I am hurt, but I am not slain;
I'll lay me down and bleed a while,
And then I'll rise and fight again.

- Author Unknown

I've always loved these words. They have been on my heart for a while now. Some days they make me want to get up and fight. Some days they make me want to lie down a while longer. But words are merely words, and words that are not backed by action are meaningless. When all is said and done, much is said but little is done.

Mike Tyson once said, "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth." Ironically, Iron Mike was also not immune to this real gem of wisdom. Life punched him in the mouth pretty hard, and I don't think he had a plan for it. Even a champion can get knocked out when the opponent doesn't limit itself to the ring.

Rocky Balboa also offered up this pearl: "The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place, and I don't care how tough you are. It will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done!" I'm not sure what winning looks like anymore, but I would like to imagine that it is more than just taking an endless pounding. It would be nice to get some swings in too.

I don't know why the "life is a fight" analogies resonate so much with me. But they just seem to make sense. We're either fighting ourselves, other people, or life. And sometimes we're fighting them all at the same time.

Ding. Ding.