For God’s Sake Get Back Up
This Is the Pivotal Moment
Welcome to the free edition of YouTopian Journey, a Substack featured publication. Each week I will be sharing unique wisdom that can help you in the daily battles that we must all fight in the game of life. This week we discuss why you must always get back up!
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BEFORE WE BEGIN
This is issue #3 in our first multi-issue special for YouTopian Journey.
The battle reaches a critical moment.
Continuing for the next month, we will discuss how to use pain, how to live with a sense of urgency, how to battle distraction, and ultimately how to use your time to live a more fulfilling life.
Previous paywalled issues in this battle include:
Don’t Let the Clock of Life Run Out
How To Deal With Profound Pain
If you aren’t a paid subscriber, there is no better time than now to upgrade. You won’t want to miss this. The knowledge will be invaluable to you on your journey (and the art will be pretty epic as well).
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What are you waiting for? Upgrade to a paid subscription and upgrade your life today!
Now onto the good stuff.
THE TRAGEDY OF TODAY
“To see a man beaten not by a better opponent but by himself is a tragedy.”-Cus D’Amato
There are many tragedies of modernity. Make no mistake about it, when it comes to living a heroic life or acting in a manner that is befitting of a hero, few actually embrace such a possibility.
Instead they choose to appear heroic. They go live on social media, create reels that display their acts of charity, of bravery, or create inspiring and deep posts that are meant to give onlookers the illusion of heroism.
But when push comes to shove, most people are cowards.
Cowards at heart.
Cowards in action.
Feeble minds and feeble bodies.
The great tragedy of today is that the multitude have become so soft, so weak, and so fragile that when they encounter friction and resistance, they give up.
And life is a merciless opponent. It does not grant clemency. It does not provide a reprieve.
Life continues and you either grow with it or are left broken by your experiences.
So few will sacrifice anything for what they desire. They all want to have the life of success but aren’t prepared to walk the path that the successful life requires.
Instead of late nights, they want Netflix.
Instead of rejection, they want acceptance.
Instead of pain, they want pleasure.
Instead of learning experiences, they want Quora.
Instead of the adventure, they want the office.
Instead of risk, they want the reward.
And even if any of this were possible, it wouldn’t be an end to the pain, suffering, and dread we all feel. In fact, it would only enhance it.
“If the world were a paradise of luxury and ease, a land flowing with milk and honey, where every Jack obtained his Jill at once and without any difficulty, men would either die of boredom or hang themselves; or there would be wars, massacres, and murders; so that in the end mankind would inflict more suffering on itself than it has now to accept at the hands of Nature.”-Arthur Schopenhauer, Studies in Pessimism
We give up far too soon and sacrifice whatever contentment we have for the possibility of future prosperity. We trade a certain good for an uncertain better and when it doesn’t work out, when we have folded our hand and lost, we are broken.
Some are broken temporarily.
Many are broken permanently.
What about you?
When faced with defeat, loss, setbacks and pain, where do you stand?
What do you do?
What will you do?
Know the tragedy can be mitigated. The path still forged.
But only you can do it.
Only you can resume your course.
And no amount of therapy, social media gurus, administrators, managers, or bosses can do it for you.
Only you can position yourself to rise to your feet and press forward, knowing that your destination, your objective, your future is truly worth the feelings that you face.
It is worth the pain.
It is worth the suffering.
It is worth the ridicule.
It is worth proving them wrong.
It is worth showing the world just what you are made of, what you are capable of, and what you can truly achieve.
“A setback has often cleared the way for greater prosperity. Many things have fallen only to rise to more exalted heights.”-Seneca
GET UP
“Those who aim at great deeds must also suffer greatly.”-Plutarch
Failures are everywhere.
People from all walks of life across the world who have started something and faced obstacles in their path.
These obstacles beat them down. Their lack of experience trips them up. Their lack of funding puts walls in their path. Their lack of connections hinders their ability to work on their craft.
It is everywhere.
The founder who lacks funding so they put their project on the backburner.
The creative who can’t properly market so they remain in anonymity, hoping that someone will discover them.
The writer who just wants to write, never once realizing the amount of promotion required to get their message out.
On and on, across all industries.
Why even try?
Why even make the attempt?
Why waste the time?
But this is the normal course of things, yet so few realize it.
They don’t realize that the path to success is littered with self-doubt. They don’t understand that in this day and age, one must have knowledge of everything that could give them an edge. They never see the big picture or the amount of time that it will take to reach the level of success that they dream of.
So they remain bitter, broken, and useless.
But not YOU.
“In just refusing to retreat from something, one gains the strength of two men.”-Yamamoto Tsunetomo
You refuse defeat.
You refuse to lay down.
You refuse to remain where they put you.
You have a goal that only you can accomplish.
And accomplish it you must.
You cannot let failures, setbacks, pain or doubts limit your ability to succeed. The frontiers of your life cannot be constrained by these. You have infinite potential and with that potential comes infinite chances for success.
But only if you get back up.
You must leave others to sulk and wallow. You must leave others to feel disappointed. You must leave others to complain.
You, instead, will get up and get back into the fight.
You will not bear the shame of defeat.
You will put one foot in front of the other and keep moving.
Perhaps onto another defeat and another, but nevertheless, the path is still being forged.
“If I were dropped out of a plane into the ocean and told the nearest land was a thousand miles away, I'd still swim. And I'd despise the one who gave up.”-Abraham Maslow
Dozens of defeats.
Dozens of beatings.
A constant cycle of making attempts and failing.
But never giving up.
And never giving in.
This is how victory is gained. How one becomes successful. It isn’t a simple method of working hard and hoping for the best.
It is taking one chance after another on yourself.
It is facing your fears.
It is living with risk.
It is pushing forward and driven by a whisper of a yes, even though the entire world is screaming no.
Ultimately, it is getting back up each and every time.
Never being broken by the fall.
Never being defeated by the difficulties.
Never being beaten by the opponent.
Get up!
The world needs you and your goals more than you realize!
Get up!
“Nearly always, the depth of a failure foreshadows the height of some victory-to the man who never despairs but keeps on climbing.”-Edward E. Purinton, Efficient Living.
CAN I ASK A FAVOR?
I hope you enjoyed this issue and I hope it helps you. More importantly, it could help someone in your network. Please share it and let them discover YouTopian Journey. When you share the journey, you save the journey.
Be sure to like and comment, it always gives me pleasure to hear from you.
The best way to support YouTopian Journey is to become a paid subscriber. Not only will you unlock the archive, but you will have front row seats to the next phase of this battle. I promise you won’t be disappointed and that the knowledge will truly help you.
Catch you next time.
Shaun