"Rise to the Challenge"

Difficulties are part of life; there’s no way around them. Each of us has faced our own heartbreaks — family problems, lost love, illness, injuries, career setbacks, losses — life’s not always easy.

The question is: "How do we respond to our difficulties?" Do we rise to the challenge, or do we sink into defeat and despair and depression. The answer may depend on how we think about our difficulties.

Consider a difficulty of yours. Do you think it’s a punishment? Do you think it’s a test? Do you think it’s a challenge?

Your answers to these questions will tell you a great deal about how you are responding to this difficulty.

If you are thinking of the difficulty as a punishment, you’re focusing on what you did wrong.

If you are thinking of the difficulty as a test, you’re focusing on whether you will pass or fail.

If you are thinking of the difficulty as a challenge, you’re focusing on what you need to do now.

For me, challenge is the best choice — far and away the best choice.

A challenge is a situation that requires us to use our inner resources, go beyond our imagined limits, and realize that we can be more than we previously thought possible.

Thinking of it this way, turns the difficulty into another opportunity for change, growth, energy, courage, resolution, commitment, perseverance, and motion-into-the-future.