the gift of strength through adversity

Why do we push ourselves? In the moments when we have a way out, when we have the option to go easier, when we can quit, but we don’t – we hold out, we add on, we push ourselves harder, and we keep going, that is where we find our strength and we build it too.

Maybe it’s in my DNA, but I’ve always been one to give 110% when only 100% is required. Be it good or bad, it’s this unrelenting spirit that pushes me to never give up. Never giving up doesn’t mean that you can’t feel like you want to quit, it’s feeling that feeling or thinking that thought, but reminding yourself that you can do it – and you’ve done it before. You’ve pushed passed that barrier when you didn’t think you could. You may have to slow down, you may have to rest, you may have to take some steps backwards, but when you push through those moments when you don’t think you can, you find strength inside yourself that you didn’t know you had. I don’t know about you, but I love that feeling when you don’t think you can do one more rep or make it through that last mile, but you dig deep and you do – it’s the most amazing feeling. I prefer hard workouts over easy ones. Give me something easy and I’ll find a way to make it harder. I don’t want easy. I want to be challenged. We don’t grow in the easy times, we grow through what challenges us and pushes us to push ourselves. We build our strength in the hard times and we never forget what we learn.

Life brought us to the ExoSym. Be it injury, illness, condition, whatever it may be, it’s been a tough journey for many of us, but you know what? We are stronger for it because we’ve never given up. It’s our journeys in life that make us who we are. Sure, none of us would ask to be in this situation, but I believe it’s made me a stronger person and for that I am grateful. When I look down at my ExoSym, I am reminded of all I’ve been through and for every moment I could have given up but I didn’t — and I feel strength.

Never forget the heart inside you. Live grateful for every moment that is and cherish the gift of strength through adversity. ♡