'Pain is temporary. If I quit however, it will last forever'

I've taken to living by this motto. I've been told that there is a 96% chance of my shoulder dislocating again just by doing every day things. It is incredibly painful when it falls out; it is also soul crushing. Because each and every time it does that percentage climbs higher. Each and every time the damage done to my joint gets inevitably closer to 'beyond repair'...and my goal of getting back on the pole slips further away.

However, I cannot give up. If I stop exercising my joint weakens as the muscles are the only thing stabilising it, if I exercise too much the strain will cause it to dislocate. It is a fine line to walk but one I will walk none the less.

This line is taken out of a 'motivational' video (which I will post a link to below) that I came across a short while ago on the internet. Another quote from this video is: 'If you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you will be successful'. Now that is food for thought. I have met a lot of people who appear to have everything. On the surface they appear to be successful. You meet a lot of these at a 'red brick' university. I often find that these people, whilst on the surface are nice, underneath there is very little to them...there's just no 'substance'. There's no passion. No drive. They will never make any significant impact on this world until they change their outlook. They are destined to just be 'content', to be the noise in the background not the person making the speech.

I've never been one to just sit back as life passes me by. My biggest fear is hitting 40 and looking back on my life thinking 'I wish I'd done more'. I've had more than one person say to me 'how do you not find the gym boring?'. It's hard to explain the reasoning behind why I don't. One of the main reasons is simply: I have something to work towards. But when I'm having a particularly dark day, when all motivation has left me and I feel that my goal is impossible I think of what my 40 year old self will say of the present 'me' if I just give up. I imagine the regret I'd feel. The longing of wishing I'd done more, wishing I'd been more. That is what motivates me to drag myself out of the house and into the gym to train. I refuse to just be the noise in the background. I want to be more.

'Pain is temporary. It may last for a minute, or a hour, or a day, or even a year. But eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit however, it will last forever'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_T1KyRtOWOc&list=LLqQjQ-ZssP7WZn31CfrWd7Q