We all wait for things to get easier….It will never get easier. What happens is, you handle hard stuff better….If you go around waiting for things to get easier in life, it’s never going to happen. Don’t think, “When is it going to be easy for me, like it’s easy for other people?” It’s not; it’s hard for everyone. Make yourself a person who handles hard well, not a person who’s waiting for the easy. If you have a meaningful pursuit in life, it will never be easy. People who handle hard well are the people who get the stuff they want. Don’t get discouraged if it’s hard; it’s supposed to be hard. Make yourself someone who handles hard well, and then, whatever comes at you, you’ll be great. – Kara Lawson, Women’s Basketball Coach, Duke University
Unavoidable Ills
We must make the best of those ills which cannot be avoided. --Clarence Day
Must and Can't
You must do the things you think you cannot do. --Eleanor Roosevelt
Forgive
The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. --Mahatma Gandhi
Hard to Fail
It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed. --Theodore Roosevelt
Shortest Answer
The shortest answer is doing the thing. --Ernest Hemingway.
Hard Work Wins
Hard work wins. You get out of life what you put into it. You cannot control the outcome, but you are one hundred percent in control of the effort. And before you complain about what somebody did to you or said to you, go to the nearest mirror, look at it and say, what could I have done to change the outcome? And no matter how good you are, how hard you work, sooner or later, bad things are gonna happen to you. How you deal with those bad things will tell your mother and me if we raised a man. –Randolph Elder in Dear Father, Dear Son by Larry Elder
Trip and Fall
The goal in life isn’t to never trip or fall, but, rather, to trip or fall less often than you used to. --Steven R. Hobbs
I Am Only One
I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do. --Edward Everett Hale
Genuine Leader
A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus, but a molder of consensus. --Martin Luther King, Jr.
Walls
The walls we build around us to keep sadness out also keep out the joy. --Jim Rohn
No Regrets
People who say, “I have no regrets,” are not telling the truth. They should truthfully say either, “I avoid thinking about my regrets,” or, “I am content with the regrets I have chosen.” Every choice made in life excludes the opportunity for another experience, given the limits of time and resources. If I choose to go to the mountains this weekend, I cannot at the same time go to the beach. While I may prefer the benefits of going to the mountains, I am still missing out on the benefits of going to the beach. I may choose benefits of self employment, but I miss out on the opportunity to have the relative stability of being an employee of someone else. I may choose the benefits of not marrying, but I miss out on the opportunity of experiencing the depth of committed relationships of a spouse and children in a cohesive family. There is a price to be paid for every choice, an opportunity missed for every opportunity taken, a regret to be had for every regret avoided. The best we can do is to choose our regrets wisely. --Steven R. Hobbs
I've Failed
“I’ve failed over and over again in my life, and that is why I succeed.” --Michael Jordan
Nothing Will Work
“Nothing will work unless you do.” --Maya Angelou
If Pain Were Water
“If pain were water, the world would drown.” —Dennis Prager
Tragedy and Regret
We ought not conflate the pain of tragedy with the suffering of regret. Pain is inevitable; suffering is gratuitous. Tragedy is the painful experience of acknowledging an unfortunate reality. Regret is the experience of acknowledging an unrealized opportunity that could have led to avoiding an unfortunate reality. —Steven R. Hobbs
Pessimist, Optimist, Realist
“The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.” --William Arthur Ward
Regret
Regret is the experience of acknowledging an unrealized opportunity that could have led to avoiding an unfortunate reality. —Steven R. Hobbs
Stop Signs
“Problems are not stop signs, they are guidelines.” —Robert H. Schuller
Difficult Families
“With difficult families, the therapist must be predictable enough to be relied on by the family, but not so predictable that he can be easily anticipated, thus he can bring about change. One must be predictable in one’s commitment to solving the family problem but unpredictable and inconsistent in moment-to-moment maneuvers.” --Jay Haley in Leaving Home: the Therapy of Disturbed Young People, pg. 276