Face Greatness!

My beloved readers,

the year is almost over and it’s about time to slowly but surely wrap it up, and especially wrap up the momentum and push it with blunt force into twenty-fifteen. But, the big wheel is still spinning and we don’t want to count the chicken before they’re hatched, just like we do not want to stop right before the finish line. You have come a long way and walked down the line with the utmost determination and built success, reputation, and character; keep it going, all the way until you’ve crossed the goal line, stand on the mountain peak, and get to do what is only reserved for a few: face greatness!

You have traveled far this year on your way to the mountain peak. People have doubted you and will continue to doubt, but why would that matter to you? Is it not you who can see the mountain peak and already smell its sweet scent? Was it not you who stood up for your dreams and believed in making it happen? And is it not you who is about to reach the mountain peak as the imbuing medal you are to receive for the work you committed yourself to, for the blood and sweat, the tears you left out there on the slope to greatness?

People have told you that you can’t do it, but you knew they were wrong. People have called you a fool when you told them about your relentless heart of strength, your will of iron to do what you came for, your dedication, and your perseverance, but you made them fall on deaf ears. All doubt and contemptuous looks you have left behind—deliberately—because that is where it all belongs; to you only one thing mattered: what lies ahead, and that is the mountain peak, where only a few will ever stand, the few that were singled out to face greatness.

There had been a time when the world was still asleep, but it was you who woke up and faced yourself and decided to make an effort and make a difference. When the ones still sleeping asked you “Why the hell are you doing all of that?” you only knew one question chant and echo within, over and over again: “Why not me?” Big names have achieved big things, and you wonder why that couldn’t be you. Don’t wonder, but ask yourself: “Why not me?” Yes, why not you to go on this journey? Why not you to walk it all the way and face greatness? Did the few that reached the mountain peak ever care about being asked, why the hell they were doing all of that? Didn’t they primarily care about what will come out of why the hell they are doing all of that? No matter how loud and lousy the talk, the determined march on, regardless, even when hell freezes, just to walk, and walk, and walk; “follow your passion, for then success will follow you” (Arthur Buddhold)—make way and let it follow you all the way up to where you can and eventually will touch the sky, where and when the question “Why not me?” has vanished, faded, and is no more.

The wheel keeps spinning, and what awaits you is a time when the world is still asleep, but there will be someone wide awake, awake for the single moment to prove that it was all worth it, when someone will stand on top of the world, on the mountain peak, to breathe the thin air of a champion. Breathe in! Why would that not be you? Yes, why not you? And the answer to that question is out there, where the sweet winds blow, where strong hearts grow, and no higher spot can be found. Go out there and walk and climb and climb and walk and do what you are destined to do and face greatness—because then you can figure where you belong, and the world can see where your heart falls, and then all will know why it is you who’s standing on top of the world, the mountain peak, where you are to do the beautiful: face greatness!

* This post is derived from Team MIG’s endeavor to travel far, compete, and succeed in the World’s Toughest Mudder event, my dear friends who went for the top spot and reached the mountain peak; props to an outstanding performance and it is delightful to see, what all you can do, if you believe and are willing to put in the work…yes, that is winning, that is what finishing is; alas! That is what facing greatness is…