It's a well known fact that we all fall victim to bad days now and then. You know the ones -- days when nothing goes right, things fail left and right, and you just can't catch a break. If you're unfortunate enough to experience several days like this, you may even be feeling down on your luck. But there is always one way to bring sunshine back into your otherwise dreary outlook -- look back and count your triumphs.
As we go through our days, we can itemize each and every task and grade our results in terms that reflect our demeanor. We feel good when we have great results; we make it through a green light, we catch the bus just before it leaves, we avoid tripping and falling on the sidewalk. Call it a win, a victory, a check mark, or a score -- it's a portion of your day that leaves a mark on your emotion and your outlook going forward.
But when things all go downhill, it's a different story. You hit consecutive red lights. You spill your coffee. You lose out on job interviews. Your car dies. What's a person to do when life gives you lemons?
Remember your triumphs. The times when you were challenged. The times when you knew you were going to fail, but didn't. Those instances when you thought you were guaranteed to lose, but you kept at it, and won. Those situations when you were about to give up, but you came out winning.
Victories are all well and good, but victories don't hold the same meaning as triumphs do. Triumphs stand out as the times when you met challenges head on and won. They are the mental "gold medals" that represent what you did to overcome adversity. Victories are mere "unchallenged wins," where triumphs are "flags of honor" that are proof of what you had to do to get that accomplishment under your belt. And because of the effort, triumphs are successes that nobody can take away from you or otherwise minimize.
So the next time you're feeling like life is beating you, stop and look back at all the times when you took on life head-on -- and endured.
Your triumphs are the monikers of what you're made of -- and why they become the "trophies on your mantel" to remind you of what you are capable of...
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