How to Stay Ambitious When Life Keeps Breaking You — I know you ask this question too — Here’s how!

I have been through the phase of life where it feels as if everything, each event, each person, each moment is there just to break me. I have felt this feeling, and I think I also know what it feels like to be ambitious and to remember your purpose, even though there are multiple reasons not to. During hard times, I used to feel as if I just want to run away, somehow escape all of this tension and problems of life. I used to fantasize that I could at any moment pack my bags and start my bike and start riding. Never to look back, never to stop anywhere, and keep going, chasing the horizon, trying to find the end of the world.

Photo by Zac Durant on Unsplash

I have been that person who finds quitting to be the easiest thing to do — a lot easier than fighting and dealing with life. I have thought of giving up on my dreams, my goals multiple times, and often it would happen that I would sleep at night with the stern decision to give up on each and everything and just go where life takes me.

But then in the morning, a switch would turn on in me. I think this switch was inspired in me from something I have been doing in the past. A very specific form of exercise when we were in military college. There while training, our sergeant used to brief us before a mile exam, and he used to repeat this every week when we had this exam. I don’t remember the exact wording, but he would say that when you feel like giving up and stopping during a mile, just look at how far you have already come, and push yourself a little more. Just lie to yourself that you will stop after you reach the next milestone. But once you do, then say it again and tell your body that you will stop once you are at the next 100m marker. Keep doing this until the mile is over.

To be honest, I did not even believe him enough to give it a try, and so I used to fail. But then there came this one time when I did the same and guess what? I STILL FAILED. But the margin this time between me and success was so less that I was sure that the next time we run a mile, I will pass. And I did.

While I ran that mile, at every moment the heat, the pain in my thighs, the burning sensation in the lungs, and the sweat trickling all over my body all pleaded me to stop. They tried their utmost to stop me, but I did not. I kept lying to myself that it’s going to be the final push and that is it.

I do the same every morning. Though I have decided that I will no longer deal with life the way I want to, I will no longer follow my dreams, I still wake up every day and I say

“JUST ONE MORE DAY, AND LET US SEE WHAT HAPPENS.”

And yes, at night I again sleep tired, broken, and sometimes in the morning, too, I don’t have the courage to restart my journey where I had left off. But I find the courage to start all over again, if I have to, when I see how far I have already come to just give up now.

Life is a bitch, and it will put you down every time you try to stand up. But you know what? Regardless of anything, still — STAND UP. I am sure you can find the courage to do so, especially if someone like me can. So can you.

In the end, I would say that it is all about mindset. It is about how you sharpen your greatest weapon, your own mind and your thoughts. Make them your ally and you are so many steps closer to success than anyone.