Don't stop!

I've had a lot of set backs in my life. A life long, chronic, serious illness. Multiple divorces. Bankruptcy. Job loss. And the list goes on. With all of these set backs I've learned quite a bit about myself as a person and about handling things in my life. Sometimes I learn good things and sometimes I've learned things not very helpful, like I can be kinda dramatic and over emphasize the negative things when I first learn of them. But then I also grab my mental, physical or emotional shovel and start digging my way out of the hole. Slowly, surely.

The post below is about a goal I made for myself in my shooting sports development. Well I am proud to say I MADE IT! Yep, I won my division at a state match in Michigan this weekend and I am now promoted to MASTER in the pistol division I shot. According to the membership stats, only 3% of the people in IDPA make it to the Master classification. And I did it in almost exactly two years!

In the grand scheme of the world this really isn't that important. But to me it is, as I had to work hard to accomplish this goal and to not give up. I started the match poorly and really had to be perfect for the remaining 70% of the match. And I did.

So the good lesson to be learned from what really felt like a huge setback in the match is to buckle down mentally, sharpen up physically and focus on the process of doing the task at hand as well as I could for the remaining time I had. Shake off whatever is making you think you're behind and instead focus on what you're doing now and I know you'll end up better off than you think.

Very first match, August 25, 2012.

The match this weekend in Michigan where I bumped to Master.