What words inspired you when you were down?
We all go through trying times. When thing seem like an uphill battle and nothing you are trying is coming off. When you lie in bed for a while in the morning and wonder, "what's the point of all of this again?". At times like this, I've found it helpful to turn to words like these to get back on track. Recently, I came across this poem, If, by Rudyard Kipling. It spoke to me at a time when I needed it the most.
What words have inspired you when you were down?
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!
Social Entrepreneur | Author | Challenging Charitable Models
9 年Here's another one, via Teddy Roosevelt, which I've turned to time and time again: It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
Senior lawyer and independent consultant with experience in public international law, human rights, public policy, forced migration, immigration detention, climate change & humanitarian assistance
9 年Bryan Stevenson's words on justice never fail to re-energise me - https://www.ted.com/talks/bryan_stevenson_we_need_to_talk_about_an_injustice
Group Chief Executive Officer at Phum Khmer Group
9 年I feel more energy after reading. Actually, we don't know each other but I would like to thank Weh Yeoh for sharing this inspirational words.