sometimes daily musings on writing..

"The most splendid achievement of all is the constant striving to surpass yourself and to be worthy of your own approval."

~Denis Waitley


After all, if we don't approve of our own selves...what do we have?

Brad Cohen, the amazing Cobb County, GA teacher with Tourette's syndrome said, and I quote: "DO NOT GIVE UP." If a man with Tourette's can not only become a teacher but an award-winning teacher, an inspiration to all who encounter him, an author, and a changer of things which need changing, WE, us little people without huge odds against us can win a fight or two against things like weight loss, family dysfunction, lack of self-esteem and lack of direction.

DO NOT GIVE UP.

Where does giving up get you? Back at the beginning? Or worse: Before that? I think before that, because you have to battle with yourself over the guilt and the reproach that your mind serves forth: "You gave up. You were tired. You couldn't. Can't never did nothin', so why are you whining about it now? You gave up. Go back home. Quit trying. You ALWAYS give up. You're not worthy, so quit pretending."

THAT'S where giving up gets you. Worse than nowhere. Worse than back at the beginning. It gets you before the beginning. Two steps forward, three back.

DO NOT GIVE UP.

You are worth more than giving up. I am worth more than giving up.

We can start this week, this day, this hour; this MOMENT. We can start this very second and prove to ourselves (not anyone else, because they have their own proving to do for themselves) that we deserve our own approval. With our own approval, we can move the mountains, climb them if we want, and move them back again to their original positions.

DO NOT GIVE UP.

Four words by which to live. And I choose to live.