Wednesday, March 9, 2016

The Toughest Test

The Hardest Day




While in class my Senior year of high school, it was final exams of the Fall semester.  I had spent the three years after my freshman year turning my academics around.  What had started as a near "Blutarski" G.P.A. of 0.8 at the conclusion of 9th grade, was nearing a 3.0 cumulative. Not the best, but hey, considering where it started, I was pretty damn proud.

I had really gained some steam in school.  I finally felt like I had mastered the material, I had studied my ass off and was more than ready for the exams.

I had swim practice on Monday night.  While the pool was warm, the deck and air was freezing.  It was January after all. I swam a couple hours, feeling the ache each yard put me through.  My arms were spaghetti, my legs burned.

It was a great training.

Afterward, I headed home to finalize my preparation for the exams that started the next day.

On Tuesday morning, I woke up with a flu.  I had a fever, was exhausted and couldn't move without pain.

But I didn't tell anyone.  So I went to class, took my first two exams before heading home and falling into bed for the day.

I didn't go to class the rest of the week, the flu took me down for a few days.  I had to take incomplete grades for each class I missed, and had to retake them once I could schedule the time.

I was unfortunately docked 10% for the delay in taking my exams.  For a couple of them, it was over a month before I was able to take the make-up exams.

I did alright, but I'm positive that I would have fared much, much better had I been able to take them when they were scheduled.

Overcome Your Challenges


Sometimes there are challenges that we face, things that present themselves to be overwhelming.

These challenges can seem like mountains too big to climb, valleys too deep to descend, chasms too wide to jump,  and oceans too broad to swim.

The challenge than, is to find a way to climb, dig, traverse, fly-over or traverse.

Life can be difficult.  It's definitely precious.

The challenge isn't our perception of the problem, rather, it's how we continue on our journey in the face of it.

In memoriam: Pete


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