“Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.”
Boxing fans recognize this as the wisdom of Iron Mike Tyson. He’s the most ferocious fighter of all time according to himself. And a few others. Ask his opponents.
You have a plan, don’t you?
Well, you had one.
Then you got punched in the face. By a circumstance. By a friend. By a lover. By yourself.
What to do…
One option is to run. Another is to get back up and then run. You can also play possum. This works well when in the ring with a grizzly. Running, not so much. Unless it’s downhill. Or is that uphill? (What are you doing in a boxing ring with a grizzly bear anyway?)
Theodore Roosevelt said something once at the Sarbonne in France, April 23, 1910. He’s the closest thing to a bear incarnated as a person so maybe we should consider it. He also once pounced on a mountain lion with nothing but a knife and a few witnesses. This doesn’t make him a credible philosopher but it sure is bad ass:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasm, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
So now you have a little perspective surrounding your situation.
Did you really think you could get in the ring without being blasted in the kisser?
These things happen. Especially when you don’t want them to. But they are just things that happen. They can’t tear your flesh. Nobody is asking you to bring a knife to a mountain lion fight. It just feels that way.
So choose to see it for what it is.
And then punch it in the face.
Unless you need to give it a hug. (You’ll learn when to do which…)
It will start to feel different.
I promise.
You’re already in the ring.
Now it’s time to learn the ropes.
