When do you give up and when do you keep going?

When do you “keep going”, and when do you change course or completely give up?
When I ran the Spartan 10k toward the end of the race my hamstrings cramped up the moment I picked up this bucket full of rocks.
The adrenaline had worn off and I was dragging. At 41 years old, my mind and spirit feels young, yet my body is showing signs of “wisdom” 😉.
How did I get through and finish with strength? Right after this bucket carry I finally saw my family. They meandered through the forest and found the trail. I heard……..”daddy”, “you can do it” “good job Adam”, “we will see you at the finish line”! This encouragement gave me the strength I needed to finish and finish strong.
Our minds are powerful, after the uplifting words from my wife and children, I was able to pick up the pace. I actually beat them to the finish line and finished in the top 8%, 121 out of 1,442 racers.
When the results came out I actually had tears in my eyes. I needed a confidence boost as my mind was telling me that I did very poorly as I was on the trail.
I share all of this not to gain attention or show that I did something great, in fact……. The winner of the race finished 60 minutes ahead of me 😳.
This story is a reminder that we don’t see someone’s whole journey. We just see what we see……. It could be the time a person is going through a tough time or it can be the victory we see. The point is…… encouraging someone can go a long way, prayer is powerful, and your words can really help (or hurt) a person on their journey.
Take time to encourage, pray, and acknowledge the people in your life. Time is short and life has its hills and valleys. Encourage in the valley’s and celebrate on the mountain tops.
There is one important lesson we cannot overlook, the valleys produce fruits, vegetables, and lush farmland. As we persevere through our valleys in life, that is where the true growth takes place. The mountain top has a great view, it’s pristine, it’s majestic, but it can be lonely and nothing grows there. Remember, the mountain feeds the valley with water and nutrients. They trickle down and give the valley what it needs for growth. Let your mountain-top 🏔 be a refreshing nourishment to someone in the valley and vise -versa.
Many blessings, Adam “the first man”