How to fight for your life, Part 1

Sometimes, to have what you want, you have to risk it all.

Photo by Chris Sabor on Unsplash

Much of what we want in life, we must fight for. Jobs, friends, romantic partners… even when these are handed to us, to make them good, we need to struggle.

In every struggle, there are things you hope to “win”, but there are also things you risk losing. Too often, the things we risk losing keep us from fighting. Security, safety, the status quo… they can hold us back. They can knock us down.

When we gain, we often lose.

Forrest Griffin, mixed martial arts fighter and former UFC champion, tells a story in his book Got Fight about the toughest guy he ever met. One day, while in college, he was catching a ride with a “group of meatheads” (his words): guys who, like him, were trying to play football for the University of Georgia. They were driving around one afternoon when one of them had the idea to go to the University and harass some students. They spotted a young man who was 5’9” and about 120 pounds. He was wearing a button-down shirt and a pocket protec…