Everything ends. The good, the bad, life itself. “This too, shall pass.” A very well known quote. When I first read this I interpreted it the same way I think most people do. The bad things, the rough parts of life, shall eventually pass. We all experience trials and tribulations, but eventually they will end and things will get better.
It wasn’t until I thought of this quote in a different context that it really stuck with me. This too, the good parts of our lives, shall pass. When things are going well, when you’re happy, healthy, feeling indestructible, that too will end. There were two main ways that this clicked with me and felt important to my life at the time.
At first it was a reminder to appreciate the moment while it’s here, and remember that everything is temporary. It’s easy to take things for granted when they are going well, and forget to appreciate them in the moment. A common thing people think of in this regard is time with family. We are often around them so much that we forget to be grateful for them. We forget how quickly and easily things can change, and how they can be taken away from us. If you think about it more though, you'll realize just how much we have to be grateful for that we don't typically recognize on a day to day basis. Think about that infamous dread when you wake up in the morning and swallow, and realize your throat hurts and a cold is coming on. In that situation everyone would be upset, it sucks. How many mornings though, have you woken up and realized that your throat didn't hurt, and that you were healthy and well, and thought to yourself about how grateful you were for that? What about when you punched or kicked the heavy bag wrong and hurt your wrist or ankle, and you spent the next day or two upset about how it hurt and how you couldn't train the same for a bit. How often before that did you move your wrists and ankles, and think to yourself about how happy and grateful you were that the muscles, bones, and ligaments were functioning correctly, and free from pain? Probably almost never. There are so many things that are easy to overlook, because they are so natural for us. It's important that we remember that they are not certainties, and recognize how quickly and easily they could be taken away from us at any point in time. In doing this it becomes clear to see how much in our lives we have to be grateful for.
Every morning you wake up, try engaging and moving every single muscle that you can in your body, one at a time, from your toes to your head. Next try your senses: sight, smell, sound, taste, touch. After you're done take a moment to process how complex our bodies are, and how many different pieces you just called upon to perform. Even if you have an injury or disability, and something in your body isn't functioning correctly, think about how many other things just did. If you're ever having trouble finding something to be grateful for in your life, there you go.
The second thing I took from this was the importance of staying humble and putting in the work day in and day out. In my case my work with this brand was going well, I had put in a lot of time and effort, and the results were showing. I began to get complacent and think things would stay that way, but this too, shall pass. The good results and growth of the brand didn't come from nowhere, they came as a result of my hard work. When I let my foot off of the gas, and I stopped putting in the same level of effort, it naturaly became apparent in the performance in the business.
Two things.
One: Everything that happens is a result of something else.
Two: Everything is temporary.
When you've put in the work and things are going well, yes it is important to take a moment and appreciate the success, but it is also important to realize that said success is merely a consequence of your hard work, a result of an action. As soon as you stop putting in that work, the success will disappear. Life isn't a staircase that you can climb to the top and then relax at, it's an infinite escalator that's moving downwards. If you're not constantly working to improve, you're becoming worse. Let's say you train for years and years, fight multiple amateur bouts, and then finally make your pro debut. You have a great fight and win by knockout, solidifying a 1-0 record. Sure, go and celebrate, you deserve it, but does this change anything? No, the next day you're right back at it, like it never happened. You won that fight because of the hard work you put in. If you don’t continue training as hard or even harder, the success won't last, and you'll never get that second win. Constant improvement is the only option.
This too, shall pass. The bad, and the good.