Everyday I am faced with opportunities to “get up.” I’m sure I’m not the only one. Let me give you some examples.

A simple five-minute task turns into a 30-minute task when the printer decides to be crabby.

When you finally get to take that short power nap you’ve been looking forward to, you are interrupted by a neighbor playing loud music, which lasts for about as long as your nap.

After a long week, you drive across town for a dinner out; only to find out that the place you had your heart set on is not accepting tables because they have a private party for the evening.

All three of these things happened to me in the last week. No, they are not horrible, life changing events at all, but they are real examples of the kinds of little life annoyances that can change my fairly regularly pleasant mood into a frustrated one. These types of annoyances push us down and they provide us with opportunities to get up. The question is…how fast do you get up?

A few months ago Jason and I heard a fellow speaker, Bonnie St. John, share her story at the National Speakers Association. She says on her website that she is often asked, “How does a one-legged, African-American girl from San Diego become an Olympic ski racer winning silver and bronze at the 1984 Paralympics?”

Her story is amazing and I would highly recommend you check out her website. One of the biggest things I took away from her story was this point: Get Up Faster! To make a long (and great!) story short, in an Olympic run she fell, but she had the courage to get up and keep skiing. She ended up winning a silver medal. The person who won the gold also fell, but she had gotten up faster. If Bonnie had gotten up faster, she may have won the gold medal.

How would life be different if I would only get up faster? What moments am I missing wallowing in my frustrations and resentment?

Falling is a part of the journey…and so is getting up. Be faster today.

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