Pressing On

“In life, unlike chess, the game continues after checkmate” - Isaac Asimov

This is the weekend that most of us have probably given up on our New Year's Resolutions. We have failed to come up with a plan that is so important to us that we would find a way to press on no matter what got in the way.

Like Asimov said in the quote above, life really is not a chess game that stops when the king is defeated. Life continues after checkmate.

I thought of this when my wife called to tell me our daughter had another fall. This time she was checking out a horse for another girl that was having challenges with her horse and wanted help from a more experienced rider. My daughter volunteered and had a hard fall. She ended up in the emergency room. This is the tenth fall in addition to being bitten once and kicked twice.

Most people would say the game is over and just move on. Not my daughter, she has the will to press on no matter how many falls, bites or kicks. She has a picture in her mind of being an accomplished rider and nothing will get in her way. She already told me she will be healed in time to play in our monthly mixed doubles event next Saturday.

If you lost sight of your resolutions, you are in the 95% crowd that got check-mated before this new month ended. What's next? Do you put your chess pieces away and wait until next year to repeat this silly process all over again? Maybe you didn't even try because of all the defeats you had in the past regarding resolutions.

It's not too late until the day your heart stops beating. Use the lessons you learned from the past defeats or falls and put that experience to good use. Reset the game and start again. This is not something that is reserved for January 1st. Start over today and RESOLVE that you will become unstoppable in the relentless pursuit of the permanent changes you wish to make in your life.

Remember, life continues after checkmate. Are you going to let the pain of the last fall or failure stop you from becoming the person you want to become, or are you going to press on? Decide today, it is the first day of the new you.