Happy Retro Day! This week’s retro article is fantastic inspiration for when life is dragging you down. It’s quite a powerful reminder to keep pressing on. Enjoy! ~ Halee

by RTF Staff Writer Derek Hanisch

How many times do we use our circumstances as an excuse? We can get a Biblical example by looking at Moses, and how, when God wanted him to lead the Israelites to freedom, he responded with: “I can’t, I have speech problems.” Moses used his circumstances, his speech problem, as an excuse. Up until recently, I was a prime example of this.

I have a fake leg. Well, that’s not quite true. I have half a fake leg. My knee is artificial, and half my femur is titanium. A tumor was in my left leg, so they had to remove it, and to make sure they got it all they took half my leg. I used to use this as an excuse.

Sure, it actually is a good excuse, just like have a speaking problem is a good excuse not to speak in public.

This year, though, I’ve decided that I’m done giving excuses. I’ve started walking. In class, when you learn about setting goals there’s one key feature: the goal should be obtainable. At the time I chose my goal, it wasn’t obtainable. It’s just given me more drive. My goal is to run one lap, 400 meters, around the track. Up until tonight I hadn’t run over 40 meters. Tonight was different, though, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

When I have a bad day, and need to do something for a distraction, I’ll do one of 3 things: read, drive, or walk. I was anticipating some bad news tonight. So I spent a lot of the day reading, and even went for a drive. It helped calm me down. When I actually received the bad news I was expecting, though, there was only one thing left to do: I hit the track.

I used all my frustration, my disappointment, and my anger at the circumstances to fuel me as I attacked that mountain. I climbed towards my goal. Did I reach the peak? No. But I made progress. As I was on the track, I broke out running. I should probably clarify that what I call a run would probably closest pass as a limp jog. My left side struggles to keep up with my right. I reached the 40 meters, though, and by instinct my body started to slow down.

No! I pushed. I kept climbing that mountain. At the 100 yards, my knee screamed its final protest and I all but collapsed. As I limped off the track I was proud of myself, though, for the progress I had achieved.

Tonight I found myself asking a question that I want to pose to all of you: How often do you use your situation as an excuse?

Instead of excuses, we should use our situations as motivators to climb that mountain. Often times we find that we can’t climb the mountain all at once, and we get frustrated and give up. The mountain wasn’t supposed to be conquered all at once, though. It takes time. With a bit of steady determination you can conquer the mountain in front of you, no matter how high it reaches.