Potentially Life-Saving Fact

November 15th is the 319th day of the year. Only Six weeks remain in 2022. 😲

Does that excite you because that means the holiday season is soon approaching or rattle you a bit because that means the holiday season is soon approaching? 😊

I’m just having a little fun with you. 

The real question I have for you today does pertain to the final six weeks of the year. 

How do you plan to finish it?

Do you have goals and targets yet to achieve. Do you  plan to operate with fierce focus and urgency? Or are you feeling accomplished and plan to take it easy and coast the remainder of the way? 

Disclaimer – What I’m about to share does not include the time (few days, maybe a week for some) that we’ll surely slow down, rest, and enjoy wonderful moments with our family and friends. 

As of the latest reported number I could find (December 2021) there has been a total of 6,014 different people that have climbed Mount Everest and reached the summit.

To accomplish that incredible feat, was no doubt a pinnacle in their life. An ultimate trophy to be able to say that you climbed the highest Mountain available to mankind.

Very cool. 

And none of us have to climb it to understand just how difficult that climb would be.  

It is an arduous climb and no doubt requires the very best of you to make it to the top. 

A common statement from those that have done it, is that the climb forces you to look deep inside yourself and figure out if you really have the physical as well as the mental toughness to push when you want to stop. 

To continually hit your wall and continually breakthrough it. 

There are a thousand reasons to turn around and quit and only one to keep going…Because you said you would.

Now, here’s the main fact and lesson of this message.

Get this – all the deaths that have occurred over an 80 year period of time, 73% of them occurred not going up but, coming down. 

The descent going down is 4.8 times more dangerous than the ascent going up. 

Why?… because when you are climbing up you are fully in the struggle. 

The struggle has your full attention and as a climber, you’re forced to focus, forced to dig deep inside yourself,  forced to push yourself.  

But on the decent, you can relax. After all, you made it, right? The goals was achieved. 

You lose focus. 

You aren’t summoning all that you have, and you get lazy. 

Your adrenaline is lower and your concentration is less acute. 

You let complacency sit in or allow for overconfidence and that is where more deaths occur. 

This happens in your life as well.  it’s easy to pay attention to your kids when they’re in a crisis or give your spouse the attention they need when you are hit with the “we have to talk” line. 

It’s easy to cut sugar and carbs out of your diet when you get diagnosed with diabetes. 

It’s easy to cut costs when you’re a month away from losing your business, because you business is running out of money and can’t make your bills. 

If they only kept doing what they did to create the success while they were successful, they’d not only sustain success, but have it multiplied on itself. 

What I want to suggest to you hear this morning:

• Be as vigilant when times are good as when they are bad. Keep your focus, keep digging deep, keep pushing yourself, Always!

• The best time to repair the roof is when it’s sunny outside. When it starts to rain it’s too late, but often that is the only time people wake up to the repair their house. 

As Warren Buffet said, “when the tide goes out, you get to see who’s been swimming naked.” 

If you are not improving you are falling behind. 

Remember, while the ascent is thrilling and adrenaline filled, it is the decent, when the pressure is off, where 73% of people fall to their death. 

Stay vigilant. Celebrate and appreciate the wins. But, don’t remain idle or overly comfortable too long. 

We are not made that way. We are not called to act that way. The good book provides many references to that very truth.  

“Then I saw and considered it; I looked and received instruction. A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man” – Proverbs 24:32 - 34

Don’t allow the good times to lull you to sleep and put a hole in your roof. Be Grateful, but not complacent. 

Don’t lose focus and fall off the mountain.

Here’s to finishing the year strong, focused and intentional as if the ‘rent’ is due each and every day. 

Because….It is. 

Brock 

P.S. It’s the season of GIVING, GENEROSITY, and GRATITUDE. Our many chocolate gift options offer a meaningful way to say “Thank you”, provide comfort, and let them know you care. 

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