Success Is Not Owed To You
<p>I’m a huge fan of track and field. This is somewhat surprising even to me because I don’t have one athletic bone in my body.</p>
<p>I could tell you about the time when I fell at the only race I ever entered… a teacher’s race. But that’s for another time.</p>
<p>I’m in awe of the athletes and the rigorous training they put their bodies through in order to compete for their country. That’s what I call love of country.</p>
<p>I watched sections of the IAAF World Athletic Championship which concluded about 3 weeks ago. It was held in Budapest, Hungary.</p>
<p>I noticed that athletes who were favored to win didn’t always win.</p>
<p>There was no medal put aside for anyone. It had to be earned.</p>
<p><img alt="" src="https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:560/1*tcStAr5yfT2Y2vECReqSWA.png" style="height:700px; width:700px" /></p>
<p>Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@adijoshi11?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Aditya Joshi</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/Iep8SMdpe6I?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Unsplash</a></p>
<p>It’s easy to see the gold medal that an athlete wins and sing their praises. What we don’t see is the countless hours spent in training. That gold medal was earned with sweat, tears, and hard work.</p>
<p>That’s why I admire athletes so much. They dedicate their lives to their sport, train every day, push themselves to the limit, and face intense competition.</p>
<p>They don’t give up when things get tough, they don’t let failures stop them, and they don’t let critics discourage them. They keep going until they reach the finish line, and then they celebrate their victory with joy and gratitude.</p>
<p><a href="https://medium.com/@jpdacres/success-is-not-owed-to-you-c4eb67748db7">Website</a></p>