I had a couple of days last week when I felt as though my life was unimportant and insignificant. Several random challenges came to me and I became very discouraged. I've always been strong and resilient, but this time I felt overcome with self doubt. If you have ever had a similar experience, then you understand the overwhelming feelings that follow.
I remembered the words of Winston Churchill when he said, "Never give in. Never give in, never, never, never - in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparent overwhelming might of the enemy...do not let us speak of darker days: let us speak rather of sterner days. These are not dark days; these are great days--the greatest days our country has ever lived; and we must all thank God that we have been allowed, each of us according to our stations, to play a part in making these days memorable in the history of our race." His profound words still echo throughout the decades.
Challenges can create perceptions of failure and even worse, they conjure up feelings of being unloved and insignificant. I mustered up the strength to remember how unique I am as an individual. We are all remarkable people who possess magnificent skills, talents and gifts. Despite what happens in this life, we have the power to overcome the most difficult challenges, even those that seem virtually impossible. This life is not exempt from pain and suffering, but we can be made strong in our weakness.
History is filled with examples of individuals who where subdued by defeat, yet they continually pursued success, which was forthcoming and in spite of their failures. These people were able to capture their dreams and magnify their potential through the shear determination to press on.
Below, I have listed a few individuals who beat the odds and overcame the evil whisperings of defeat. We are fortunate to learn of those who refused to give in or give up in the face of adversity; they have blazed the trails of victory and their direction is clearly defined.
Henry Ford failed and went broke five times before he finally succeeded.
Beethoven handled the violin awkwardly and preferred playing his own compositions instead of improving his technique. His teacher called him hopeless as a composer.
Colonel Sanders had the construction of a new road put him out of business in 1967. He went to over 1,000 places trying to sell his chicken recipe before he found a buyer interested in his 11 herbs and spices. Seven years later, at the age of 75, Colonel Sanders sold his fried chicken company for a finger-lickin' $15 million!
Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor for lack of ideas. Disney also went bankrupt several times and exhausted the financial resources from friends and family before he built Disneyland.
Albert Einstein did not speak until he was four years old and didn't read until he was seven. His teacher described him as "mentally slow, unsociable and adrift forever in his foolish dreams." He was expelled and refused admittance to Zurich Polytechnic School. The University of Bern turned down his Ph.D. dissertation as being irrelevant and fanciful.
The movie Star Wars was rejected by every movie studio in Hollywood before 20th-Century Fox finally produced the movie. It went on to be one of the largest grossing movies in film history.
Louis Pasteur was only a mediocre pupil in undergraduate studies and ranked 15 out of 22 in chemistry.
When NFL running back Herschel Walker was in junior high school, he wanted to play football, but the coach told him he was too small. He advised young Herschel to go out for track instead. Never one to give up, he ignored the coach's advice and began an intensive training program to build himself up. Only a few years later, Herschel Walker won the Heisman trophy.
When General Douglas MacArthur applied for admission to West Point, he was turned down, not once but twice. But he tried a third time, was accepted and marched into the history books.
After Fred Astaire's first screen test, the memo from the testing director of MGM, dated 1933, said, "Can't act! Slightly bald! Can dance a little!" Astaire kept that memo over the fireplace in his Beverly Hills home.
The father of the sculptor Rodin (The famous Thinker Statue) said, "I have an idiot for a son." Described as the worst pupil in the school, Rodin failed three times to secure admittance to the school of art. His uncle called him uneducable. Yet, Rodin created the famous statue with his amazing talent that is known throughout the world.
Babe Ruth, considered by sports historians to be the greatest athlete of all time and famous for setting the home run record, also holds the record for the most strikeouts.
Eighteen publishers turned down Richard Bach's Jonathan Livingston Seagull, before Macmillan finally published it in 1970. By 1975 it had sold more than seven million copies in the U.S. alone.
Margaret Mitchell's classic Gone with the Wind was turned down by more than twenty-five publishers.
Richard Hooker worked for seven years on his humorous war novel, M*A*S*H, only to have it rejected by 21 publishers before Morrow decided to publish it. It became a runaway bestseller, spawning a blockbusting movie and highly successful television series.
When the first Chicken Soup for the Soul book was completed, it was turned down by thirty-three publishers in New York and another ninety at the American Booksellers Association convention in Anaheim, California, before Health Communications, Inc., finally agreed to publish it. The major New York publishers said, "It is too nicey-nice" and "Nobody wants to read a book of short little stories." Since that time more than 8 million copies of the original Chicken Soup for the Soul book have been sold. The series, which has grown to thirty-two titles, in thirty-one languages, has sold more than 53 million copies.
In 1954, Jimmy Denny, manager of the Grand Ole Opry, fired Elvis Presley after one performance. He told Presley, "You ain't goin' nowhere… son. You ought to go back to drivin' a truck." Elvis Presley went on to become the most popular singer in America.
Dr. Seuss' first children's book, And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street, was rejected by twenty-seven publishers. The twenty-eighth publisher, Vanguard press, sold six million copies of the book.
“Sometimes the strongest people are those who love beyond all faults, cry behind closed doors, and fight battles that no one ever sees.” Author Unknown
Never doubt your potential! Never give up on your dreams and never, never, never underestimate the power of your potential to do good in this life. You are the most perfect and original "you." If you desire a productive life, be committed to persistence! Written by Linda Sumner Urza: onefineday11.blogspot.com
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