Get Knocked Down and Bounce Right Back

When I was 5 or 6 years old, one of the toys I got for Christmas was a clown punching bag.

It stood about my own height and when you punched it, it fell backward but bounced right back because of its round weighted bottom.

It was great fun for a kid. And no doubt my parents were happy to have my rambunctious energy being used up in such a harmless fashion.

That was many years ago. But the memory of that smiling clown bobbing back up at me no matter how hard or how often I hit it remains with me to this day.

We get knocked down, too, don’t we? And we usually get back up again—although generally not as often or as quickly as that punching bag did.

Some people seem to bounce back pretty well—others, not so much. Some of us can take 3 blows and some a 100. Some come right back while others take a little longer to recover. And there are those who never seem to bounce back.

Why is that?

Well, unlike the clown, we assign meaning to our challenges. We wonder why life should be so unfair as to deal us those heavy blows. We sometimes question whether we’re worthy of our dreams and aspirations. We wonder what we did wrong to deserve such hard times.

Certainly some of us seem more resilient than others. But I think the biggest reason has to do with the weight of our convictions and the gravity of our desire.

Much like the weight in the bottom of that clown punching bag, a strong why—a big enough reason—will always keep us bouncing back—no matter how hard or how many times we’re hit.

Rest assured, if you’re going after big goals, you WILL have challenges. You’re going to get knocked down. What’s important is that you bounce back.

And you can only bounce back if you—and your reasons for winning—are bigger than your challenges.

No one can be guaranteed an easy time. But if you want something badly enough, you will persevere, you will learn to dodge or absorb the punches. You’ll keep coming back—bouncing back—until you prevail.

If you’re discouraged, go back to your reasons. If they’re weighty enough, if they’re strong enough, you can take whatever gets thrown at you.

And like that silly clown punching bag, remember to smile when you pop back up. The punchers hate that.

– Michael