Inspiration from one of my heroes
Theodore Roosevelt is one of my heroes.
He was a man’s man, the personification of American masculinity. He did it all. At one time or another he was a historian, lawyer, ornithologist, minority leader of the New York State Assembly, boxer, ranchman, New York City police commissioner, naturalist, hunter, civil service reformer, prolific writer, devoted husband and father, voracious reader, assistant secretary of the navy, war hero, empire builder, advocate of vigorous physical exercise, governor of New York, Vice President, and President of the United States.
His vigorous life has been an inspiration to me. The quote below has inspired me to undertake many different endeavors. I have not always achieved my goals but that did not deter me from trying. One lesson I learned along the way is to never quit, to never give up; to endure the discomfort and, sometimes the pain, in the quest to achieve an end, usually a physical challenge. The pinnacle of this inner drive was made real to me in the last six miles of the Chicago Marathon in 1986 when the pain and discomfort in the latter miles of the race played on my mind. The siren call to quit was nearly overwhelming, I had hit the wall. But I kept going anyway and accomplished my goal of breaking three hours. There have also been times on the mountain when I wanted to quit but kept going anyway and eventually made it to the top. The sense of accomplishment once I got to the finish line or the summit made all the pain and discomfort well worth the effort. I had beaten down and overcome the demons of self-doubt.
I hope this quote will inspire you, as it did me, to try to achieve your full potential and to overcome you own inner demons of self-doubt.
“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.”
Another inspirational Roosevelt quotes:
“Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty…”
One more quote:
Connoisseurs of Experiences 