Remember To Breathe

Life can get overwhelming.

It is hard.

It is hard to die to yourself every single day.

To choose to suffer now, even though the future enjoyment you’re working for is nowhere in sight.

To see others indulge and still win, whilst you toil and suffer for pebbles.

There is nothing satisfying about that.

There is nothing gratifying about denying yourself basic needs, like sleep.

Sometimes you have no choice but to sacrifice basic needs and leisure in order to succeed, and that reality is hard.

It’s hard to feel fatigued, to feel drained, to feel like Hercules lugging a boulder on his shoulders; whilst still climbing up that mountain one step at a time — there’s nothing easy about that reality.

There’s nothing easy about being the best.

There’s nothing easy about being the greatest.

There’s nothing easy about being second yet still relentlessly crawling towards the one in front of you.

There’s nothing easy about walking a road nobody else you know has, fighting fear every single day.

That is incredibly hard.

There’s nothing easy about it. That’s the reality.

Whenever I write, I’m often encouraging you to make choices, and they are never easy ones.

In essence, I’m asking you to pursue responsibility.

And with responsibility comes more hard times, more challenges, more difficulties, failures, trials, tests, and lessons.

You will be beaten down over and over again by life in pursuit of greatness, because it’s hard.

And knowing that reality doesn’t make you some masochistic enthusiast, it makes you responsible.

The people we want to be, people hulking responsibility along, are people who can still enjoy life despite its ferocity — those who are accustomed to a higher level of hard.

And that’s why it’s so attractive.

Often the people we idolise and associate with strength, pioneering, and mastery — those at their "pinnacle"—are just responsible people.

Responsible people are disciplined, consistent, well-managed, humble, refined, teachable, poised, and in control — even though life is hard.

They are rocks, of firms.

Foundations for futures.

Safe-havens for those under their care.

That is, the one who is responsible.

And the journey to becoming that person is long and hard.

Simply because it requires you to live for more than yourself, which is both the key and the reason why being successful is so much harder than being unsuccessful.

The more successful you are, the more dependents you have relying on your actions, decisions, and consistency.

And every single endeavour that built you into that person becomes increasingly harder on an ever-upward scale due to your success.

But that’s not what I intend to discuss today.

My point is: life is hard, however it’s not impossible.

So, remember to breathe.

When you feel overwhelmed by the mountain before you.

Remember to breathe.

When it feels like too much, you can’t see a way forward, and your effort feels like it’s dissapearing into the abyss.

Just breathe.

Take a second.

Because it’s a reminder that although it is hard, it’s all within your stride as long as you keep your head above the water.

You’ll often notice how much better you perform, when you feel better too.

This is the poignant reality of balance.

It reminds us that although the responsibility on our back is tumultuous, it’s within our capability.

You can manage it.

You can overcome it.

You will finish anything assigned to you.

You will not be overwhelmed.

You are in control.

You will flourish in every walk of life you take.

You will shine in every opportunity given to you.

You will conquer every fear that holds you.

You are able.

Act accordingly.

Just breathe.

If the marathon is an amalgamation of every small step, then nothing is more important than the mental posture you assume when you take each step.

So remember to breathe.

With each and every step.

Remind yourself you’re in control, no matter how big the obstacle is.

Just breathe.

It is all in your grasp.

Look at your journey as it is, millions of tiny little wins.

The burden of responsibility may weigh a gargantuan amount in total, but the reality is that you took that weight one rock at a time.

So just remember to breathe.

LM