Do you really think you are healthy, mentally? Don’t you have stress in life? I don’t care how good you are, I don’t care how talented you are. I don’t care how much you work on yourself, there are some times when things just do not feel right. There are times when anything can happen.
Life happens; the unexpected, the uncalled, the unintentional. We are often damaged emotionally and spiritually by these moments. It may be your business or your heart that is broken today. It may be your bank account screaming at you, “You are broke.” You break physically, you can break mentally, you can break your heart, you can break your spirit, and all those are going to leave a mark. But the mark they leave can be the mark of victory or defeat. It is not what you go through that determines where you end up. It’s whomyou listen to.
Right now, you are walking through a valley between two voices — one is wisdom and another is worry, one is gratitude and another is grumbling, one is to blame and another is faith. Every time you break, and in every way that you break, there’s a chance for you to give up and fall apart. But there is also an opportunity to get stronger, smarter, faster, tougher and more stable, more resilient and better. What I need you to do is, I need you to find a reason to keep going. And if you can find a reason to keep going, I know you’re strong enough to do it, because you’re a human being. And every human has what it takes to get past whatever they are going through if they decide to push through it.
Tragedy and trial come to everybody, but only the strong survive. The fight is not over, it’s just the beginning. You have the opportunity to show the world what you are really made of. I need you to look at that sickness in your life right now, whatever it is, and I want you to say “I can beat it,” “I can be it,” “I will beat it,” “I must, I got a family to live for, I ain’t through yet.” My life ain’t over yet.
There is something in life you don’t need any degree for, money for, and any support for. There is something in life you are just going to get through when you tell yourself “I am going to get through this.” Regardless of what happens to you in life, regardless of the trials and tribulations, nothing can stop you. The only thing that can stop you is YOU. No situation, no circumstances, no piece of adversity can define your life. Never let a circumstance define you. Just tell yourself “I am not retreating,” “I am not running,” “I don’t care what they say on paper,” “I don’t care if you say I am outnumbered.”
We live by this and we die by this. We don’t retreat, we don’t run, we’re going to stand and we are going to live and going to die by what we stand for. And everybody is going to know what we represent and what we are a part of. No matter how broken your marriage is, no matter how many times you’ve failed, there is, within you, a spirit that is greater than whatever is going on around you.
If you are willing to fight your way through this battle, fight your way through cancer, fight your way through that academic struggle, fight your way through divorce, fight your way through everything, if you are willing to fight your way through that singing career, fight your way through boxing, fight your way through football, I am telling you, at the end of this fight is going to come victory.
And as you crawl up and get out of that dismal and wretched place, as you rise above what you were and take the form of who you are supposed to be, you will see that in the very act of standing up, in the very act of fighting on, you will become and you will remain unbroken.