Too often, people blame their circumstances for their behavior.

They blame someone else for their poor choice.

They blame their upbringing for their bad response.

They blame this one or that one for their own failure.

Tragedy comes to all us in one way, shape, form or another.

Trauma befalls every individual on the planet.

(If it hasn’t hit you yet, just keep on living.)

It’s not the events that matter.

As much as, it’s what you do with it.

It’s what choices you make to get out of it, to keep fighting, to win.

A champion never wins by staying on the mat when he’s knocked down.

A hurdle jumper never sees success by remaining on the asphalt on top of the broken hurdle.

A rower never receives the medal by flailing in the water once knocked out of the boat.

We’re not promised good fortune simply because of what family line, nation, or skin color we have.

Our modern society claims if you’re born into the right circumstances, you will always win.

And those same people claim if your birth brings you into the wrong heritage, wrong race, or wrong town, you’ll never achieve more.

Lies. All lies. Never embrace those fallacies.

Show me a person who cannot succeed when effort is made.

Show me a person who cannot achieve when sacrifices are made.

Show me a person who cannot triumph when the passion is deep within.

Does it mean some have it easier than others?

Sure. That’s the life we live.

But never hate someone for the blessings she has been given.

You never know the cost that has been paid.

Never curse someone for the accolades he is presented.

You never know the hell he had to live before you saw the crown.

Stay focused on your purpose.

Stay tuned in to your faults.

Grasp the convictions needed.

Stay fixed on your goals.

Your success never depends on them.

It depends on the determination within.

And sometimes, you’re no longer winning because you’ve lost the two vital ingredients to score:

Coaching and support.

Everyone needs someone better in their corner. Let them refine you.

Everyone needs someone to cheer them in the darkness. Let them soothe you.

But never let them coddle, pacify, or justify your resignation.

Fight to win.

Win to testify it can be done.

Extend a hand to someone else.

For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.

2 Timothy 1:12

The heart of the prudent acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge. A man’s gift makes room for him, and brings him before great men.

Proverbs 18:15-16