Fall Forward
There's only one enemy and his name is Fear.
“If I’m going to fall anywhere, I’m going to fall forward.”
- Denzel Washington
There’s a popular motivational speech that gets rehashed and remixed on YouTube every few years. It’s usually titled something like “The greatest motivational speech” or “Listen to this every day” or “Change your life daily” and it features one of the few actors who seem genuine: Denzel Washington.
I can’t guarantee the following link will still be good whenever you’ve traveled across this Substack but I encourage you to go watch it now:
“Counting on what you know”
He says something that is so powerful that this is my very second Substack on page, and it has to do with being comfortable. He says that everyone looks at college and study and a potential college student and tells them: ‘make sure you have something to fall back on' , or ‘no matter what major you pick, make sure you have something to fall back on’. The assumption here is that these people are automatically telling the college student that they are destined to fail. The friend or family member who thinks they’re ‘being helpful' and just ‘means well’ when they say this never stop to ask if they should have said it. It’s just a saying, after all.
‘Make sure you have something to fall back on’
How often do we think about ‘career’ and ‘job’ and ‘the next big steps’ in our lives? We’re trained for it from the very beginning. We’re told there’s certain respectable jobs to be sought. We’re trained in elementary to love and cherish certain sociological roles like police, firefighter or scientist. The books we’re given, the people who come in for career day, the teachers who spoke with us daily. We’re constantly told that our JOB is what will drive a huge part of our future personality, our future self. We’re told from the very first day which jobs would guarantee the most success. Who cares if you love to dance? Become a doctor! Everyone loves a doctor!
We’re programmed to believe we’re not supposed to achieve our dreams. Those are fine for recess but not for ‘the real world’. Taking risk isn’t part of the equation for us. Fall back, stop, rest, relax, watch TV. Just become a policeman and earn a salary, just fall back on being a tax assessor and work miserable hours, just be average and don’t try. Just follow the rules.
Just fall back on your old job.
Just be average.
Just be ‘normal’.
Just don’t try.
Just give up.
Just.
NO. I don’t think I will.
Denzel Washington’s speech makes something click in me, every time I watch it. I’m not ashamed to say tears stream down my face as I listen. It opens my heart in the greatest kind of way. I connect with myself and with God when I listen to this speech. It makes me want to chew iron and spit fire and write things like this.
We’re each capable of so much more than we’re told. I’m not talking about basic things like money, fame, or power. I’m talking about knowing real happiness in the present moment you’re in.
I’m talking about living in your purpose.
“Faith. Not Fear”
As the saying goes: “history is written by the victors” and I think there’s a lesson there in terms of how we live our daily lives, how we shop, where we go for entertainment, what we listen to, who we elect, or even what we think.
The world around us has been engineered to feed your fears.
The amount of anxiety medication that exists in the US alone should shock you. I don’t need to do the research for you but a simple Google search will show you that there are over 1.4 billion search results for this simple topic alone. I recognize that the search term “How to get over anxiety” casts a wide net on the subject matter but this proves my point.
The world is focused on fear.
Why does this matter when it comes to falling forward?
It’s simple: No faith.
According to a recent study, anxiety is the most common mental disorder in the USA in 2022.
There’s more issues with insecurity and anxiety than ever before and people are prone to more anxiety for smaller reasons now more than ever. They’ve lost the ability to believe in anything. ‘Losing my faith in humanity’ is a popular term on Reddit and other social media sites. These stories describe people’s experiences with the failings of others. People are losing their ability to accomplish even simpler and simpler tasks by themselves. Someone has so much fear and anxiety about ordering a Subway sandwich that they asked for Reddit’s help to describe ordering step-by-step. Neurodivergence has become increasingly common.
Skeptics can say I’m exaggerating to make my point but I don’t think I am. Even without looking up facts and figures, I think you can do your own analysis about the world around you.
Does it ‘feel’ the same as it once did? Are you happy with your daily life? Do you feel like you walk with a spring in your step?
If not, why?
What made you decide to stop looking up at the stars one day?
I think the truly accomplished people in the world have harnessed the power to overcome their fears, to address them head-on and break through them to the other side.
They have faced themselves in the darkest hour and come out swinging. They have decided not to let their voices of doubt, uncertainty, or fear stop them from living out their purpose on a daily basis. They have the faith and confidence in themselves and in God to step out of their comfort zone on a regular basis and say “Today, I Face Everything And Rise.”
The older I’m getting, I’m learning that there’s no secret to it. It’s just hard work and determination that gets everything done. The “Go-Getters” are simply people who wake up every day willing to put the proverbial foot in front of the other with the faith that they’ll make it through the day. They’ve chosen to ignore the social media noise and focus higher, to look within and without and recognize they’re part of a greater whole.
“Now Faith is confidence in what we hope for
and assurance about what we do not see.”
- Hebrews 11:1
This often-quoted Bible verse should be a good reminder for anyone seeking a hopeful reprise from their daily struggle. Faith doesn’t just mean ‘faith in oneself’ but faith in what we do not see. This verse as with the hundreds like it, should serve as confirmation that we don’t have to have it all figured out right from the start. Faith is not having the answers and still waking up daily and pursuing what you feel passionate about.
The truth is: You never have to have it all ‘figured out’ but you DO need to show up.
Faith is confidence in what we hope for.
Now here’s the one thing that I don’t see mentioned much when the unsuccessful talk about their failures. They talk about the failure, they don’t talk about the hopes they had along the way, they don’t talk about the little victories that were had, the lessons they learned. It’s just about “what were the results? Did I succeed?”
Friends, failure is a part of success, there’s no getting around it. How you handle that failure is what determines how you move into your future. If you sit with your failure and obsess about it, you’ll continue to fail. There’s no way around it. You are a product of your surroundings. If you surround yourself with feelings of failure, you’ll continue to determine that you’re a failure. Your thoughts determine your future and it’s up to you to work on that future daily. Fall forward.
As Denzel says, “If I fall forward, at least I can see what I hit.”
The hard truth is that you’re still the one that will need to do the work. You have to be the one remaining hopeful. God isn’t going to give you all the answers sight unseen, I don’t care how much you complain about your life. Prayer works, but YOU have to be the one praying. You have to ask for the things your heart desires. You have to be the one looking forwards. You have to be the one who can fall down and look to the skies and say “Onwards and Upwards”. Choose to work harder on yourself than the failures that you’ve had along the way.
I believe God doesn’t work with you unless you’re the one willing to do some of the work too. You can pray for fish all day long but until you get up off your knees, build a boat, a fishing rod, and go where the fish live, God’s not going to “bless you with the fishes”. You can pray for a miracle or you can be the miracle, in action, daily. Choose to see yourself as the miracle that you are, and you’ll change your life overnight.
You can choose to say “I don’t believe in God” but I can tell you with absolute certainty that God believes in you. You wouldn’t be here reading this if He didn’t. You have a power that was given to you in such a special way that it’s ONLY yours. You have the power to have faith in yourself, to believe in yourself, to rise up above the noise and Fall Forward. Fall you might, but Fall Forward. See where you’re going, and dive for it full force.
Write that first book that no one reads. Fall Forward.
Release that song to 1,000 listens. Fall Forward.
Invest in that business and learn more than a college degree’s worth in how to fail right. Fall Forward.
Lose that weight only to gain it again. Fall Forward and do those pushups.
Fall.
But Fall Forward.
There’s no promise of tomorrow. Fall Forward.
Final Thoughts
There’s no secret. It’s just hard work.
Faith is what’s needed to inspire you to move forward. Discipline is what’s needed to partner with that Faith to move you consistently, daily, regularly. It’s not about that first sale, it’s about the next sale. It’s not about your first poem, it’s about your poetry book. It’s not about that first business, it’s about the business that stays strong.
I believe true happiness comes from looking at the products of your life and saying “I’ve done this, I made this. I’ve put my blood, sweat, and tears into this. I had the faith in myself to see it through.”
What’s the passion in your life that drives you? Do you have any passions? If not, I suggest that’s where you start.
You don’t know how to start? I have some ideas. Want to comment or yell at me? Leave a comment below!
Let’s Talk.
Love,
R. Carnie Littlefield
Littlefield Log
January 5th, 2023
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Wow, lot I could say. I really enjoyed your video of the article! That Denzel Washington video is EXCELLENT too! May send it to some of my kids. Wish the talks at my kids' graduations were that good but they were horrible and pathetic. Fear rules me too much and I think I am going to have a million ghosts at my deathbed unfortunately...........that was really an image Denzel gave! I will have to watch his video again. Lots to think about............thanks.