If you have had a setback that makes you want to just lay down and die, listen up. Even though you may be on the ground now, you can get back up. It’s up to you. Agreeably, there are terminal illnesses that it seems that no one can fix, but anything less than that can be fixed. Is there still breath in your body? Well, get up.

Many years ago I was driving down a small country road in farm country and passed a huge corn field that had been beat to the ground the night before. It was so sad. I had watched that corn grow from the day it first broke through the hard ground. It had survived blistering Alabama heat and weeks of near drought conditions and now, there it lay, flat. It appeared lifeless. Although I had grown up in rural Alabama for most of my life and known countless farmers, I knew little about this hearty plant. I assumed that the crop was a total loss. Have you ever felt like that? You know, you have fought and fought to make progress towards your goal or sometimes to merely survive and then BAM! in one night, all Hell breaks loose and you want to die…or at least quit working so damn hard. Remember, that won’t get you what you want. You have to get up.

I drove on into town and did what seemed like endless hours of shopping because we lived in the country and I shopped once a week. I had to get everything for the week in this one trip. I was in town about 4-5 hours and gave no more thought to the destruction of the corn field. Finally after wrangling a shopping cart and a four year old through mountains of toys and sugary treats designed to make him howl for them, I turned my car down that country road and gave it a little extra acceleration. I was tired and wired and had experienced a bit of psychological trauma in Walmart. “Well-meaning” shoppers were trying to tell me how to properly cope with an autistic toddler and it was all that I could do to stay out of jail. I really wanted to just slam-dunk the lot of them. My parents were disgruntled about said toddler, other family members were chiming in and I was exhausted and broke when it was time to go home. I just wanted to give up.

I was fuming and desperate. Life was not good that day. Everything seemed harder than it was. I was having a pity party, why me? Why did everything have to be so hard? I was always struggling with my weight and that wasn’t going so good either. I was the biggest that I had ever been and depression was crowding me on every side. I was a size 22, at about 200 pounds. I’m 5’6″. Everything seemed hopeless. Have you ever had these feelings? Do you feel like this now? Get up.

I was all teary- eyed, dreading unloading the groceries and trying to figure out what to fix for supper for an ex that was impossible to please. Again, why me? Where did I go so wrong that I would never be happy? I hated my life. About that time, I almost ran off the road. The corn that was beat to the ground that morning was standing straight up! I had to find a place to stop close to the field. I had to take this all in! How was it possible? As it turned out, I discovered that corn may be all but completely destroyed, laying flat down, for all intents and purposes, dead, and when the sun shines on it, it will rise. As I sat there in my car tears streamed down my face. I knew that this was meant for me. I knew that I was supposed to see that miracle of the corn that day. I have never forgotten.

Since that day, my life has changed in so many ways that it is unrecognizable as the same life and I am unrecognizable as the same person. When I show people the pictures of me then, sometimes people don’t believe that’s me. I have changed completely, inside and out. I found David’s Way to make me strong and lean and profoundly healthy. I have also adapted the “Make your world small.” idea that David teaches. I don’t waste precious time on negativism and people who will try to undermine my goals. I work hard at my job and on this blog to try to tell the world that you don’t have to be unhealthy due to the choices that you make. I focus on what’s important and let everything else go. Although many years have passed since that day, I am much younger in so many ways. Every day is a good day because I make it so. I have huge challenges in my life still but my health and happiness are not on that list anymore. I took control of that. I have hard times and difficult days but in the end, I win. I don’t remember how to lose.

I am a strength trainer. Every time that I stand up from a heavy squat or set a new PR, I win. The Iron is a harsh taskmaster but if I go by the rules that it sets, I will always win. Even when I fail to complete a set or a rep, the mere act of trying as hard as I can makes me a winner because nothing else will train my mind and body like the Iron. Whatever you do, do it with all of the power in you. Don’t quit. Get up.