – Conquer the task at hand by seeing your end result but also focussing on what is in front of you right now. Every task or project you work on, keeps you pedalling to your destination – your end result.


Your mind is  powerful. You can accomplish many things. Sharpen it as often as you can and you will pedal into greatness!


What skills have you sharpened to move forward?