Are You Getting Stronger or Beaten Down?

In the midst of a pandemic and lockdowns, perhaps a layoff, and even the loss of loved ones, it is easy to feel beaten down. The feeling of losing a loved one to a pandemic, that up until that moment may have felt like an abstract news story can be crushing. Having to adjust your work, family, and daily routines can make you feel defeated.

However, the impact of the pandemic on you is determined by your mindset. You can choose to view each setback as another crushing setback, another step into a dark abyss. Or, you can imagine yourself as an elite athlete training for the greatest contest and each of these challenges is yet another workout. Athletes subject themselves to punishment, tearing their muscles down in order to make them stronger. No world’s champion became so without putting themselves through punishing and brutal workouts.

You can choose to look at each of the difficulties in front of you as another workout placed in front of you by your coach. Each is an opportunity for you to break yourself down to make yourself stronger. Only you can make this shift happen.

If you were an athlete, you saw the difference between these two types of teammates — the one who dreaded the tough sets at practice and the one who relished the opportunity to work themselves to failure, knowing that it would make them stronger. Which will you be? Attack these difficulties with a mindset that says you know that you will come out on the other side stronger than ever before. It will be difficult getting there, but you will be better off having worked through it.

You have power over your mind — not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.

―Marcus Aurelius