Obstacles in life can bring you down, or make you stronger

I once spoke to someone while at a call who told me about some ideas he had for starting his own business so he could finally do what he had always wanted in life. His story included some progress along the way, but it also included many setbacks. Our conversation drifted to the ‘American Dream’ and the opportunities we still have in the United States. Our country has been built on people who defied all odds and achieved what others said could not be done.

In 1855, a 16-year-old boy started his first job as an assistant bookkeeper making fifty-cents per day. Like many young American’s, this boy had dreams of his own. Two of those dreams were to make $100,000 and to live until the age of 100. The boy, John D. Rockefeller, achieved his dream in life when he entered the oil business and became one of the richest Americans in history. He once said:

“I was early taught to work as well as play,

My life has been one long, happy holiday;

Full of work and full of play—

I dropped the worry on the way—

And God was good to me every day.”

Rockefeller died at the age of 97 and his net worth with inflation is estimated to be around $336 billion. His business was eventually split up by the government into multiple oil companies, some of which remain leaders in oil today. There are countless stories of people who started out with very little in life but showed the world they could do what no one thought was possible. There are many more people that we will never hear of that also achieved their dreams by overcoming obstacles in life. But no matter what the dream may be or what kind of obstacle is in the way, it will always take the same recipe for success. Hard work, determination, and dedication to achieving your goal.

The person that I was speaking to had been through some hard times, but he was not bitter or angry. He knew that it is not what life brought to him that mattered the most, it was how he reacted to it. He had the attitude that he would not give up, no matter how many times he got knocked down. It can be easy to lose your ambition in life because of things that have happened along the way, but it is never too late to get up and try again.

Those of us in a position to do so should be reaching out to help those in our community who need it, and those of us who need help should never hesitate to seek it out. Don’t let things in life bring you down, use those times to become stronger and then achieve anything you set your mind to.