Provin' You's self

Today I sat down and watched Rocky I, II & III and so today's blog is inspired by a part of the movie that made me think...

Rocky: I can't do it.
Adrian: What?
Rocky: I can't beat him.
Adrian: Apollo?
Rocky: Yeah. I been out there walkin' around, thinkin'. I mean, who am I kiddin'? I ain't even in the guy's league.
Adrian: What are we gonna do?
Rocky: I don't know.
Adrian: You worked so hard.
Rocky: Yeah, that don't matter. 'Cause I was nobody before.
Adrian: Don't say that.
Rocky: Ah come on, Adrian, it's true. I was nobody. But that don't matter either, you know? 'Cause I was thinkin', it really don't matter if I lose this fight. It really don't matter if this guy opens my head, either. 'Cause all I wanna do is go the distance. Nobody's ever gone the distance with Creed, and if I can go that distance, you see, and that bell rings and I'm still standin', I'm gonna know for the first time in my life, see, that I weren't just another bum from the neighborhood.

My wife doesn't appreciate any of the movies in the Rocky series...I say appreciate, but in reality it is more of a deep disliking of the series. Anyway, I love the movie and it isn't just for the fight scenes and it definitely isn't for the fact that I have to turn the subtitles on sometimes to understand what Sly says.

One of the reasons why I enjoy watching the Rocky movies is because of the above scene. This scene describes the fight that I, as well as many other individuals, have faced over and over again throughout my life. Here Rocky reveals to his soon to be wife that he's not afraid of losing, but he's afraid of being considered a bum. So many times in our lives we have this vision of who we are or what we're wanting to be and there are opportunities for us to prove to ourselves that we're worth the space we occupy. Some may say that this perspective isn't a healthy perspective for individuals to have because of course if you succeed you're going to see yourself as meaningful or valuable, but if you fail...you see yourself as being worthless.

From my experience in athletics these were key moments in my life. Whether it be hitting a homerun in a key baseball game in high school or running my fastest 3 mile run...each time I've proved to myself that I'm not a bum. Of course we're always going to fail, but it is how we respond to those moments that we fail that help motivate us to be able to stand in the ring and scream at the top of our lungs, "Yo Adrian! I did it!"