1000 days!
I have made my bed 1000 consecutive days today. It might seem like a minimal task, but it wasn’t on day one. Day one was my first day waking up in my tiny 420sqft studio apartment. My wife (ex-wife now) had left me and filed for divorce because she said she found someone who was “offering to give her the world.” Her reason was because she felt second to everything else in my life; my faith, my family, my drive, my passions. The very foundation of what makes me who I am. It broke my heart. It made me question who I am. It made me ask myself, “What was wrong with me?”
On top of all that, I was losing everything we had built together. The future that I’d envisioned and the family I’d hoped for. I found it difficult to breathe, let alone move. But I got up and stared at my messy bed and decided I’m going to face my messy life by doing something that is totally under my control. I’m going to make my bed. So I did. Every day.
Every day no matter how difficult it was, no matter how much I just wanted to stay in bed and cry, I got up. I made my bed. I found new reasons to smile. New reasons to laugh. I sought out new adventures and I met some of the most incredible people in the process. People who helped me and showed me that there is a purpose greater than my pain.
1000 days ago, I genuinely thought that I wouldn’t get through it. But I did and do every day. The most difficult thing to do is to get up and move forward after we had been broken down. The bravest thing we can do for ourselves is get up and fight to make each day better.
Tonight I’ll come home to my made bed. It will remind me for the 1000th time that I got up.
The origin of the word “courage” comes from the word “cour”, which mean heart, and it means to completely share your story with your whole heart. –
Brené Brown, The Power of Vulnerability
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