“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” I interpret this as saying that it is okay to fall. For example, when we were babies, we ran into tables and fell on our faces. In order to be able to walk, we had to know that there was a chance for falling, but push ourselves to standing position again. In the life of an adult, it is still something that you have to teach yourself. If you rise after every time you fall, you show your strength. As much as we all need help sometimes, we can really only rely on ourselves to stand up repeatedly. The beauty in this quote is that yes, people would admire someone who never made mistakes and never fell but the person with the real wisdom is the person who found the strength to get up after continuously falling down. So everytime you encounter a hardship in life (which we all do), never give up. Never let something or someone defeat you. Rise to the top and find a way to overcome the bad that your life has encountered. It’s about making a horrible situation into something good, whether it is a lesson learned or was a terrible mistake.
I remember, about two years ago, being told that I was not allowed to run anymore. The words came out of my doctor’s lips and crashed into my ears like rusty nails. Confusion, anger, and sadness filled my entire body. Running was my passion, it was the one thing I turned to whenever I felt stressed out or anxious. What would my life be without the ability to run? The long hours spent running the pain away, the sore legs and tired feet, and the early mornings spent running an extra mile were all gone. But running was not torture to me, it relieved me. When I was informed that I was not allowed to exercise or participate in any sports because of one problem, it was a wake-up call to me. I stopped running, by choice and without choice. I couldn’t run. My muscles and bones had become so weak that there were days when I couldn’t even walk. For over a year, I did not run. Not once. Eventually, I forgot about it and fell into my old habits of sitting around on my phone all day.
Upon further thought, I realized something. I had not done much to try and strengthen myself to run again. If I had, I would’ve been able to achieve more. During the last few months, I dedicated myself to becoming a runner again. I took advantage of any free time I had to train myself, challenging myself more and more. With everyday, my speed and endurance had improved. I began to notice how far I had come from the day when I stopped running and began again. Everyone, in his or her personal journey through life makes mistakes or “falls” in pursuit of their idealized goal. As all humans fall, that is not the issue. The fact that some have the courage to get back up to their feet and to try again, still reaching for the best, is what truly demonstrates the abilities of the individual. We learn by trial and error, so if every time we failed and did not get back up, we would have no glory or pride. Our ego would diminish, and we would have no self esteem or sense of accomplishment. Overall, our best achievement isn’t that we never make a mistake but that we correct our mistakes every time we make one and move past it.
