Cool - Curly - Rocky!
This week the question I ponder comes from a friend and blog reader following my progress. They asked me a thought provoking question. “Besides your faith, what would you say are the top three reasons for your success so far?” I struggled to quickly find the answer. This is a great question and deserves some thought. Clearly God set me on this path and is guiding me every step of the way but I wasn't quite sure how to answer this question. After some time and great consideration, I can simply sum up the answer into three words. Cool, Curly and Rocky. Perhaps it's not that simple, so I shall explain.
There is a line out of the 1967 Robert Redford movie “Cool Hand Luke” that Dan and I tease each other with at random crazy times but it seems to sum up my first reason perfectly. “You better get your mind right!” This statement truly embodies the first step on this journey. This means realizing and accepting the fact that there is no diet pill to fix a weight issue. There is no magic formula, special fad diet or an infomercial flashing before and after pictures that holds the answer. Some days are really hard. You have to make a plan and stick to it knowing it will not be easy. You have to get rid of the excuses and lies. The answer is getting real about the scale and the size of the snacks. You have to do things you don’t want to do. There are no short cuts. There is no easy fix. The only answer is dedication and hard work. Period. You have to accept this as a fact. You have to get your mind right!
Curly is the old cowboy in City Clickers. I love the scene in the movie where Billy Crystal’s character, Mitch, is alone with Curly. Curly is giving Mitch some life advice. Curly asks Mitch if he knows what the secret of life is while holding up one finger. Curly tells him the secret to life is to find that one thing, stick to that and nothing else matters. The key is to find your number one. My number one thing is Jesus in my life but finding that one thing of why you want this goal is the key to success. What is that one reason why you really want this? The one thing can’t be the skinny jeans or thin thighs for that will never last; it was never enough before. You need a true get real one thing.
What’s keeping me going day after day? What’s my one thing? I think about the day I was sitting at the kitchen table talking to my Dad when I was home and his health was declining so quickly. We knew the end was near. My little sister was with me and we were talking about his funeral, what songs he wanted us to play and what he wanted to wear. He said he didn’t have any regrets. He knows where he is going and he’s not scared. I remember thinking about how this moment, this day, and this conversation will happen to me someday. Life is short and time is precious. I have spent way too much time feeling like I'm watching my life from the sidelines. I don’t want to be an observer in my own life because of how I feel about my weight. I want to be in it all the way. I want to feel comfortable in my own skin so I take part in every little thing. I don’t want to hide or feel self-conscious. I want to truly experience what life has to offer, not observe it. My one thing is to live, really live!
Once you have the right mindset and you know your deep-in-your-gut number one reason why, then you're ready for Rocky. If you know me you may have picked up on the fact that I’m a girly girl who watches a lot of the Hallmark channel and, well, chick flicks. You may be surprised to hear that I am a huge Rocky fan! It all started when I was 10 years old, sitting in my little hometown movie theater, crying my eyes out in 1976 when Rocky stood back up at the end of the fight against Apollo Creed. I have always rooted for the underdog and all Rocky wanted to do was to still be standing at the end of that fight. He didn’t even win the boxing match but he won in his own way. The third answer to the question of the top reasons for success is to never quit! I know this is the main reason why, 98 days into this journey, I confidently say this is the secret. Have I wanted to quit? You betcha! Sometimes daily. But I know I won't. I can't. I refuse to.
Have you ever heard the real story behind Sylvester Stallone and the Rocky movie? I always knew he wrote the movie but recently researched the whole story behind the story. I discovered an interview with Sly and his story embodies an incredible example of what it means to not quit. Sly knew his whole life he wanted to be in the movie business. He saw movies as a way to inspire people to what they are capable of by overcoming obstacles. He was pulled out by forceps when he was born and that’s why he has that droopy look in his eyes and talks the way he does. He tried to get movie jobs but agents told him he was stupid looking and he should do something else. They said there was no place for him in the movies.
Experiencing over 1,500 acting rejections in New York, he once sat in an agent’s waiting room all
day and stayed through the night. When
the agent saw him still sitting there the next morning he finally got his first
movie role. He played a thug who got
beat up, appearing just 20 seconds on screen.
Agents thought that was all he was good for and he did three movies like that. His wife was pressuring
him to get a job but he knew if he got a job he would get seduced back into
regular life and lose his hunger. He saw
his hunger as an advantage and didn’t want his dream to disappear. He was so broke that he hawked his wife’s
jewelry, admitting that there are some things you should never do, and she was soon his ex-wife.
He was broke
and freezing so he went to the NY public library just to get warm. Someone left a book there and he just picked
it up to read it. It was
a book of poems by Edgar Allen Poe. Sly
said that Poe got him out of himself and got him thinking about how he could really
touch other people if he became a writer. He wrote several screen plays
and finally sold a script. His first
sale was called “Paradise Alley” and he sold it for $100. He thought he was on his way but it never led
to anything.
Sly hit rock
bottom with no wife, no money, and no food just trying to survive. He realized he
couldn’t even feed his dog, who was his best friend on earth. One day he stood outside a liquor store
trying to sell his dog to strangers for $50.
He admits it was the absolute lowest point of his entire life. Finally he negotiated with one guy to buy his
dog for $25. Sly admits it was the worst
day of his life and walked away weeping.
Two weeks later he’s watching a fight between Mohamed Ali and Chuck Wepner. He said that watching this white guy getting the crap beat out of him inspired him for a script. It was right after that fight he wrote Rocky working 20 hours straight until it was complete. Sly took his script to sell to agents and got rejection after rejection. They all thought it was stupid, predictable, sappy, etc. Sly wrote down every negative thing they said and read those words the night he won an Oscar.
Two weeks later he’s watching a fight between Mohamed Ali and Chuck Wepner. He said that watching this white guy getting the crap beat out of him inspired him for a script. It was right after that fight he wrote Rocky working 20 hours straight until it was complete. Sly took his script to sell to agents and got rejection after rejection. They all thought it was stupid, predictable, sappy, etc. Sly wrote down every negative thing they said and read those words the night he won an Oscar.
He finally meets
these guys who love the script and they want it. They offer him $125K for the script. Sly said he has to star in it and they thought he was clearly out of his mind. They said no way, he’s a writer. They wanted a star and actually wanted Ryan
O’Neal to play Rocky. Sly said no way. They said take or leave it; Sly left! Here’s a man with no money, offered $125K,
and he walks away because he knew what he really wanted. He knew his passion and
why he was committed to it. They called
him back two weeks later and offered him $250K not to star in his own
movie. He turned it down. They came back
with a final offer of $325K; they really wanted the movie. Sly said not without him. They said no.
They finally compromised and gave Sly just $35K and points in the movie
to take the financial risk on him to be the star. They only spent $1M to make Rocky and it went
on to gross over $200M.
Rocky proves that going the distance is more important than winning or losing. It’s persistence that gets you there by doing the work. Most importantly, Rocky teaches us to never ever ever quit. So the answer to the question is clearly Cool, Curly and Rocky! And now you will also understand, when that time comes, you will hear the theme song to Rocky playing at my funeral.
"Trying hard now; It’s so hard now; Trying hard now; Getting strong now; Won’t be long now; Getting strong now; Gonna fly now; Flying high now; Gonna fly, fly, fly…"
You
better get your mind right!
Find
that one thing and nothing else matters!
Never
Quit!
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~Ann
www.thenorthernwestvirginiagardener.blogspot.com