We all need it. At some point we become discouraged in what we are doing.
After graduating college I joined the Marine Corps and found myself in the middle of a North Carolina forest in early 2004. We were doing required field training at the School Of Infantry and I was down in the dumps. I remember it clearly because it was unusually cold and it got even colder over night. I woke up in my sleeping bag and could not feel my toes. The air was so dry that my mouth was parched. I reached for my canteen and the cap was frozen in place. It didn’t matter, the water inside was frozen anyway. There were several weeks of training left and I had heard horror stories about what was ahead.
At this point I just stared up into the sky and just thought if I could make it to morning that the sun would warm me up. I thought about the thousands of Marines who had gone through the same training over the years and made it. I thought of the hundred other Marines laying in their sleeping bags in the same cold forest. They were getting by and I didn’t see any reason why I couldn’t either. I never gave up the search for inspiration.
Take comfort that in whatever situation you find yourself in, however hopeless it may seem, there are many others who have made it through what you are going through. Maybe it is debt, divorce, job loss, or worse…seek out the counsel of those who have been where you are and went on to great things. You are no different from them and there is no reason you cannot succeed just as they have.
More importantly, never give up the search for inspiration. It is all around you.
