Being defeated is often a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent. – Marilyn vos Savant
I know that when you hit a roadblock or face a defeat, the easiest thing in the world to do is to give up. I know that when I suffer a setback the only think I want to do is crawl into my bed, pull up the covers, hide away and lick my proverbial wounds. Guess what, that does nothing; nothing except for taking that defeat and making it permanent. I’m not a huge sports fan by any stretch of the imagination, but I am a New England girl, so I do love 
me some Red Sox, Bruins, Celtics, and of course, Tom Brady, I mean the Pats. This past winter, at Superbowl 51, the Pats went up against the Atlanta Falcons, and the Pats were favored to win. Well, Atlanta had other thoughts on that subject. At the end of the second quarter, the Falcons were winning 21-3. The Falcons then went on to score another touchdown, making the game 28-3. Things did not look good for Tom and company. They could have given up and accepted the imminent defeat, and it would have gone down in the books as an Atlanta win and that shiny trophy, and the pretty rings would have been down in Georgia. That loss would have been permanent. However, the Pats chose to fight on and in the end, they won. They didn’t accept defeat….their losing was only temporary. While our lives and our defeats probably aren’t as captivating, and they don’t have 111.3 million viewers, they’re still pretty darn important to us. When things go wrong, it sucks….but you can’t give up. You need to pick yourself back up and keep trying. You may have to change your game plan, or redefine your goal, but the important thing is that you keep on trying. I’m going to mention again, my dream of being a writer. When I finish my projects and submit them, it would be pretty naive of me to think that the first place I submit to would jump right up and say “Omg, yes, we’ll take it and everything you’ve ever written!” It would be nice, but it’s not realistic. So while my goal is to be a published offer, I think it’s safe to assume that I’ll probably get a rejection or two along the way. So when they come, I have two choices, I can pack away the stories and never try again, or I can send it off to another publisher. If I want to keep the dream alive, I’ll go with choice 2…if I want defeat to be permanent, choice 1. What about you? Are you going to make your defeats permanent, or dust yourself off and try again. Sound off in the comments and tell me what you think.
