I saw a documentary recently. It shared the stories of elite gymnasts. Not just the hours of training, mentally and physically, but the hours of injury treatment they go through every.single.day.
The gymnasts make it look so easy out on the competition floor, don’t they? The vaults, the flips and turns.
We don’t see the rest. We don’t see that these athletes start the day in a treatment room, getting injuries worked on and taped before morning practice. At midday, they go back for more treatment and taping before a second practice, and again before evening practice. The athletes hurt, they make a decision to keep going, and they tackle it for their goals.
They believe.
In themselves. In their goal. In the process.
Why is it so important to believe?
Because all around us we see all the fluffy, happy, edited lives on social media. This person is surrounded by a loving family, that person just won a podium spot at a big race, that author landed a coveted agent for a manuscript.
Then we look at our world, in all it’s tarnish: imperfect relationships, taped-up mental and physical injuries. And we can get very down, sure we don’t have what it takes to get as far as all these other people. Or that we aren’t going to make it to our goal.
An Epiphany for 2023: different but the same
I realized we’re not too different, in some respects, than these gymnasts:
We all set goals
We all hit rough patches
We all fall short of expectations
We aren’t perfect examples of humanity.
We stumble and fall.
Like those gymnasts, we have a choice: to believe or give up. To tape ourselves back together and try again.
2023 is here. And with it opportunity and new life experiences. There will be hiccups and setbacks. But we can believe. And keep moving forward.
On those rough days, take a step back and get some mental and physical rest. Check out these posts to help you revitalize your inner self, before diving back into your goals:
So grab that tape and wrap your injury, bolster your self-confidence, and believe.
Believe it won’t be easy.
Believe you can do it.
What’s YOUR inspirational word for 2023?
As part of the January Insecure Writer’s Support Group monthly blog hop, writers are discussing thoughts on NaNoWriMo and our experiences participating. I’d like to thank this month blog hop hosts: Jemima Pett, Debs Carey, Kim Lajevardi, Sarah Foster, Natalie Aguirre, and T. Powell Coltrin!
The post One Word for 2023: Believe first appeared on Miffie Seideman.