Are You a Carrot, an Egg … or a Coffee Bean?

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Everyone’s life is peppered with adversity. Doesn’t matter whether you’re famous, or rich, or world renowned in some particular field. Doesn’t matter if you’re well educated or you’ve never seen the inside of a school. Doesn’t matter if you front the most famous band in the world, or your face adorns a thousand glossy magazines. Doesn’t matter whether you were brought up in abject poverty or with a silver spoon in your mouth, or whether you even knew your parents.

kick meEveryone, from every background, will meet with obstacles along the way. Everyone. This isn’t exactly breaking news, I’m well aware of that. When we’re in the middle of it, though, it can feel like we’re the only one suffering a setback. The feeling is “Why me? Life’s always picking on me, like I’ve got a big KICK ME sign taped on my back. What have I done to deserve all this?”

The truth is, you didn’t have to do anything special. You were born. That was enough. Problems come into all our lives. Along with setbacks, upsets, disappointments, accidents, illnesses, pain, grief, loss … the list goes on and on. Psst … listen carefully … it happens to us all. Yeah okay, it’s not really a secret, I was just dramatising.

But it is a fact. It happens to us all, every last one of us. Princes and paupers alike, we all get a slap from the setback stick once in a while. We all suffer illness and pain too. We all suffer the loss of loved ones. Accidents don’t just happen to other people. No-one escapes these things, doesn’t matter who you are. Yeah, I know … bummer. But that’s life. Get used to it.

It’s what you do when you’re down that matters

You’re not unique in meeting with setbacks and disappointments. What makes the difference is how you deal with these things. Do you just let them knock you down and lie there, trying to rub the pain away and feeling sorry for yourself, or do you get right back up and face the situation. That’s the deciding factor in whether you’re going to make some headway in life. No matter how grave the situation, there’s always a choice. And making the right choice can be the difference between winning and losing.

That’s why fighting is such a great analogy for life, and why boxing fascinates us so much. It’s been that way since the days of the gladiators, and way before that. We can watch trained boxers pit their wits and strength against each other, and see how they deal with what comes at them, without the associated danger of actually getting involved. Boxing’s easy, see, if you’re fit and strong and you train hard, and as long as everything’s going your way. But even with a world of preparation behind you, there’s always an unknown quantity in the ring with you … your opponent.