There may be times in your life when you feel that there is no lower that you could sink, that you’ve reached the bottom of the barrel, and I’m sure you can list several off the top of your head. Our lowest moments are something we never forget, but something that tends to escape our memory is how once we’ve fallen, we have to rise. There’s nothing to suggest life isn’t a struggle, we constantly encounter obstacles and setbacks on a weekly basis, but nothing can prepare us for the phone call or message that drops us to our knees.

Attitude and gratitude are two uniquely human perspectives that, for the most part, result in us having to make strong adjustments to what many consider to be a natural human reaction. When something doesn’t go our way, we tend to lash out in bitterness and blame ourselves, God, the universe, whatever is close at hand.

Learning something and applying that knowledge is something, but to understand requires an empathic connection with that experience that is necessary for growth. A growth mindset is what enables people to develop skills and mature in a way that is unique to our species. To dwell in the past is to reject that growth, but a forward lifestyle that values progress over stagnancy tends to reward us with greater personal development.

Everything in life requires some degree of effort. Sweeping a porch doesn’t require the same amount of effort as building a porch, but both require the motivation to get the job done. A lot of us coast off of motivation, others have moved past motivation into discipline. Regardless, there’s a lot of thinking that centers around the idea that being lazy requires no effort. I find this funny, because often enough, trying to get out of one’s duties and shirk on your responsibilities often means putting in more work just to escape the obligations or commitments.

I used to run all the time; I’ve recently started getting back into it. I’d try to beat the younger guy; I’d try to beat the older guy. But you always know you pushed yourself when you got that almost sick feeling of your endorphins dumping into your gut. I’d try to do a hundred more of one activity, I’d try to do a minute faster at this distance—there was always something worth striving to achieve. You didn’t always make it, sometimes you’d go a few days and maybe you made it in ten minutes on a Monday but you were coming in at eleven and twelve on a Tuesday and Thursday. Well, you have to look at it compared to where you were—at thirteen or fourteen minutes the previous week. Life is a lot like that, it has its ups and downs and you can’t always control when they happen.