When Life Gets You Down, Get Fired Up
Lately, I seem to be seeing it all over the place. I even feel it happening in me a few times every day. What am I referring to? Self pity.
Life Is, And Always Will Be, Hard
Life is hard. If there’s only one lesson I’ve learned so far in my life, that’s the one. Yes, I grew up as a United States citizen in a middle class family. Yes, I’ve always had food to eat and a warm bed to sleep in at night. I even had a loving family growing up. Then I grew up and life got hard. It remains hard, even though I’ve got my head on pretty straight, finally. I’ve come to terms with the fact that life will always be hard. Unless you’re going to play the victim game and mooch off of everyone else and play the “poor me” game, you’re life will always be hard too. Actually, even if you do play that game, life will still be hard. That’s just the way it is.
That’s Pretty Negative Thinking, Kraig
Perhaps that is very negative thinking, but in my experience, it’s the truth. I didn’t say that life will always be horrible or not fun or painful. I said it will always be hard. There is a difference between painful and challenging. When I say hard, I mean life will always be challenging. I think that’s the point. A life that is challenging is a life worth living. Look back at the things you have done that you’re proud of. Were they challenging? Think of the people that have had the biggest impact on your life. Did they rise to tough challenges and persevere? Just because life is challenging, doesn’t mean we should sit and cry about it. It means we need to step up, kick some serious butt and quit whining about it. If we do that, our lives are going to be better than if we give up and give in.
Back to what I said earlier about seeing people all over the place wallowing if their self pity. I do. I also catch myself trying to pull that crap on a daily basis, too. You know what I do when it happens to me? I get fired up.
Get Fired Up and Break Out of Self Pity
When it happens to you or if it is already happening to you, you need to get fired up to get out of it. Sometimes I hear myself saying, “If only…”, “I’ll never be able to…” or “I got screwed because…”, leading me to lose confidence in myself and sink further and further into crappy thinking like that. Then, the positive and hopeful side of me shows up and I start to think of all I have done to succeed so far. I also think of all the things I love to do, am really good at and want to do in the future, both personally and professionally. I also think of the fact that I’ve managed to get my finances and many other areas of my life in control and think of how much butt I can kick in other directions if I really put my mind to it. After a few minutes of this kind of thinking is when I finally say to myself “I’m NOT going to let this stop me from succeeding” and “I’m not letting anyone or anything ruin my hopes and dreams”.
Believe in Yourself Again
Frankly, it’s when I get FIRED UP and PISSED and yell at myself, saying “I’m NOT letting anything stop me”, that I get out of self pity thinking and get up, get out and get something done. No matter what happens or who tells me (even if it’s only a signal or feeling I get from them) that I can’t succeed, I’m not letting it affect my motivation and progress toward my goals anymore. I see too often people I care about getting caught in self pity and not being able to get out of it. My tip today to all of you, which comes from my own personal experience, is to think of how darn awesome you are, think of all you have done that HAS been successful and think of all those people who look up to you and believe in you. Then stand up, GET PISSED, tell yourself who’s boss and believe in yourself again!
Category: Getting Ahead
So true! You are your own boss and sometimes you have to really get fired up and motivate yourself. I believe the best leaders and some of the most successful people are those who kick their own butts!!!
Yes, internal motivation is key.
But…But I enjoy self-pity, especially with a pint of Ben & Jerry’s and reruns of Gossip Girl.
Oh come on, you don’t seriously enjoy that, do you?
I wish more people would get FIRED UP! Sometimes I feel like this crazy go-getter person. But now I know there’s one other person who shares my “life is hard” view!
Even though I wouldn’t consider myself too much of a go-getter person, I’m working on getting better at that. I do have the internal go-getter attitude but just have to implement it little by little because it’s not my natural state.
Great post. We all get stuck in a rut sometimes, and need to remember that we can do whatever we set out to do.
Yep, we definitely need to remember that.
This is what I’ve been trying to do as well. Even though life can be hard, I try to persevere and be the best I can be.
That’s the right attitude to have!
Well put! I don’t believe your first section is harsh at all. People need to wake up and stop whining about how everything is against them. All of life is graded on a curve, and it’s not that hard to be on the winning side of that curve. You’ve just got to make the effort to.