By Frosty Wooldridge

Sometimes in life, no matter your stature, success, sartorial dress, rich or modest home, friends and magnificent job—you may come to a point of getting down on yourself.

If you live by modest means or in poverty, you may come to the conclusion that your life sucks all the time. You may hate your job so much so that when you look up, you only see the bottom of the bucket.

You might say, “I am worthless…a nobody…useless…I am not good enough…I suck at everything…I am a failure…nobody loves me.”

Even the greatest heroes of our time get down on themselves in their darkest hours. They might suffer from their perceived shortcomings, mistakes and failures. When they made negative self-judgments, they locked into their brains a sense of disaster that set up vibrational frequencies that drove them deeper into depression .

However, they chose the high road to their destinies. How can you learn from their actions?

Let’s talk about when you get down on yourself. Once those vibrations “set up” in your mind, you create a “reality” in your brain waves that equates to depression , despair and sadness.

You “call in” more of the same. You repel life’s energy. You resist life’s creative process. You pull back from the leading edge of your life. You become listless and irritable.

Such happenstance transpires in all walks of life. Years ago, a top defensive football player named Roy Regal played in a national college game for the Rose Bowl championship. During the game, he intercepted a pass, but as he hit the opposing players, the collision turned him around. He ran in the wrong direction to score a touchdown for the opposing team. He felt devastated on the sidelines. His team fell behind by the half.

During the locker room pep talk, he said to the coach, “I’m a failure…I can’t play…I’m making us lose.”

The coach said, “Quit belly aching! Get up, get back in there and play the game. It’s not over yet.”

He pulled himself out of the dark night of his soul. He raced onto the field. He raged on defense. He tackled the runners. He hawked the ball. He energized his team to victory.

What happened to him? How did he decide within a few minutes to change his attitude ? Did his coach make the difference?

You might take a few hints from what his coach said to him:

• Stop expecting “circumstances” to change for you to feel better. You must take responsibility where you are and the situation in which you find yourself. You accomplish that feat by generating “positive” thoughts and “positive” actions in the face of your despair. Own your mistakes. Work with your strengths. Pursue your goals or dreams .

• Your despair turns to healing when you make new choices. Please realize that “failure or hardships” bring you lessons, in fact, call them gifts that move you forward on your journey. Failure offers recovery and expansion of your talents. Instead of being a trench of negativity—stand up, conspire with your natural greatness acquired at birth. Millions of years of evolution guarantee your success by your choices.

• Remember this: everyone carries a “golden touch” in some arena of talent. How do you “get hold” of that touch? You choose to “think you can” and “know you can” to succeed at whatever you face.

Yes, we all carry a twinge of fear in our lives. Some folks carry huge dollops of pain! We carry a feeling of “not being enough” for a task. You might be a parent struggling with your kids, a student busting your butt for grades or a middle-aged person facing a mid-life crisis.

Decide to banish negative thoughts. If you fail to remove them from your mind, self-destructive thoughts will take you down. If you choose them, they will keep you down. You may wallow there, but it becomes pretty messy after awhile.

You want to know what I do when I’m feeling down? I take a bicycle ride. It frees my mind, spirit and body toward the energy of life. I consider positive choices. What else? I go dancing. Yes, dancing unleashes the daring and joy in my heart, mind and body. Dancing expresses the wonder in my (your) mind and heart to engage you in the highest vibrational patterns of living. Try it! Can’t dance? Answer: take classes.

Don’t like to dance? Find out what brings you joy. Pursue it with passion . Celebrate yourself! Life and joy returns when you decide to get back into the game of life. Just like Roy Regal.

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Author's Bio: 

Frosty Wooldridge has bicycled over 100,000 miles across six continents in the past 40 years. www.HowToLiveALifeOfAdventure.com