I recently watched 34 year-old Nik Wallenda complete a 1,400 foot walk one step at a time. What was amazing and incredible is that it was on a 2 inch diameter steel wire extended 1,500 feet above the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon. Once he took those first steps, he was forever committed to completing the walk….or dying. There were no other options. He had to keep going, or suffer the ultimate consequence.
So what are you up to? What is your big goal or endeavor? Stop stopping. Keep moving forward. The only failure is the failure to participate. Mistakes are not failures, but just teachers along the path. Finishing well is the reward, and the value is in what we become in the pursuit.
Where would you be today if you had not stopped? How healthy would you be? What skills and education would you have? How many more people would you have helped? What might be your story?
There is no sustained value in dwelling in the past. It is not real and only exists in our mind. But the past is a good teacher, and good teachers will always help us if we listen and respond. Listen and learn to stop stopping. Never give up on anything or anyone worthwhile. Quit quitting. Don’t flip the off switch and shut down.
Though Nik never stopped, he paused a couple of times on the wire when it was particularly challenging. Pausing, reflecting, and recovering is not stopping. We sleep every night to prepare for the next day. Every morning brings a sunrise and daybreak to begin anew. There is one step, a pause, and then another. There is day, then night, and then another day. The lesson is simple; stay on the path.
Continue moving forward. Stop stopping, and you will arrive at your destination and finish well.
